Tigers "return" to Kazakhstan after 70 years

They had disappeared in the last century.A government project has imported two specimens of Amur tigers from the Netherlands who will live freely in a national park.

For seventy years now, among the steppes of Kazakhstan tigers don't prowl.Now local authorities are trying to reintroduce them in an area near the Balkhash lake, in the part central-eastern part of the country.In fact, until the last century, people lived in that area Caspian tigers, also called Turan tigers, which became extinct in the mid-twentieth century, hunted by man who saw them as a threat to his own safety and to his livestock.The last specimen of the Turan tiger would have been killed in 1948.

To bring the cats back to this area, two will be imported from the Netherlands tigers of the Amur, a male and a female, to which four more specimens will be added in 2025.The news was announced on September 23, 2024 by the Kazakh authorities.

A journey that lasted over 20 years

“For Kazakhstan, this is not only an important project from an ecological point of view, but is also a symbol of efforts made to restore natural heritage,” said Kazakh Minister of Ecology Yerlan Nyssanbayev, explaining that the choice fell on Amur tigers because, just like those of Turan, they are used to a cold climate.

The Kazakh government announced its intention to reintroduce tigers on its territory for the first time in 2010.Eight years later, with the support of United Nations Development Programme, the Ile-state nature reserve was establishedBalkhash, destined to become the future habitat of these animals.The reserve covers thousands of hectares of forest near the lake Balkhash and hosts rare species and animals at risk of extinction, such as thesaiga antelope (also called steppe antelope), the marbled skunk and Pallas's sirratte, a bird native to Central Asia.

From tigers, the restoration of an entire ecosystem

At the moment, the tigers are adapting in a temporary enclosure located near the protected area, before being moved to a larger space.Their descendants will live in freedom in national park, which, according to estimates, will be able to accommodate up to 100 tigers.

“Improving natural food and the remoteness of the reserve from population centers will help avoid conflicts between tigers and humans,” said Minister Nyssanbayev.The main source of food for tigers will be wild boars and antelopes, present in sufficient numbers in the country.

The reintegration of the tiger into Kazakhstan follows the restoration of the saiga population, considered at high risk of extinction until the beginning of the twenty-first century.Today, thanks to some projects carried out by local government agencies and international organizations, there are around two million saigas in Kazakhstan, compared to 39 thousand specimens in 2005.