A group of researchers from Zhoushan, Zhejiang province recently visited the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, where they released 40 captive-bred water deer.

The water deer were divided into 10 groups, five of which were released in Cixi, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Ningbo, while the other five groups were released in another county-level city called Yuyao in Ningbo.

Water deer are a kind of small deer native to China and South Korea which are under state-level protection in China.

This is the second time that captive-bred water deer from Zhoushan have been released in Ningbo. All of the released deer were equipped with tracers so that Zhoushan researchers can supervise and study them, said Huang Haiming, the director of the Zhoushan forest management center.

According to data provided by the tracers, the survival rate of the 40 water deer released in Ningbo last year exceeded 80 percent, added Huang.

Official data show that the number of wild water deer in Zhoushan currently stands at more than 3,000, accounting for 50 percent of the total in China.

Since the 1990s, researchers in Zhoushan have been working on the artificial breeding of water deer. In 2009, the Zhoushan forest management center established a water deer breeding station.

In 2010, the city was designated as "China’s home of water deer" by the China Wildlife Conservation Association.

"In the beginning, there were only a little more than 20 water deer in the station. Now, there is nearly 100 water beer in the station," said Huang Haiming.

According to Huang, the station started to release captive-bred water deer in Zhoushan and Ningbo in 2015. So far, a total of 200 deer have been released to date.

Since 2017, Zhejiang province has been focusing on the protection of several endangered species, including water deer. The Zhoushan forest management center was designated as a provincial artificial breeding base for water deer.