In the Charyn State National Natural Park, a count of the herd has begun.
According to 24.kz, park staff are being assisted by employees of the Institute of Zoology and the territorial inspectorate for forestry and wildlife, who are set to cover 120,000 hectares over the course of a week.
In turn, the head of the territorial inspectorate for forestry and wildlife, Nurken Konysbayev, stated that the number of goitered gazelles in the national park has increased significantly.
“This year, weather conditions were quite favourable: there was plenty of rainfall, and the undergrowth was dense. That may be why they migrated to our region. Moreover, in recent years much work has been done to conserve them. That too is yielding results. We can only give an exact count of the herd once the work is complete, but we can already say with confidence that the number of goitered gazelles has grown considerably”, said Konysbayev.
To recall, in April, the republican state enterprise Okhotzooprom of the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic of Kazakhstan concluded two single-source contracts for the lease of aircraft with crew for the counting and monitoring of the Ural, Ustyurt, and Betpak-Dala populations of saiga antelopes. The total cost of the services exceeded 296 million tenge.
Shortly before that, Okhotzooprom had concluded a similar contract for the counting and monitoring of argali sheep. The procurement cost 310 million tenge. In both cases, the invited supplier was the private Kazakh airline Dala Air LLP.
Meanwhile, the editorial board of FBRK has compiled a full chronology of the campaign to “remove” saiga antelopes from their natural habitat. It can be viewed via this link.