The Wildlife Conservation Society has presented its annual awards to 15 individuals and organizations who have made great contributions to combat wildlife trafficking in the frontlines in China.

The event, which took place on Saturday in Beijing, was held by the fourth consecutive year by the United States-based WCS.

As the first project of its kind in China, and with the support of the Chinese government, the Wildlife Guardian Action project has drawn attention to endangered wildlife protection and crimes threatening several species, says Kang Aili, director of the WCS China Program.

At the awards ceremony, the organizer screened a documentary made by the Beijing Film Academy showing the winners' stories, climbing snow mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and working on the vast grassland in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Li Tianyou, a captain of the forestry police investigation team in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and the Anti-smuggling Bureau of Xiamen Customs in Xiamen, Fujian province, shared the top award of "outstanding guardians" this year.

Since August 2011, Li and his colleagues have cracked 213 cases of wildlife trafficking, and seized 341 animals belonging to the first class national protected species category, 5,227 animals in the second class, and 2,226 pieces of wildlife products.