Decades after the last tigers were wiped out in Kazakhstan, the big cats are set to find a new home. A pair of Amur tigers are currently moving to the Ile Balkhash reserve in the eastern part of the Central Asian state, the conservation group WWF has announced.
The two big cats “Bodhana” and “Kuma” come from a Dutch zoo. The WWF and the UN Development Programme (UNEP) support the Kazakh government with the settlement project.
Caspian tiger extinct in 1970s
According to the WWF, Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, are genetically only slightly different from the Caspian tiger, which was once native there. According to the WWF, this subspecies has been considered extinct since the 1970s after centuries of hunting and the increasing transformation of its habitat into farmland and pasture.
The protected area is 12,000 square kilometers
The Ile-Balkhasch Reserve and adjacent protected areas cover an area of 12,000 square kilometers. However, according to the WWF, the ecological situation in many places is not optimal, so there are reforestation efforts.
Meanwhile, prey was provided: Bukhara deer and goitered gazelles were reportedly released into the wild. In addition, a ban on hunting wild boar caused their population to nearly quadruple. An adult tiger must kill about fifty deer a year to get enough, says Markus Radday of WWF Germany.
Revitalizing an entire ecosystem
The tiger expert described the project as complex. Ultimately, it is about revitalizing an entire ecosystem. The population in the area also has to accept the return of the big cats. Poaching is another critical problem and the biggest threat to tigers worldwide, Radday said.
Last but not least, success also depends on “Bodhana” and “Kuma”: “The offspring must be healthy and get used to their new environment. Only if they learn to hunt for prey independently can they survive in the wild for a long time,” Radday explains. In order to guarantee the genetic diversity of the population, more tigers are expected to be added in the coming years.
Aim for a stable population of 50 animals
The long-term goal is a stable population of about 50 tigers. Whether the settlement has been successful will only become clear in a few years.
Source: Krone
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