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The tiger has returned
© WWF Central Asia

The tiger reintroduction program in Kazakhstan is WWF’s flagship project in Central Asia. If successful, Kazakhstan will become one of the first countries in the world to bring back the tiger to a region where it was completely eradicated more than half a century ago.
JOLBARYS: A PREDATOR THAT VANISHED INTO HISTORY

By the beginning of the 21st century, only thirteen countries in the world still had surviving tiger populations. The main causes of the predator’s disappearance were targeted extermination, including uncontrolled hunting of ungulates — the tiger’s primary prey — and later, habitat destruction due to numerous irrigation projects. The catastrophic decline in tiger numbers worldwide led to all 13 countries signing the Global Tiger Initiative.

The last documented sightings of tigers in Central Asia date back to the distant 1970s, and in Kazakhstan, as early as 1948.

More than 70 years after their disappearance, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan have embarked on the most ambitious project in Central Asia — the restoration of the majestic predator’s population.
As early as the first half of the 20th century, this predator inhabited territories stretching from the Caucasus to the Altai and Central Asia. Unfortunately, the destruction of riparian ecosystems and human activities such as hunting and deforestation led to its disappearance.
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IS IT POSSIBLE TO BRING BACK THE STRIPED PREDATOR?

In 2009, an international team of biologists conducted genetic research (Driscoll et al., 2009) on DNA samples of tigers from Central Asian museum collections. By comparing these samples with those of other tiger populations, scientists concluded that the DNA of the Turan and Amur tiger populations are identical. This discovery made it possible to consider restoring the extinct Turan tiger population, with WWF becoming the initiator of this project.

In 2010, the International Tiger Conservation Summit was held in St. Petersburg. At this forum, attended by heads of governments, a Global Tiger Recovery Program was adopted, aiming to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. At this summit, Kazakhstan announced its readiness to reintroduce the tiger to Central Asia and supported WWF’s initiative to restore the population of this species.

However, before launching the program, scientific studies were required to identify suitable habitats for the predator’s return and to assess potential outcomes of reintroduction under various scenarios. Seven years later, a Reintroduction Program was developed, and in September 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding between WWF and the Government of Kazakhstan was signed to implement the tiger restoration program in Central Asia. The signing ceremony took place at the Kingdom of the Netherlands Pavilion during EXPO-2017 in Kazakhstan.
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A NEW "HOME" FOR THE TIGER

On June 27, 2018, the Ile-Balkhash Reserve, covering over 415,000 hectares, was established within Kazakhstan’s system of protected natural areas. The reserve includes part of the Ili River delta, floodplain and saxaul forests, and wetlands along the southern shore of Lake Balkhash. Restoration efforts are underway to rebuild ecosystems suitable for tiger habitat within the reserve.

The reintroduction program also focuses on protecting the remaining wildlife and restoring populations of ungulates—such as the tugai deer, roe deer, and wild boar—which form the core of the tiger’s diet. Additionally, efforts are being made to restore the kulan and increase the population of goitered gazelles.

In addition to establishing the Ile-Balkhash Reserve, an ecological corridor between Altyn-Emel and Ile-Balkhash was created to ensure safe migration routes for kulans and gazelles.
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THE FIRST TIGERS

The tiger reintroduction program has reached a significant milestone with the arrival of Amur tigers from the Netherlands to the Ile-Balkhash Reserve. This landmark step brings the program closer to its primary goal — restoring the tiger population in their historic habitat.

Thanks to many years of close cooperation between WWF and Kazakhstan, two Amur tigers were transported to the Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve from the specialized predator care center Stichting Leeuw at the Landgoed Hoenderdaell Zoo in Anna Paulowna, the Netherlands.

This historic event marks an important step towards restoring the ecosystem and bringing back lost biodiversity.

The program is being implemented by the Forestry and Wildlife Committee of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, with support from WWF and UNDP in Kazakhstan. Bogdana and Kuma now live in a specially constructed enclosure center built by WWF within the Ile-Balkhash Reserve, where they will be bred and their offspring eventually released into the wild.

Learn more about the arrival of these predators.
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