Siberian tigers moved to Kazakhstan by the World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WNF) brought two Siberian tigers from the Netherlands to Kazakhstan last weekend. The male and female tigers, Kuma and Bohdana, will live in a large fenced enclosure in the Ili Balkash Reserve. WNF hopes their offspring will be the first wild tigers in the Asian country, where the species has been extinct for over 70 years.

There are currently 5,500 tigers in the wild globally. They mainly stay in densely populated areas, which regularly leads to incidents with people. This is why the WNF is looking for possibilities to expand their living areas to sparsely populated areas, which led them to Kazakhstan. The goal is for there to be around 50 tigers in the country by 2035.

"After almost 20 years at WWF, this is one of the most special projects I've ever worked on. Because who could have imagined this 15 years ago when we nearly lost the tigers in the wild?" said Gert Polet, a wildlife expert at WWF-NL. "The fact that we are now standing here after years of work offers hope for nature recovery and endangered animal species worldwide."

The animals were transferred from the Netherlands to Kazakhstan by cargo plane and helicopter in special transport crates. They are currently acclimatizing in a temporary stay area before being released in the reservation's fenced area, which is as big as Gelderland.

"We want the best possible future for all the animals in our care, preferably one as close to their natural habitat as possible. It is a dream for our organization that with this project, we can contribute to a species conservation program for tigers in a country where they once belonged," said Robert Kruijff, director of the Lion Foundation, where the tigers come from.