Volunteers help injured birds return to sky

File photo taken on July 20, 2014 shows volunteers leading primary school students for bird observation at a wetland in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province. The Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center is home to injured raptors of all kinds. Wang Weiyan, 58, is the director of the center. Out of deep love for birds, Wang became a volunteer in bird protection. He works as a raptor rehabilitator and has devoted the most precious years of his life to bird care. Established in July 2009 by a group of bird lovers and bird protectors, the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center has three rescue bases, a cooperative pet hospital, an online WeChat group, and more than 180 volunteers. The volunteers have various occupations such as zoologists, doctors, journalists, teachers, students, workers, farmers and many other professions. The center works on the treatment of injured raptors and birds that are unable to survive independently in the wild. It has so far rescued more than 3,000 wild birds, with the survival rate reaching 70 percent. More than 90 percent of the survivors have been successfully released into nature. Wang Weiyan, who has been engaged in the rescue of raptors for 25 years, is now a bird saving master. He can cure a variety of bird diseases, and he is also willing to pass on his experience to more young people. Now, more young volunteers have joined in the bird protection work. They publicize the knowledge of bird protection in an easy way on the popular Chinese short-video social media platform Douyin. On March 14, more than a dozen once injured goshawks, kestrels, vultures, and eagle owls were released at the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center. To the bird protection volunteers, it was the happiest moment to see the birds returning to the sky. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)