Kazakhstan released a wild-caught female Caspian tiger named Umit into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash on 31 July, the first such release after the species disappeared from the country. The last reliable sighting in Kazakhstan was recorded more than 70 years ago.
Umit was transported from Russia’s far east after more than a decade of planning. Kazakhstan now intends to establish a self-sustaining population of about 50 tigers, although the project depends on suitable habitat, monitoring and enough wild prey.
What happens next for the tiger project
A wild-caught male flown from Russia is being monitored by authorities and will be released when he is judged fit to survive alone. Two wild tiger cubs are also being raised in special enclosures with minimal human contact and are likely to be released into the reserve’s marshlands next year.
The tigers are expected to feed on boar, deer and kulans, a type of wild donkey. Environment minister Yerlan Nysanbayev said monitoring the animals and forming a stable population would require substantial work after the initial release.
Why the Caspian tiger vanished
The Caspian tiger was considered extinct in the 1970s after decades of fur hunting, habitat destruction and eradication campaigns. Its former range stretched from eastern Turkey to north-west China, including parts of the Caucasus, Iran and central Asia.
Tugai forests along lakes and rivers were among its important habitats, but many were destroyed for agriculture. The tiger was officially declared extinct in 2003.
Why Amur tigers are being used
DNA analysis published in the years after the extinction declaration found that Caspian and Amur tigers were almost genetically identical. Their populations probably intermingled until hunting isolated them in the early 1900s, with the difference described as a single letter of genetic code.
A 2017 feasibility study identified two areas in the region with enough suitable habitat for tiger restoration, both in Kazakhstan. Ile-Balkhash, where Umit was released, was made a nature reserve by the Kazakh government in 2018.
Tiger numbers worldwide have fallen from about 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to about 5,500 today. The animals still face habitat pressures, climate-related threats and disease; in Russia, African swine fever has reduced wild boar, a major tiger prey, in some areas.
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