Chinanews, Beijing, Feb. 2 – Crested ibis, a kind of rare bird in China dubbed "Eastern gem", has amounted to more than 1,000 from only 7 in 1981.

 

As a species of the most endangered birds in the world, crested ibis, under class A national protection, increased by 22% in number in 2006 over the previous year, China Green Times reported. Moreover, China has finished a scheme on freeing human-bred ones into the wild.

 

According to experts from the State Forestry Bureau, crested ibises were widely spread in Russia, North Korea, Japan, and most regions of China during the early days of the last century. In the 1950s, however, the amount of the bird reduced dramatically because of hunting, pesticide abuse, and industrial pollution. In the early 1980s, only 7 survived in China, while in other countries the species was almost extinct.