If successful, Kazakhstan will be the first country in the world to bring wild tigers back to an entire region where they have been extinct for nearly half a century. Poaching and habitat loss has decimated the wildlife on which wild tigers once fed, including the kulkan, or wild donkey, and bactrian deer, both native to central Asia. Wild tigers completely disappeared from Kazakhstan in the 1940s due to poaching and the loss of territory, WWF said. There were thought to be about 100,000 wild tigers at the beginning of the 20th century. Now there are about 3,900, but it is hoped the Kazakhstan project will play a key role in increasing tiger range and populations.

Source: The Guardian September 08, 2017 07:52 UTC