Astana, Jun 11 (EFE).- The first seven endangered Przewalski’s horses have returned to the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, their natural habitat, as part of an international project involving several European countries, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
“We have brought the horses home to Kazakhstan. We thank our partners in Europe for that fantastic project,” Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko told EFE.
Following the successful reintroduction of Przewalski’s horse in Mongolia, where its population is increasing, the Kazakh government requested assistance from the Prague Zoo for the same goal.
In the next five years, the Kazakh authorities plan to reintroduce another 40 horses to the Kostanay steppe.
The first seven equines arrived from the Czech Republic to the Kazakh town of Arkalyk in the center of the country, from where they were taken to Altyn Daly (Kazakh for “Golden Steppe”).
Several zoos are involved in the project, including Berlin and Nuremberg in Germany, and Hortobágy in Hungary.
Also collaborating in the initiative are the Frankfurt Zoological Society (Germany), the Kazakhstan Committee for Forestry and Wildlife, the Prague Zoo, and the Kazakhstan Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity.
Przewalski’s horses virtually disappeared completely from the wild in the late 1960s. Special programs in European zoos created a captive population strong enough to be reintroduced in countries where the species used to live.
Endangered species
Przewalski’s horse (Equus przewalskii Poljakov) was listed as a rare and endangered animal species in 2021 and is also listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The steppe territory of the Altyn Dala state nature reserve in the Kostanai region, created in 2012 with a total area of 489,766 hectares, was chosen to release the animals.
Recently, Kazakh scientists and representatives of the republic’s Ministry of Ecology decided to use the ancient Kazakh word “Kerkulan” for Przewalski’s horse. EFE