The idea of publishing this post arose after a meeting on 16.08.2023 with the Minister of Ecology and Nature Management Z.B. Suleimenova with the population of the West Kazakhstan region. To be honest, we were waiting for this meeting and hoped that the minister would give clear explanations and answers to solve the most urgent problem today, the conflict between saigas and farmers, the population of the region.

Due to the excessively increased Ural saiga population, a critical situation has developed in the region. A large number of farms, the population of native livestock areas (Bokeyordinsky, Zhanybeksky, Zhangalinsky, Kaztalovsky, Akzhayksky), are on the verge of ruin. Huge herds of saiga have practically destroyed pastures, hayfields and croplands of peasants. Organized peasant farms and owners of private farms may lose their main source of existence – animal husbandry.

However, as the more than 2-hour meeting showed, our expectations were not met. The format of the meeting itself in the form of questions and answers was not entirely successful, since the speakers, due to the limited time frame of the speech, did not have the opportunity to fully explain and convey to the officials the essence and ways to solve the problem.

The problem of saigas in the Urals did not arise suddenly and not today. We all know that in recent years there has been a sharp increase in the population, which on the one hand pleases, but on the other hand has created the problem of competition between representatives of wild fauna and farm animals for fodder and water resources.

The local community, represented by experienced practitioners, representatives of specialized organizations and scientists, has been discussing the problem with the former minister and his team for two years, about a year ago they presented to the ministry a “Concept for regulating the Ural Saiga population”, developed with the participation of the current minister’s team, also participated in the development of a “Conservation Strategy saiga and management of its populations in Kazakhstan” in an online format and face-to-face meeting with foreign experts.

Nevertheless, communication with the Minister Z.B. Suleimenova showed that the minister does not fully control the situation and did not fully understand the situation on saigas and ways to solve it.

On the expanses of social networks there is a draft Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On measures for the management of saiga populations”, paragraph 2 of which reads: “… on the need to take measures to manage the number of saigas in the habitat in the period from September 15 to November 15, 2023, by methods and the general permissible limit for the removal of saigas in accordance with the biological justification”. Time is inexorably passing, there is one month left.

Questions to the Minister of local experts, deputies of the regional maslikhat, members of NGOs – the return of saigas to the area of their former habitat by providing water, the implementation of preparatory measures for the commercial withdrawal of a certain proportion of the Ural saiga population remained unanswered, which indicates the unpreparedness of the relevant ministry.

If the emerging issues are not resolved, at best next year the saiga population will approach 3 million individuals, which will only worsen the problem.

Winter is coming, KOYAN ZHYLY. Kazakhs have a sign: in the year of the Hare, winter can be harsh and snowy. The year of the hare in the memory of people of all generations is remembered as a year of anxiety and anxiety, unfavorable for economic activity.

If we do not urgently solve the problem that has arisen, then there is a more TRAGIC VERSION of the SELF-REGULATION of the wild animal population, through the law of dialectics: “The law of the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones.” The essence of the implementation of this law is reduced (of course, Allah forbid) to the emergence and spread of various diseases that lead to the mass death of saigas. And we have already met this in 2010-2011 in the West Kazakhstan region, 2015 in the Kostanay region.

Outbreaks of various pathologies may be a potential factor limiting the size of the saiga population. Diseases can destroy a significant part of the population. In the analysis of the dynamics of the saiga population since 1980, 11 cases of mass animal deaths have been noted with a frequency of once every 3.6 years. On average, 34% of the entire population died. It is well known that a high density of wild animals increases the likelihood of epizootics. Studies have found that exceeding the population size in excess of the permissible norm is fraught with both diseases within the protected species and the transfer of these diseases to livestock and even to humans.

Currently, due to the rapid growth of the saiga population, the veterinary risks of the occurrence and spread of various diseases of infectious and parasitic etiology are also increasing. This process may worsen, because saigas are in close contact with domestic and agricultural animals, the epizootic situation among which is not entirely safe. (Fig.1,2).

It should be emphasized that our region is disadvantaged by such particularly dangerous diseases as brucellosis, foot–and-mouth disease, parasitic diseases – echinococcosis, cenurosis, blood-parasitic diseases and close contact of wild animals with pets, taking into account their migration to large territories, the spread of diseases can take threatening proportions.

I would like to conclude my post again with the words of N.A. Nekrsov: “THE OLD ONE WAS BURIED, THE NEW ONE … WIPED, GOT INTO HIS CARRIAGE – AND LEFT FOR …”

Chairman of the NGO “Veterinarians of the West Kazakhstan Region”, Director of SIC Veterinary and Biotechnology West Kazakhstan University of Innovation and Technology, Doctor of Veterinary Sciences, Professor Gaisa Absatirov