'Animal army' to protect the plains of Xinjiang

Artificially propagated and trained foxes are sent to grasslands to get rid of wild mice at Xinyuan county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region July 8, 2010. The plague of locusts and wild mice are the main cause of intensified desertification of the grasslands in the region. Local government has successfully explored a biological-zoological way to deal with the problem by organizing an "animal army", which includes shepherds' chickens and ducks, foxes, eagles, rosy starlings to protect the plains after conventional chemical countermeasures failed. [Photo/Xinhua]