Drobu Jie, a forest ranger who has watching over the woods in Nyingchi area for 31 years, talks about his job with CRI reporters outside his duty room in Tibet Autonomous Region, July 4, 2010. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

Drobu Jie is one of the two original forest rangers in a town in the Nyingchi area, located in the east of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

Watching over local forests since 1979, Drobu Jie said the monkeys living on the hill is now a new 'headache' for him, as the number of rhesus monkeys has been increasing rapidly since 2003 when the precious animal was first found in Gongbujiada county.

Usually the primate group will find their own way to the ranger's duty room for food every day. However, once they encounter the wild dogs and get frightened, they will hide for several days, which forces the 62-year-old forest ranger to search for them through the woods covering an area of several hundred mu (15mu =1 hectare).

"Taking care of these monkeys has been a new priority of my job," Drobu Jie told CRI reporters, "Sometimes I had to spend the whole day searching for them three or four times."

Baizhen, deputy director of the county's forestry bureau, said there were less than forty monkeys seven years ago, but now thousands of rhesus monkeys inhabit the mountainous area.

Actually, 163 mu of the monkeys' current habitat was once farmland owned by locals, who turned their land into forests so the monkeys and other animals could have a better environment for proliferation, according to Baizhen.

Although attending to the forest creatures has made Drobu Jie tired, he appeared glad to talk about them and seemed to enjoy the days with the monkeys. But his job was completely different before 2003.

As Nyingchi is well-known for its abundant forestry resources, many locals ignored related regulations and wantonly cut the trees to make money. Drobu Jie had to take every effort to stop such behavior, which brought him some trouble.

In the 1990's, he confiscated some wood from his relatives, and was hence seen as their enemy. Drobu Jie said the hatred between him and his once-close relatives lingers today as result of his job.

Besides local residents, someone from the neighboring province such as Sichuan, also coveted the wood and stole trees from time to time. Dealing with these people even threatened the safety of Drobu Jie and the other forest rangers.

Baizhen, who usually visits the forests under her management for more than 300 days a year, said even the forestry officials would frequently receive threats from the thieves.