ASTANA MOTORS SUPPORTED THE PROJECT TO SAVE SAIGA

Ak Boken Reserve has at its disposal 1.2 million hectares of specially protected territory enforced with a ban on any hunting and fishing. Despite these prohibitions, poachers continue to inflict damage to the animal population, destroying saigas because of their horns and meat.

«Astana Motors is supporting the SOS — Saiga project. We are grateful to the organizers for undertaking such important and necessary work. We hope that by our joint efforts we will be able to create conditions for the restoration of the saiga population and the preservation of this unique animal,” said President of Astana Motors Nurlan Smagulov.

In order to protect this area, Astana Motors donated three UAZ Patriot vehicles, and two more UAZ vehicles and a KAMAZ-kunga vehicle were bought for the charity with the support of other companies.

A team of eleven specially trained inspectors was formed, and necessary GPS equipment as well as special uniforms were purchased.

The team of inspectors will protect the territory of the reserve from poachers and help to create additional conditions for increasing the saiga population.

«SOS — Saiga” is a large-scale time-phased project aimed at protecting, preserving, and restoring the species' population. The goal of the project is to provide targeted assistance to the reserves, national parks, and hunting inspection services.

In 2002, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) included saiga in the CR category, meaning «in critical condition”. In recent years, due to intensive and uncontrolled hunting, the number of saigas has decreased ten times, and more than 134 thousand animals died during the mass loss of 2015 that further reduced the number of the entire population by half.