The saiga antelope once roamed from England to Alaska and, as recently as the eighteenth century, from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains to Mongolia. Hunting and habitat fragmentation has resulted in the saiga being classified as Critically Endangered by The World Conservation Union (IUCN). Over the past decade, its population in Russia has plummeted by over 90 percent, one of the fastest declines of any animal species in recent history. The main driving force behind this decline is selective poaching for saiga horns, which only males have, leading to a heavily skewed sex ratio and low reproduction.
Due to this species' status in the wild, Denver Zoo helps fund this important conservation project. The main goals of the project are to increase public awareness, strengthen the local ranger service to better combat poaching, continue the captive breeding program, and establish a saiga monitoring program.
Members of the research team modernized the captive breeding center that was built in 2000, and continued working on re-introducing members of the species back into the wild. Additionally, a visitor’s center was added to the facility to enhance public awareness. Researchers also went into the local community to educate the local people about the crisis state of the species. Another major part of the project is working with the local rangers. New rangers were trained, their vehicles were repaired, and fuel was purchased so they could patrol more areas of the Stepnoi sanctuary and the Chernye Zemli Biosphere Reserve.
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