In March, the Qilihai National Wetland Park in Tianjin Municipality introduced 58 healthy young milu deer from Dafeng District, Yancheng in Jiangsu Province. This addition to the existing herd of 34 deer has established the largest wild milu population in north China.
The Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve, spanning 3,000 hectares, is a primary site for milu reintroduction efforts. The Qilihai National Wetland Park—China's only national nature reserve where an ancient coastline and wetland coexist—has unearthed milu fossils and traces of their historical presence, confirming that the species thrived there thousands of years ago before environmental changes and human activity drove them to local extinction.
In 2011, Qilihai began its milu restoration by introducing 10 milu from the Beijing Milu Garden, followed by a breeding pair from Dafeng. Over the past decade, the milu population has grown to 34. The latest reintroduction from Dafeng aims to improve the herd's genetic diversity.
