In the Karaganda Region, on the migration routes of the rare Saker Falcon, they plan to set up police checkpoints.
It is expected that this measure will help protect the Red Book-listed bird from poachers.
According to Orda, the environmental campaign "Falcon" will begin on 1 August and will last until 31 October, coinciding with the end of the bird migration period.
The deputy head of the central regional branch of "Okhotzooprom", Shyndos Omarov, reported that the campaign will involve inspectors from "Okhotzooprom", staff from the regional territorial inspection of forestry and wildlife, employees of the department of natural resources and nature management regulation, as well as representatives of law enforcement agencies.
It is worth noting that as recently as the middle of the 20th century, the breeding range of the Saker Falcon stretched from Austria and Hungary to the Far East, and the birds would fly to wintering grounds in regions of the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia.
Since the early 1970s, when the trend for falconry sharply increased in Arab countries, the population of the Saker Falcon began to rapidly decline.
As a result, birds that came to winter primarily from Central Russia and Western Kazakhstan did not return back due to intensive trapping in the Persian Gulf countries.
Over time, the birds even adapted to wintering in place or undertaking only short migrations.
Then, hunters began ordering these birds from trappers and smugglers in the countries where the falcons live.
Now in Kazakhstan, only three relatively viable micropopulations remain: the Ustyurt, Karatau, and North-Eastern ones.
Saker Falcons are listed in the Red Book of Kazakhstan and the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Illegal hunting of these rare birds carries criminal liability under Articles 337 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Illegal Hunting) and 339 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Illegal Handling of Rare and Endangered Animal Species), punishable by up to imprisonment for three years, along with confiscation of property and disqualification from holding certain positions for up to five years.
The amount of compensation for damage per individual is 700 MCI (2,415,000 tenge).
Yet another reminder of how sometimes thoughtless human actions can have a significant impact on entire natural systems.