It was any conservationist’s worst nightmare come true: Without warning, almost half of the world's endangered saiga antelopes -- mostly mothers and their calves -- dropped dead in a matter of weeks.
At the end of the massive antelope die-off in May 2015, the body count reached an alarming 200,000, and scientists were scrambling for answers. And they've finally found them.
A new report by the Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA) reveals what's behind the massive antelope die-off: a small bacterium known as Pasteurella multocida. Lab tests identified "Pasteurella multocida as the causative agent of haemorrhagic septicaemia [or HS], which led to the death of the animals."
Despite this breakthrough, the saga to save the saiga continues. Conservationists are still grappling with the effects of this unprecedented die-off, and they still need to protect the animals who survived, like the Betpak-Dala saiga population which lost 90 percent its population. Endangered saiga antelope, predominantly young male antelope, continue to be the victims of rampant illegal hunting for their horns used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine and their meat. Other threats to the saiga include: destroyed habitat and migration routes, agricultural abandonment, steppe fires and severe winters.
How is this endangered species expected to survive if bacteria kills the females and hunters kill the males?
In the 1990s, the saiga antelope population was over 1 million, but today their numbers are hovering around 50,000. Sign and share this petition demanding that Kazakhstan crack down on the uncontrolled illegal hunting and other man-made threats. Haven't the saiga antelope been through enough already?
Photo Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters
