Known for its prehistoric appearance, the saiga antelope became an icon among the nomadic peoples of the Steppe, serving as both a food source and a cultural symbol. In the Kazakh language, the term for a saiga calf is kuralai. Not only is Kuralai a common female name, but it also defines the cold and windy days in mid-May, in recognition of the same time when saiga calves are born. 

Despite its cultural significance, poaching and mass disease pushed the saiga near to extinction. In 2003, only 21,000 saiga remained in Kazakhstan. But then the efforts of the Kazakh government and civil society revived the dying population. By April 2024, the Kazakh saiga population reached 2.8 million, and the current population likely exceeds 4 million. Now, in a rather strange twist of fates, the once protected saiga has become a pest for farmers, a delicacy on dinner tables, and a potential source of revenue.

The immense boom of the saiga population in Kazakhstan represents a key success story of governmental measures leading conservation efforts of a unique species. Moving forward, emphasis must be placed on preserving this success, recognizing potential vulnerabilities of the species, and continuing coordination with the relevant local and international actors.

A Living Memory from the Mammoth Steppe

The saiga has inhabited the steppe since the Ice Age, living alongside woolly rhinos and mammoths. Their population stretched across the Eurasian subcontinent, from the British Isles all the way to North America along the Bering land bridge. Today, there are two recognized saiga species. Saiga tatarica makes up 98 percent of Kazakhstan’s antelope population, with the remaining population in Russia. Saiga mongolica, a much smaller population, inhabits Mongolia. 

The saiga’s appearance reflects its endurance in the harsh climate of the steppe, as its reddish coat transforms from short to gray and shaggy during the wintertime. The saiga’s trunk-like nose, arguably its most iconic trait, filters out harmful dust particles in the summertime, while its inflatable nature warms inhaled air in the wintertime. Males use their trunks to resonate mating calls and deploy their horns to fight off rivals and protect their mates.

Unfortunately, the very horns that characterize male saiga also attract the attention of humans. Saiga horns are highly sought after for traditional Eastern medicine, driving much of the poaching that occurs to this day. The sharp spike in poaching in the early 2000s filled demand gaps in illicit markets, and a single saiga horn can sell for as much as $4,000. While exact statistics on saiga horn seizures are limited, Kazakh and Russian border services regularly seize large caches of smuggled horns in motor vehicles.

Saiga populations have further diminished due to the spread of epizootic diseases and the effects of climate change on the abundance of water and vegetation, affecting migratory behaviors. Human infrastructure equally affects saiga migration; since the species is highly mobile, the erection of fences, roads, and railways both reroute individuals and imperil them due to vehicular traffic.

All in all, saiga numbers have been subject to vast fluctuation. Since poachers primarily target males, reproduction rates rapidly declined. Even for a typically resilient species, in which females often birth twins, the high hunting rates nearly wiped out the animal. Prior to the USSR, overhunting shrunk the Kazakh saiga population to just several thousand individuals. Strict quotas and hunting moratoriums were implemented to stabilize the population, bringing it to around 2 million in Kazakhstan and Russia. However, the USSR’s dissolution at the end of 1991 contributed to weakened enforcement measures and rural poverty, forcing people to turn to saiga hunting for both food and profit from its derivatives.

Key Conservation Efforts 

With just 21,000 saiga left in Kazakhstan in 2003, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified it as “critically endangered,” the lowest level before “extinction in the wild.” Over 95 percent of saiga had disappeared from pre-1990 levels, and restoration of the species required strong local regulations in tandem with international agreement. 

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In 1995, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) added the saiga to Appendix II, which regulates the international trade of specimens and derivatives of threatened animal species. Meanwhile, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) moved the saiga to Appendix II, suggesting that range states of the species cooperate to conserve the population. This led to the signing of the Saiga Antelope Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2006, which includes Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The MoU includes the shared facilitation of scientific research, increased surveillance of population trends, measures to reduce poaching, and improved protections of critical habitats.

At a local level, Kazakhstan moved to implement robust anti-poaching measures that reinforced multilateral efforts. The Kazakh government outlawed all saiga hunting in 1999, and violations brought forth strong punishments. Those found guilty of saiga poaching were sentenced to five years in prison, which increased to 12 years in 2019. The stricter punishment followed after poachers killed Yerlan Nurgaliev, a mobile ranger who worked for Okhotzooprom to protect saiga and monitor populations. 

Equally important was the establishment of protected lands through partnerships with civil society. The government, along with international organizations, backed several projects to empower civil society and create protected reserves. For example, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Kazakhstan (ACBK) led the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, which covers a network of up to 5 million hectares for the Betpak-Dala saiga population. ACBK’s recommendations also pushed the government to create the Yrgyz-Torgai-Zhylanshyk wildlife corridor, a state-protected route based on saiga migratory patterns between two reserves. Altogether, the Kazakh government claims that over 30 million hectares of land have been allocated for conservation purposes.

The Current Debate and Commercial Potential

By the end of 2023, the saiga population rebounded to nearly 2 million, and the IUCN reclassified the species as “near threatened.” As the saiga population boomed in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the Kazakhstan government periodically allowed saiga hunts when the population was deemed healthy enough. However, the recent saiga boom has sparked further debate around regulatory measures on population. 

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In particular, rural farmers favor shooting the antelope, having expressed discontent with large saiga herds outcompeting livestock for water and destroying crop fields. A 2022 report by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources estimated $25 million in agricultural damages, transforming the balance between conservation and population regulation into a political and moral question.

Thus, politicians have proposed opening a market for saiga meat and horns, arguing the dual benefits to commercial hunts that regulate the population and increase the supply of red meat. In regions of Kazakhstan with exceptionally large saiga populations, national rangers have been ordered to cull herds. Since saiga hunts opened in July this year, over 90,000 antelope have been shot in Western Kazakhstan Region. Some Kazakhstan zoologists claim that the 4 million saiga should be reduced to 1.6 million—an alarmingly sizable proportion of the total population. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan donated 1,500 saiga to China, with similar reintroduction plans for Uzbekistan as well.

At the 20th (COP20) of CITES that begins on November 24 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the parties will discuss whether commercial exports of saiga horn will be allowed from Kazakhstan’s saiga population. This would not remove saiga from Appendix II of CITES, but it would allow the derivatives of commercial hunting to reach foreign markets. Kazakhstan proposed the continued prohibition of raw horn exports, but this would not preclude the regulated export of finished products from saiga derivatives acquired in country. 

A Cautious Approach to Maintain Prior Success

As the Kazakh government looks to regulate its saiga numbers, any population cull must have strict guardrails to prevent overhunting, and caution must account for known vulnerabilities. For one, poaching remains a common threat; a man was detained in October 2024 for attempting to smuggle 4,500 horns to China. Since most wildlife trafficking occurs by road in Central Asia, proper border regulations and enforcement measures should accompany any rise in the volume of saiga hunting. 

Food and water scarcity, induced by climate change, will alter their movements, which can reduce reproduction and increase encounters with manmade structures and farmlands. Moreover, growing humidity increases the spread of epizootic diseases, as has been demonstrated in the past. In 2015, unusually hot conditions quickened the proliferation of a hemorrhagic bacterium, killing about 200,000 saiga in Kazakhstan alone.

The saiga’s success story in Kazakhstan cannot be understated. The Kazakhstan government played a leading role by working with multilateral organizations and supporting the efforts of private actors. Though the government now aims to regulate the population to quell local dissatisfaction, future action cannot ignore the prior successes achieved with civil society and local ecological expertise. In the end, this living legend of the steppe will require careful observation and whole-of-society cooperation going forward to ensure its protection and promote its peaceful coexistence with human civilization.