ASTANA – Two Amur tigers from the Netherlands will be brought to Kazakhstan by the end of September to revive the local population, said Kazakh Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nysanbayev at the plenary session of the Mazhilis, the lower house of Parliament on Sept. 18.
Photo credit: Xinhua/ Kazinform
The Kazakh government is implementing a project to revive the wildlife population of Turanian tigers. These tigers once inhabited areas from Türkiye to western China, including the Caucasus, Iran, and Central Asia. Kazakhstan is working on the reintroduction of the Turanian tiger by introducing a genetically identical subspecies, the Amur tigers.
“Historically, the Turanian tiger inhabited the forests and reed beds of the Ili River at the place where it flows into Balkhash. The last tiger was seen there in 1948. We now have a program to revive the population. By the end of September we will bring two tigers from the Netherlands. These are Amur tigers, which belong to the same genus as the Turanian tigers. Only they can withstand extreme cold temperatures. Every other tiger could live only in warm regions,” the minister said.
He said four more tigers from Russia will be brought to Kazakhstan next year. By 2026, 40 tigers are planned to be in place.
