17/08/2026
Some good news to start the week! A rare Amur tiger has been released in Kazakhstan with the aim of restoring the population. Umit is a female tiger, and her name means “Hope” in Kazakh. This project has been in the works for many years. The Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve, where Umit has been released, has been part of the project since 2018, when the programme started restoring and reforesting the area and introducing prey species that tigers would hunt, such as boar and deer.
Umit is the first of four tigers to be released in the area. She passed all health, hunting, and behavioral assessments and now will be tracked to ensure she adapts to her new environment and that the country can have a healthy population of tigers in the future.
Photo credit: GOV.KZ