Residents are often the first to discover an injured animal, and they usually report it to the local authorities as soon as possible. When the animals are cured, they are released back into the wild. If their conditions do not allow this they are kept in the park, he said.

To draw more public attention to the species, since 2018 Qi has been naming each of the Pallas's cats in the park and telling the world their stories.

Over many years of a career that has taken him from being a keeper to deputy director, he has cared deeply about the welfare of animals, and he has thought a lot about the functions of a zoo.

"A zoo is more than a tourist attraction and should be a wildlife conservation and education institution. It should guide people to see nature in a correct way and protect it, as ultimately it's for the protection of human being itself," he said.

He cites the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees Jane Goodall as his creed: "Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall they be saved.

"Few people recognized the cat before, and when they saw it in a zoo they didn't care about it," Qi said, adding that as its popularity has increased, many tourists have come to see it.