THE RETURN OF THE MILU DEER
My name is Lin Hui. I like to tell stories about people who work together. What is even better is when countries help each other and build a good friendship. An excellent example of this happened when Britain and China worked together to bring the Milu deer back to China.
The Milu deer, a species with large horns (角), used to be common in China long ago.Like other deer they lived together and ate grass and the soft parts of trees such as small
branches. Milu deer were often hunted for food or sport in the past. The Ming and Qing dynasties did not protect them and many were killed. That is how the Milu deer disappeared from China.
Luckily before all of them were killed, some were taken to Britain to improve the environment of the beautiful park which belonged to the Duke of Bedford. He liked them so much that he took them all the way from China to Britain. The Milu deer liked the cool, wet weather in England and their number increased year by year. As a result, when in 1985 the government of China wanted to reintroduce the Milu deer, the Duke of Bedford was happy to help. The first deer came back to China to the Nanhaizi Milu Park 20 kilometres south of Beijing and the centre in Dafeng, Jiangsu Province.
The deer certainly seem happy to be back in China because their numbers have grown rapidly. There are now so many of them that a new park has been opened for them in Hubei Province. At the moment the Milu deer live in centres where they are being well protected and cared for. It is hoped that one day there will be enough animals to let them live in the wild again. So Britain helped China by bringing back an animal that had disappeared from its homeland. This is a good example of friendship and understanding between these two countries.
