In the remote grasslands of northwest China’s Qinghai Province, two herdsmen cousins, Zhou Zengben and Sonam Tsering, have become unlikely heroes in the fight to save the endangered Przewalski’s gazelle. Since 2016, they have dedicated their lives to rescuing these rare animals, nursing dozens back to health and contributing significantly to the species’ revival.
Their journey as guardians began in 2015, after witnessing a heartbreaking scene where 17 young gazelles perished in severe flooding. Determined to prevent such tragedies, Zhou and Tsering began patrolling the areas around Qinghai Lake, monitoring the grasslands, and providing fodder for the gazelles. They also took it upon themselves to rescue injured or orphaned calves, bringing them into their homes for care.
On March 26, they responded to a call from local herdsmen who had found a baby gazelle stranded in a water channel. The cousins took the calf home, warmed it by the stove, and stayed up all night to ensure its recovery. By morning, the calf was strong enough to be released back into the wild—it was the 59th gazelle they had saved.
“Tonight, we have to stay up all night to keep an eye on the calf. When its wool dries the next morning, we can release it to the wild and then everything will be fine,” Tsering recalled of that night.
Many of the gazelles they rescue are vulnerable newborns unable to survive alone. The cousins feed them milk from their own yaks, name them, and care for them as family. One such gazelle is Dorje, who was found weak and alone during a rainy night in July 2023. After weeks of dedicated care, Dorje is now a healthy nine-month-old, soon to be released back into the grasslands.
The commitment of Zhou and Tsering comes at a significant personal cost. Feeding the calves requires large quantities of milk—each consumes four to five bottles daily over six to seven months. This expense led them to sell their 25 yaks and invest in higher milk-producing Simmental cattle. Despite the financial burden, their dedication has not wavered.
“I haven’t calculated the cost of milk, but some journalists in town helped me with the calculation. It’s about 20 yuan ($2.7) per kilogram of milk. If it costs about 40 to 50 yuan per day to feed one Przewalski’s gazelle calf, and if you’re feeding one for a year, it would cost around 10,000 yuan to raise it,” Tsering explained.
Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. Since 2021, the local government has provided them with free forage, and they have been recognized as “Wildlife Conservation Caretakers” by the local bureau of natural resources and forestry.
Thanks to guardians like Zhou and Tsering, the population of Przewalski’s gazelles around Qinghai Lake has surged from over 200 to more than 3,400. “Nowadays, we can see them every day because the population has been increasing year on year. Previously, a group might have been at most 20 or 30 individuals, but now a group can consist of over 100 or even more than 200 individuals,” Tsering noted with pride.
The cousins continue their patrols, equipped with binoculars, medical kits, and notebooks to record their observations. They dream of a future where these gazelles thrive without the threat of endangerment, and with more people joining the conservation efforts, that future seems increasingly possible.
