KATHMANDU: A Chinese environmental group has begun regular surveillance around a summer habitat for the bar-headed goose on the remote Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to save the species from rampant poaching. Green River has established an environmental protection station in August near the Tuotuo River – one of the headwaters of the Yangtze River – in northwest China's Qinghai province, said Yang Xin, the group's director. The bird is believed to be the world's highest-flying fowl, capable of reaching heights of 9,000 meters, according to experts. “The geese normally arrive at the habitat near the Tuotuo River in the summer for reproduction and leave for warmer places in winter,” Yang said, adding that rampant egg-poaching in recent years has sharply reduced the number of geese at the habitat.
