Hunter Batyr Seikenov published a video on Threads that has become yet more evidence of a potential failure of state policy in wildlife protection. The footage shows the internal organs of saiga antelopes scattered across the steppe. And this is far from the first sign that the Ministry of Ecology has once again lost control of a process that it itself initiated.
"The entire Kazakh steppe is littered with saiga innards," wrote Seikenov, criticising the work of Minister of Ecology, Yerlan Nysanbayev.
Déjà vu has happened exactly as the FBRK editorial team predicted. When in May 2025 the Ministry of Ecology prepared a proposal for "transitioning to the sustainable use" of saiga, we said that in practice this merely means a return to culling, which turned into a real massacre in 2023.
Today, the Kazakh steppe is once again littered with the remains of killed animals — direct proof that the ministry has learned nothing.
The scenario is unfolding according to a familiar pattern. As before, "scientific justification" is being brought into play. And as before, this document is being hidden from the public under the classification "For Official Use Only". Convenient, isn't it? They give out figures — and you're supposed to take their word for it.
As early as May 2024, our editorial team compiled a complete chronology of the 2023 cull, uncovering numerous contradictions in the counting of animal numbers and the quantity of meat delivered to meat processing plants.
Back then, we witnessed true barbarism: animal organs and skins scattered across the steppe, illegal slaughter at car washes, illegal meat trade, and the spread of infections.
The ministry promised to learn from the experience of the 2023 "removal". But what do we see? The same carcasses scattered across the steppe. And the same inability to control a process that they themselves started.
The situation seems to be further aggravated by endless statements about "a scientific approach" and "sustainable use". What sustainability can there be if the steppe is turning into an animal burial ground? What science is there if research results are classified?
And despite all these questions and, it must be said, the completely vague responses from state bodies, public outrage remains unheard, because the ministry hides behind secret documents and "scientific justifications" which we, apparently, are supposed to believe blindly.
Well thought out — no access to data, no way to verify its accuracy either. But the result of these decisions is visible from a distance.
How many more times must the steppe turn into a cemetery before the ministry finally wakes up?
Let us remind you that on 25 August, the FBRK editorial team appealed in an open letter to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov with a request to declassify data on saiga.