It’s estimated that almost 120,000 of the iconic antelope – endemic to Central Asia – have died in less than a month in Kazakhstan. Within days of the outbreak, 27,000 deaths were reported, prompting the Kazakh government to request investigative assistance from the UN Convention on Migratory Species. A team of scientists and vets have now presented their initial findings to government officials.



Alarmingly, they found that the disease has a 100% mortality rate in calves and adults, which is thought to be unprecedented. Those animals infected die quickly from breathing difficulties and severe diarrhoea. Tissue samples have helped the scientists to narrow the number of likely viral causes to just three, but further testing is required.

One of the main reasons for the shocking speed at which the outbreak struck is due to the fact it occurred when the females were calving and the births all usually take place in the same week, expediting the spread of the deadly bacteria.

Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, they numbered well over a million, before pressures on food supply led to a sharp increase in the numbers of Saiga being hunted. Demand from China for their horns was also a major factor for their decline. The Saiga were already classed as Critically Endangered and have been susceptible to previous disease epidemics in the past, but not on this scale.

See below for a link to photos and further information on the species.

http://www.arkive.org/saiga-antelope/saiga-tatarica/