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Saiga antelope: recovery and culling in Kazakhstan

After the saiga population recovered in Kazakhstan, authorities began population control in 2025 because of conflicts with farmers.

The spring 2026 census counted more than 4.6 million saigas in Kazakhstan, about 2.7 million of them in the Ural population; in the early 2000s there were fewer than 25,000. About 196,000 animals were culled between July and November 2025 under population regulation. In Mongolia a separate subspecies numbered 23,215 in October 2024, and disease such as peste des petits ruminants and dzud winters remain threats.

Species

Needs

• habitat
• anti-poaching

Who is helping

Organisations that, according to their own publications, work on this event (1). Donations go directly to each organisation's own website - GLOBURNS does not handle payments.

• Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
  WCS protects wildlife and wild places through field programmes worldwide and zoos in New York. In the DRC it supports Kahuzi-Biega National Park, the Okapi Wildlife…
  Donate on the organisation's website (secure.wcs.org)

Sources

• astanatimes.com astanatimes.com/2026/06/kazakhstans-saiga-population-surpasses-4-6-million/
• astanatimes.com astanatimes.com/2025/12/kazakhstan-reports-record-saiga-numbers-advances-management-measu…
• newsroom.wcs.org newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/21627/Unprecedented-Cons…
• saiga-conservation.org saiga-conservation.org/2025/01/23/mongolian-saiga-population-reaches-23215/

Seed record, before editorial verification. Every number links to its source; report errors on the Corrections page. Methodology · Corrections

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