Kazakhstani ecology ministry no longer to issue permits to shoot Saiga

The Kazakh forestry and wildlife committee published a draft order at the website Open Normative Legal Acts, saying it will no longer issue permits to shoot Saigas in Kazakhstan, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.

The committee is to exclude Saigas from the public service ‘Insurance of permits for the seizure of species of animals, a population of which is subject to control. So, the government body will no longer control the Saiga population by shooting.

The document is presented for public discussion until May 8.

Earlier it was reported that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is to revoke the decision to cull the Saiga population, which, according to him, are the symbol of the Kazakh Steppe.

The country conducted the Saiga population control between October last and February this year, culling a total of 42 thousand heads of Saiga, which is a mere 12% of the plan.