The story of Kazakhstan's lost Turan tigers: Hunted to extinction, now making a comeback after 70 years

There was a time when tigers ruled the river forests of Kazakhstan. They stalked wild boar through dense reed beds, hunted Bukhara deer along the Ili River and reigned as the apex predator across Central Asia. Then, within a few decades, they vanished.

After being hunted relentlessly, stripped of their habitat and left without enough prey, Kazakhstan's native Caspian tiger, also known as the Turan tiger, was declared extinct. Now, nearly 70 years after the country lost its last tiger, Kazakhstan has released its first tiger back into the wild, marking the start of one of the world's most ambitious wildlife restoration projects.

How Kazakhstan lost its tigers

The Caspian tiger once roamed a vast territory stretching from modern-day Turkey to western China, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and parts of Iran and Afghanistan. In Kazakhstan, it thrived in the country's unique tugai forests—lush woodlands and reed beds bordering the Ili and Syr Darya rivers and Lake Balkhash.


The tiger's downfall began in the late 19th century during the expansion of the Russian Empire. Viewed as dangerous predators, tigers became the target of organised military hunts. Beginning in 1891, soldiers and special hunting units were deployed to eliminate them.

At the same time, forests were cleared for cotton cultivation, railways fragmented their habitat and settlements expanded deeper into tiger territory. Trophy hunting became widespread, while uncontrolled hunting wiped out much of the tiger's natural prey, including wild boar and Bukhara deer. The Bukhara deer disappeared from the region in 1912, leaving the predators with little to hunt.

By the 1940s, tigers had disappeared from Kazakhstan. The last confirmed sighting in the country was reported in 1948, while the final documented records from Central Asia came in the 1970s. The Caspian tiger was later listed as extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The discovery that made a comeback possible

For decades, scientists believed the Caspian tiger was gone forever.

That changed in 2009 when an international team of researchers analysed DNA from museum specimens of the extinct tiger. Their study revealed that the Caspian tiger and the Amur (Siberian) tiger are genetically almost identical.

The finding transformed conservation plans. Instead of trying to revive an extinct subspecies, scientists concluded that Amur tigers could restore the ecological role once played by the Caspian tiger in Central Asia.

A 15-year plan to bring tigers back

Kazakhstan announced its tiger restoration plans at the International Tiger Conservation Summit in St. Petersburg in 2010.

The country established the Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve in 2018 and began rebuilding an ecosystem that had lacked large predators for decades. Working with WWF and the United Nations Development Programme, conservationists restored more than 4,000 square kilometres of habitat, strengthened anti-poaching measures and reintroduced prey species such as the endangered Bukhara deer and kulan. Wild boar populations also recovered under stricter hunting controls.

According to WWF, the restoration programme spans 15 years. Habitat preparation ran from 2018 to 2024, tiger releases will continue until 2033, and long-term monitoring will extend for at least another 15 years.

The first tiger returns after 70 years

The long wait reached a historic milestone this summer.

Four wild-caught Amur tigers were transferred from Russia's Khabarovsk region to Kazakhstan in May. On July 31, an adult female named Umit became the first tiger released into Kazakhstan's wild in about 70 years.

Another adult male, Amur, is expected to be released after completing behavioural assessments to ensure it can hunt independently and avoid human settlements. Two cubs, Turan and Ussuri, will remain in specially prepared enclosures until they are at least 18 months old.

Two additional Amur tigers, Bogdana and Kuma, brought from the Netherlands in 2024, will remain in captivity as part of a breeding programme. Their offspring could eventually join the wild population.

Preventing conflict with people

Wildlife experts say releasing the tigers is only the beginning. Their long-term survival depends on peaceful coexistence with nearby communities.

Every released tiger carries GPS and radio collars, allowing specialists to monitor movements around the clock. A dedicated response team has been established to intervene if a tiger approaches villages, while residents receive alerts whenever an animal comes within five kilometres of a settlement.

Authorities have also introduced a livestock compensation programme so farmers are reimbursed if tigers attack domestic animals, reducing the risk of retaliation against the predators.

More than the return of a tiger

For Kazakhstan, this is not simply the return of a charismatic species. It is an effort to restore an ecosystem that lost its apex predator more than seven decades ago.

If the programme succeeds, the roar of a tiger—silent across Kazakhstan since the mid-20th century—could once again become part of Central Asia's natural landscape.