Can the Caspian tiger be resurrected?

Two Amur tigers were recently transferred from a zoo in the Netherlands to a nature reserve in southern Kazakhstan, a historic step in a long-term effort to revive Kazakhstan’s extinct Caspian (Turanian) tiger population. Captive tigers aside, this pair is the first of these big cats to set paws on Kazakh soil in 76 years.

The tigers—a 12-year-old female and nine-year-old male—were transferred in late September from the Landgoed Hoenderdaell Zoo to an enclosure in Ili-Balkhash Nature Reserve, covering 415,000 hectares in central Kazakhstan, where they will slowly adapt to local conditions. Their offspring will be released into the wild, playing an important role in establishing a new tiger population in the region and in restoring and sustaining the structure and function of the ecosystem.

The translocation of tigers from the Netherlands is the first of several planned in the coming years, toward achieving a population of 50 wild tigers in Kazakhstan by 2035.  An additional three or four tigers are expected to be transferred from Russia in 2025.

Kazakhstan first announced plans to reintroduce Amur tigers to the country in 2010, an offshoot of the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative launched two years earlier. In 2017, the Kazakh government and WWF-International signed a memorandum of understanding to formally initiate the tiger reintroduction project. The following year, the Ili-Balkhash Nature Reserve was created to begin ecosystem restoration in the southern Balkhash region.

Why Amur Tigers?

Amur tigers, native to Russia’s Far East, were selected for the program for several reasons.  First, they are nearly genetically and phenotypically identical to the Caspian tiger, which once roamed central Asia, the Caucasus, and northern Iran, among other places, before they became extinct. In Kazakhstan, the Caspian tiger’s preferred habitat was among the saksaul reed thickets and forests along the banks of the Ili and Syr Darya rivers in southern and southeastern Kazakhstan.

Second, Amur tigers, like Caspian tigers, are accustomed to severe cold, while other tiger species thrive in warmer climates.

What happened to the Caspian tiger?

A combination of factors contributed to the Caspian tiger’s disappearance from the region. During the late Tsarist and early Soviet periods, tigers killed livestock and occasionally attacked humans, prompting the government to call for a systematic eradication of the animals.  Organized extermination brigades began to “cleanse” the region (the Ili River valley and along the shores of Lake Balkhash) of tigers beginning in 1891. The last tiger was seen there in 1948.

Disruptions to the tiger’s primary food sources, largely the result of habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting, also played a role in the Caspian tiger’s extinction. By the 1930s, tugai forests in the Amudarya and Syrdarya deltas had been cleared and burned, and saksaul thickets converted for agricultural use. The tiger’s primary food sources, wild boar and Bukhara deer, disappeared. The same process occurred in other lowland areas along large rivers (the Murgab, Panj, and Ili Rivers) that had provided Caspian tiger habitat.

What’s required to reintroduce tigers to Kazakhstan?

Restoring Kazakhstan’s tiger population is contingent on meeting a set of requirements.  Of primary concern is ensuring sufficient natural food supply, which involves increasing the population density of wild boar and Bukhara deer.

Additionally, tiger habitat areas must be expanded and anti-poaching and monitoring systems need to be established, professionally staffed, and consistently funded.

Additional challenges remain 

An abundance of freshwater is also key to the program’s success, with special attention paid to the hydrologic regime of Lake Balkhash, which receives 80 percent of its water from the Ili River that originates in neighboring China. China’s diversion of water from the Ili River for industrial, agricultural, and other projects has previously decreased the lake’s water volume. The lack of a bilateral agreement on water sharing for the Ili River, combined with potential implementation of other proposed water use plans, threatens to further affect the stability of Lake Balkhash’s volume.

Lastly, until the tiger population in Kazakhstan begins to grow, additional Amur (also known as Siberian) tigers will need to be sourced. There are concerns about the selection criteria for cats coming from the Russian Far East—will they be selected for suitability or will they be “troublesome” individuals that have come into conflict with humans in their natal areas?

It will be fascinating and inspiring to see this program unfold. We will keep you posted.