Staff members at Beijing Zoo prepare to transfer female snow leopard Ling Xue, who has recovered from injuries, to an airport in Beijing, capital of China, May 11, 2018. Ling Xue was found injured in northwest China's Qinghai Province in November 2017. She then received fracture surgeries and medical care in both Qinghai and Beijing. Upon full recovery, Ling Xue was flown to her habitat in Qinghai from Beijing on Friday. (Xinhua/Li Xin)
BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A snow leopard, a species on the country's top protection list, was sent back to its home in northwest China's Qinghai Province on Friday after more than three months of medical treatment in Beijing, according to the Beijing Zoo.
The female snow leopard was found suffering a leg fracture while lying on the roadside in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in November last year. It was rescued by local herders and transfered to the provincial wildlife zoo for fracture surgery.
The injured snow leopard did not fully recover after surgery and was sent to the Beijing Zoo in February for a second operation, said Zhang Chenglin, deputy director of the Beijing Zoo.
The 10-year-old snow leopard is in stable condition.
Snow leopards live on the Qinghai-Tibet and Pamirs plateaus at altitudes of over 3,500 meters. They have been recorded in the Chinese provincial-level regions of Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet and Xinjiang.
