AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan will be the 1st country to bring wild tigers back to Central Asia, Oscar winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio said.
"Have you heard? Kazakhstan will be the 1st country to bring wild tigers back to Central Asia, where they have gone extinct for nearly half a century!
Wild tigers once prowled from eastern Turkey to the island of Bali - but their home range has since shrunk by over 90%. Kazakhstan’s plan to reintroduce tigers will help protect an important habitat for wildlife + people and contribute to the Tx2 goal to #doubletigers," Leo wrote on his Instagram account.
In early September, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan and the World Wildlife Fund signed a memorandum on the implementation of Tiger Relocation Program aimed at reintroduction of tigers in their historical range - Kazakhstan.
The animals will be reintroduced in the Ili-Balkhash region, according to the program, which also involves the creation of a new nature reserve and the restoration of a forest that is part of the animal’s historical range. The program is likely to take many years. The landscape has to be prepared for the tigers, and the wildlife they feed on reintroduced, before the first tigers are introduced into the reserve in 2025 at the earliest.