The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has denied information about a licensed saiga antelope hunt, which was allegedly offered to foreign enthusiasts to shoot live targets. Earlier, reports surfaced online that a corresponding package hunting tour in Kazakhstan could supposedly be purchased in Europe.
Recall that at the end of July, entrepreneur and hunter Batyr Seikenov published a video on social networks, in which he showed an invitation in German for a licensed hunt for saiga antelopes.
The document stated that the population of the steppe antelope had recovered, and therefore, for the first time, foreigners could purchase a hunting licence. It was reported that the hunting season would run from September to November. The hunting location is 800 km from the city of Aktau.
The so-called 'voucher' is a package tour for three persons, including 7 nights, 5 hunting days, transfer, accommodation, hunting excursions and so on. The price of the 'voucher' was €7,990 (about 4.3 million tenge).
According to Seikenov, he contacted the Ministry of Ecology to obtain relevant comments and even called Minister Nysanbayev, but no one got in touch with the hunter.
Meanwhile, the editorial board of FBRK sent an official request to the department asking for clarification of the situation.
According to the ministry, the organiser of the saiga hunting tours was the German company Malepartus Jagdreisen, which ran an advertising campaign for some time, and later likely removed the advertisements from all platforms.
"In the middle of July this year, it was established that an out-fitter (organiser of hunting tours) from Germany - Malepartus Jagdreisen was advertising saiga hunting. During the analysis of the information received, no advertisement for saiga hunting in Kazakhstan was found on the official website malepartus-jagdreisen.com and the eponymous page on the social network Facebook", the department reported.
The ministry stated that Malepartus Jagdreisen was asked to provide confirmation of the publication of the advertisement for the saiga hunting tour in Kazakhstan and sent the company an official statement on the impossibility of conducting saiga hunting.
"A response was received stating that the advertising campaign was based on publications in Kazakhstani media about plans to open sport and amateur hunting for saiga antelopes. According to the owner of the website malepartus-jagdreisen.com, Mr Carsten Strela, the advertisement was aimed at researching the existing market, to see how interesting saiga antelopes would be for European hunters", the Ministry of Ecology reports.
The department also noted that they had previously discussed the issue of conducting amateur (sport) hunting for saiga antelopes. The ministry even began preparing the relevant regulatory legal acts, but after the President banned the so-called 'population control' of saiga antelopes, all work on the 'culling' of saiga ceased.
Interestingly, Malepartus Jagdreisen explains the purpose of the advertising campaign as researching the existing market, while the invitation that Seikenov showed detailed the cost of the voucher, the hunting location and other tour conditions. Moreover, the market could be researched by other, more effective and less costly methods, for example, by conducting a survey of hunters on the website.
How the organiser intended to carry out the hunt without the appropriate permission from the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic of Kazakhstan is unclear. One thing is obvious - from the department's response it follows that saiga hunting in Kazakhstan remains officially banned.