Saiga invasion: in western Kazakhstan, animals trample hayfields and destroy crops
Farmers in western Kazakhstan sleep in their fields to protect their crops from saiga invasion that trample hayfields and destroy pastures, leaving no grass for livestock, Khabar 24 TV channel reported.
The difficulty is that the shooting of saigas is prohibited - after all, 9 years ago they were under the threat of extinction. Then there were a little more than 250 thousand individuals. Therefore, the country has tightened the punishment for hunting and selling horns. As a result, the latest census showed that the number of saigas exceeded two million.
It is expected that next year the number of animals will reach 3.5-4 million. Farmers risk losing crops. The Ministry of Ecology decided to regulate the number of saiga by shooting. In the west of Kazakhstan, they planned to destroy 90 thousand heads. However, this idea was opposed by environmental activists, and the issue of saigas remained open in the government, as well as the issue of compensation to farmers.
“We propose regulation of the number by the forces of the authorized body, a specialized organization of our committee. We have “Okhotzooprom”, which previously performed the functions of protecting this species of animals,” Nurlan Kylyshbaev, Chairman of the Forestry and Wildlife Committee of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan said.
Currently, a special commission travels around the villages and calculates the losses of farmers. So far, they concern only fodder grasses. If emergency measures are not taken, the regions may be left without a wheat harvest, the report says.
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