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Disease Threatens Mongolia's Saiga Antelope Population

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Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
Saiga feed on a plain outside Almaty.
2/8 Saiga feed on a plain outside Almaty.
Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
3/8
Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
4/8
Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
5/8
Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
Men load a trailer with carcasses of dead saiga antelope in western Kazakhstan in 2010.
6/8 Men load a trailer with carcasses of dead saiga antelope in western Kazakhstan in 2010.
Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
A dead saiga with its horns removed
7/8 A dead saiga with its horns removed
Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
Men load a trailer with carcasses of dead saiga antelope in western Kazakhstan in 2010.
8/8 Men load a trailer with carcasses of dead saiga antelope in western Kazakhstan in 2010.
Hundreds of rare saiga antelopes have been killed in Kazakhstan’s northern Qostanai Oblast. At least 508 females, four males, and 31 fawns have been found dead. Some estimates say only around 50,000 saiga survive, after years of unrestricted hunting following the Soviet collapse.
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A disease has killed 2,500 critically endangered Saiga antelope in Western Mongolia since the beginning of the year, scientists say.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists told the BBC that the deaths were caused by a virus known as PPR.

The disease, which originated in livestock, could now threaten Mongolia's entire Saiga population, the researchers said.

There is concern for the impact on the wider grassland ecosystem, particularly on the populations of animals the snow leopard preys on.

"Many other species share this same range," WCS veterinary scientist Enkhtuvshin Shiilegdamba said, "including ibex and big-horned sheep."

The Saiga carcasses are burned to prevent the spread of the disease and domestic livestock in the affected area have been vaccinated.

But Amanda Fine, a vet with the WCS, said "further immunization" was needed in both Saiga range areas and in the habitats of other affected species.

A distinctive Saiga antelope subspecies inhabits the steppes and semidesert regions of Kazakhstan and Kalmykia in Russia, although in winter some animals reach Uzbekistan and northern Turkmenistan, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

Based on reporting by the BBC
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