How Are They Feeling: Minister Comments on Tigers Brought to Kazakhstan

In 2024, Kazakhstan began breeding Turan tigers. For this purpose, the first two individuals were brought to the country, Orda.kz reports. 

At a government meeting, Yerlan Nysanbayev, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, discussed the department’s plans to repopulate Turan tigers and Przewalski’s horses (Kerkulan and Kertagy) in their historical habitats. 

The Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve (415 thousand hectares) was opened in the country as part of the tiger restoration program.

To restore the natural food base of the tiger, from 2018 to 2024, 205 individuals of tugai deer were brought to the reserve, work was carried out to resettle more than 100 heads of kulans, the population density of roe deer and wild boars was increased. In the autumn of this year, two individuals of tiger were brought from the Netherlands to the Ile-Balkhash reserve for enclosure breeding, said the Minister. 

The Minister says these tigers are relatives of the Russian Ussuri tigers and survive winter well in the harsh continental climate. 

Officials expect the first offspring in 2025-2026. Nysanbayev assured that the tigers feel well. 

In 2025, three or four more tigers will be brought from Russia. 

We hope that the tigers brought in and their offspring will be the first wild tigers to reappear on the territory of Kazakhstan after an absence of more than 70 years, Nysanbayev added. 

In 2024, work was completed on resetting kulans to the Ile-Balkhash (42 individuals) and Altyn-Dala (24 individuals) reserves as part of the population restoration program.

Original Author: lya Astakhov