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The tiger is back in Kazakhstan where it once roamed before being hunted to extinction.
Two Amur or Siberian tigers were transported from the Netherlands to the Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve in the Almaty Region on September 22, 2024, The Astana Times reported.
The tigers have been brought as part of a project to rewild the species in Kazakhstan. A memorandum was signed between the government of Kazakhstan and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2017 to revive the Turanian or Caspian tiger which used to found in Kazakhstan before being hunted to extinction, according to The Astana Times.
The closest living relative of the Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) is the Amur (Panthera tigris altaica), which is why the two individuals have been brought to Kazakhstan.
“Finally, it happened! 2 tigers arrived in Kazakhstan & Ile Balkhash became a new home 4 Bandana and Kuma. Thanks to @UNDPKAZ “Reintroduction of Turan Tiger” project colleagues for dedication in advancing biodiversity in the country,” Sukhrob Khojimatov, deputy resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Kazakhstan, posted on his X handle.
The two Amur tigers will spend several weeks in an enclosure before being released into bigger enclosures and eventually into the wild, The Astana Times reported, citing the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.
Down To Earth (DTE) had first reported on the story back in 2016, when DTE interviewed Igor Chestin, the then head of WWF’s Russia chapter. He was in Delhi to attend the third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation. “Wild tigers could be back in Kazakhstan by 2026,” Chestin had told DTE.
On International Tiger Day this year (July 29), DTE had also reported on the history of the Caspian tiger, including reasons as to why it went extinct.
“The Caspian Tiger occurred in eastern Turkey, the southern Caucasus, northern Iran, Iraq, and in isolated pockets throughout Central Asia until north-western China … The Ily-Balkash Basin was one of the four core areas of the tiger’s distribution in Central Asia, together with the South-Caspian region, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river systems. The tiger lived in reed beds and flood plain forests along rivers and around lakes and adjacent dry lands with appropriate cover…” DTE had quoted Feasibility Study on the Possible Restoration of the Caspian Tiger in Central Asia (2010) by Hartmut Jungius.
“The main reason for the disappearance of the tiger in Central Asia was habitat destruction and extermination by military and professional hunters,” Jungius had noted.
