Revival of the Turan tiger: more big cats to be brought to Kazakhstan

Tengrinews.kz – Kazakhstan and Russia have signed a joint action plan on the import and adaptation of Amur tigers to the Almaty region.
The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources reported on Wednesday, November 12, that the document formalizes agreements on restoring the tiger population in Central Asia — a project unprecedented for the region.
The agreement was signed by the ecology ministers of both countries, Yerlan Nysanbayev and Alexander Kozlov, during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s state visit to Moscow.

“Under the plan, Russia will donate four Amur tigers to Kazakhstan: two males and two females. The animals will be transported to the Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve,” the press release states.

The Russian side will provide veterinary preparation and transportation; the Kazakh side will handle reception, accommodation, and monitoring of the animals.
The ministry noted that the idea of returning tigers to Kazakhstan has scientific and historical grounding. In 2009, an international group of biologists (Driscoll et al., 2009) conducted genetic research confirming the close DNA relationship between the extinct Caspian (Turkestan) tiger and the modern Amur tiger. This discovery made it possible to begin preparations for restoring the lost population.
The project is supported by WWF and UNDP.
In 2018, the Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve was established in the Almaty region, where the first Amur tigers — brought from the Netherlands — are already living. The successful implementation of the program will make Kazakhstan one of the first countries to bring the tiger back to the region of its extinction, the Ministry of Ecology emphasized.