Kazakhstan has launched an initiative to reintroduce Amur tigers to an area near Lake Balkhash. This is part of the programme to restore the threatened species including saiga antelope and tigers to their lost habitat.
According to the government of Kazakhstan and several media outlets, the Caspian tigers, also known as Turan tigers, roamed the Kazakh steppe until disappearing about 70 years ago. To launch the revival program, Kazakh authorities announced September 23 that two Amur tigers, a male and female, were brought in from the Netherlands. In 2025, up to four more Amur tigers are expected to be procured from Russia.
Ecology Minister Yerlan Nyssanbayev said Amur tigers are preferred for the program because they, like Turan tigers, are accustomed to severe cold, while other tiger species thrive in warmer climates. Citing standards developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, “Amur” and “Turan” are not considered separate subspecies of tigers, so the animals being reintroduced to Kazakhstan can be classified as the Turan (Caspian) breed.
“For Kazakhstan, this is not only an ecologically important project, but also a symbol of joint efforts to restore the natural heritage,” said Nyssanbayev.
The Kazakh government first expressed a desire to reintroduce tigers in 2010. Eight years later, with support from the United Nations Development Program, the “Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve” Republican State Institution was created to serve as the tigers’ future habitat. The reserve features thousands of hectares of forested territory near Lake Balkhash and “preserves the unique biodiversity of steppe ecosystems, including rare and endangered species such as saiga antelope, marbled polecat … [and] pallas sand grouse,” according to the UNDP.
Presently, the tigers are undergoing an acclimatization process in a small enclosure near the protected area before moving into a more spacious area, the department said in a statement. Their descendants will live in the wild in the national park, which is projected to accommodate up to 100 tigers, officials say. Turan tigers tend to be larger than other tiger types, featuring powerful legs, small ears and a more yellowish than orange coat with black stripes.
Turan tigers’ preferred habitat was among the reed thickets and forests along the banks of the Ili and Syr Darya rivers in southern and southeastern Kazakhstan. During the late Tsarist and early Soviet periods, tigers increasingly caused trouble for local residents, killing cattle and occasionally attacking humans, prompting concerted efforts to exterminate them. According to official data, the last Turan tiger was killed in 1948. /// nCa, 2 October 2024 (based on a report by Caspian Post, picture credit tigers4ever)