Tigers will soon roam Kazakhstan for the first time in over 70 years, as conservationists make a giant effort to restore parts of their lost habitat.
The last of Kazakhstan’s Caspian tigers disappeared in the late 1940s, after years of hunting, habitat loss and a decline in prey numbers. Now the Central Asian country has an ambitious plan to reintroduce the world’s largest cats to its historic lands.
Last year, Kazakhstan’s tiger reintroduction program — led by the government of Kazakhstan with support from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the United Nations Development Program — planted 37,000 seedlings and cuttings near a giant lake in southeastern Kazakhstan’s South Balkhash region, where tigers used to live, according to WWF Central Asia. This adds to the 50,000 seedlings planted between 2021 and 2024.
Tree planting is a key part of Kazakhstan’s massive ongoing green initiative. The country has planted about 1.4 billion trees since 2021, and officials say they are on track to reach 2 billion trees by 2027.
In Southern Balkhash, newly planted trees serve as a foundation for restoring ecosystems located along already forested lands. The trees provide shelter and access to water, as well as food for the tiger’s prey: large mammals (ungulates) such as wild boar and Bukhara deer (Cervus elaphus bactrianus, also called Bactrian deer).
“Already, wild ungulates have been seen feeding in the restored sites, indicating that the ecosystem is starting to function,” a spokesperson for WWF Central Asia told LiveScience in an email. “Each seedling planted is therefore a direct contribution to the future of the tiger in Kazakhstan.”
The planting zone encompasses about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of shoreline along Lake Balkhashwhich covers approximately 17,000 square kilometers and is the largest lake in Central Asia and the 15th largest lake in the world. The new vegetation – which includes 30,000 narrow-leaved oleaster seedlings, 5,000 willow cuttings and 2,000 turanga poplar seedlings – creates growing “islands” of forest that regulate water flow to stabilize floods and overflows.
WWF Central Asia attributes the increase in plantings in 2025 to the accumulated experience of its staff, as well as to factors such as improved planting techniques and expanded partnerships. However, the pace of ecosystem recovery and its suitability for tigers will depend on a number of factors, including climate, stability of water resources and growth of vegetation.
Bringing back tigers
The tigers that used to live in Kazakhstan were part of a now-extinct Central Asian population known as Caspian tigers. However, the living Amur tigers found in the Russian Far East and China (and potentially North Korea) may serve as suitable substitutes. A study from 2009 published in the journal PLOS One found that Caspian and Amur tigers were probably part of the same population until human activity forced them apart in the 1800s, meaning they are essentially the same animal.
The reintroduction program welcomed two captured Amur tigers in 2024, and they seem to have adapted well to life in Kazakhstan. These tigers, a female named Bodhana and a male named Kuma, came from a wildlife sanctuary in the Netherlands in 2024 and currently live in an enclosure in the Ile-Balkash Nature Reserve. Bodhana and Kuma are used to life in captivity, so they will never be released, but the hope is that their offspring will form part of a new founder population of Kazakh tigers.
But since there is no guarantee that Bodhana and Kuma will breed or produce suitable offspring, the bulk of the new stock will consist of wild tigers imported from Russia.
Officials in Kazakhstan expect to receive the first tigers from Russia in the coming months. WWF Central Asia told LiveScience that it has not been confirmed where the Russian tigers came from, but “based on publicly available information and recent media reports, it is understood that the Amur tigers expected in the first half of 2026 are from the wild.”
Reintroducing large carnivores is one delicate and risky processespecially when these predators are capable of harming humans and livestock. But it can be done; a study from 2024 published in Journal of Wildlife Management found that an attempted tiger reintroduction in Russia was largely a success. Scientists took care of six orphaned wild cubs and prepared them for reintroduction into their natural habitat. The tigers caught their own prey and survived.
However, the study noted that a rehabilitated tiger killed several livestock, including more than 13 goats in a single incident, and failed to demonstrate sufficient fear of humans. That tiger was then recaptured and placed in a zoo.
WWF Central Asia said Kazakhstan’s program is prepared to resolve any incidents involving human conflict with the released tigers. Measures include creating a special team that will continuously track released individuals and respond to any potential human-wildlife conflicts.
“The group’s main tasks include regular patrols, monitoring tiger movements via satellite collars, early detection of potential approaches to settlements and rapid response measures,” said the spokesperson for WWF Central Asia.
The program also works with local communities to raise awareness about tigers and how to behave in their presence, as well as promoting sustainable development in these communities by offering subsidies for agriculture and ecotourism, according to WWF Central Asia.
“All this is part of a long-term strategy for peaceful coexistence between humans and carnivores,” the spokesperson said. “A compensation scheme is also planned for local residents in cases where tigers cause loss of livestock.”
