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One of the reasons our favourite Critically Endangered species still faces an uncertain future is due to the increasing demand for its horns in the traditional Chinese medicine trade. Singapore is a major hub for the global trade and an important consumer country, with saiga horn products widely available in the domestic market.
For the full article, first published in Natural History Magazine's April 2018 issue please click here
Aslan Baideldinov is an animal husbandry technician who has been working at the Centre for Wild Animals of the Republic of Kalmykia since 2003.
The Saiga News editorial team carried out a telephone interview with him.
Editor: Aslan, how did you start working on saiga conservation?
I have been fond of animals since I was a kid. We kept ducks, geese, cows and sheep at home. Our parents taught us to take care of the animals day-to-day. I knew all our animals by sight and all of them had names. I first saw saigas when I was at primary school. There were lots of them then and we often observed them passing by our school. When I first saw them I formed a lifelong memory of these animals, the…
Alyona Krivosheyeva, Association for the Conservation of
Biodiversity of Kazakhstan
Among the priority tasks of the Altyn Dala Conservation
Initiative (ADCI) implemented by ACBK and partners is the efficient
management of protected areas in the ADCI network so they can
achieve their goals. Five year Protected Area Management Plans are
an essential tool for effective management.
Alexander Putilin. Association for the Conservation of
Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, aleksandr.putilin@acbk.kz
In the autumn of 2011 Kazakhstan began building a fence about
1.7 m high, consisting of 8 rows of barbed wire, along the
country's border with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The construction
work was finished by the end of 2012. For about 150 km this border
fence runs across the habitat of the Ustyurt saiga population - a
population causing the deepest concern due to its continuous
decline. The saiga of the Ustyurt Plateau spend most of their time
in Kazakhstan; however, in winter they migrate to Uzbekistan,
crossing the border between the two countries.
Aigul Aitbaeva, Eugenia Samtamova,Yashkul' State Diversified
Gymnasium, aigul-0889@mail.ru
Saiga Day is an international event which has been
celebrated in Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan since 2011. In 2016
young conservationists from Mongolia joined Saiga Day. The holiday
occurs within the calving period and is celebrated in saiga range
areas. The main goal is to shape children's ecological culture and
concepts, to draw adults' attention towards wildlife conservation
issues and to increase knowledge of steppe ecosystems, their
fragility and the necessity for everyone to take part in
conservation.
Russia
Eugenia Samtanova and
Aigul' Aytabayeva, Yashkul State Diversified Gymnasium, aigul-0889@mail.ru
Alyona Krivosheyeva, Association for the Conservation of
Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, alyona.krivosheyeva@acbk.kz
Steppe ecology clubs have been springing up actively within
schools in different regions of Kazakhstan over the last few years,
with the goal of providing ecological education to local children,
with a focus on saiga conservation. The Ustyurt saiga population is
currently the smallest and most threatened, which is why it is
important to make local people aware of the problem of poaching and
to show them the necessity of protecting saiga. Therefore, we
decided to organise a field summer camp for children living in
villages on the Ustyurt Plateau.