ASTANA — Kazakhstan has released a tiger into the wild for the first time in more than 70 years, marking a historic milestone in a decade-long effort to restore the predator to its former habitat and revive the wider ecosystem of the southern Lake Balkhash region.
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An adult female Amur tiger named Umit, meaning “hope” in Kazakh, was released on July 31 in the Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve in southeastern Kazakhstan. Equipped with a satellite tracking collar, she is now moving independently through an area once inhabited by the extinct Caspian, or Turan tiger, reported the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.
The release represents the first practical stage of Kazakhstan’s tiger reintroduction program and one of the country’s most ambitious wildlife restoration projects.
“Today, we witnessed a truly historic event,” Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbayev said at the release ceremony.
