Breitenmoser U. 2002. Feasibility study on re-introduction in . Cat News:13-15.

Keywords: 4TM/Acinonyx jubatus/African cheetah/Asiatic cheetah/cheetah/conservation/extinction/ herbivores/management/population/prey/protection/re-introduction/recovery/ release/subspecies

Abstract: The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) persisted in Turkmenistan until the late 1970s, but is considered to be extinct today. Turkmenistan, as a neighbour of with the last Asiatic , can play an important role in the conservation of the Asiatic cheetah. The prey base for an re-introduction is totally insufficient and Turkmenistan should give high priority to the protection, the recovery, and the proper management of the herbivore populations. Besides, the release of African cheetahs would be problematic because they are listed as a different subspecies. Any decision regarding a cheetah reintroduction programme in Turkmenistan is premature at the moment.

38 Feasibility Study on Re-Introduction of Cheetah in Turkmenistan

by Urs Breitenmoser*

ntroduction bandry, but the stock has declined from ously exceeded the carrying capacity of I 300,000 to 45,000 over the past 10 years. the habitat, and the reintroduction of a The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus This relieves the area from overgrazing and large predator, such as the cheetah, would venaticus) persisted in Turkmenistan un- increases the capacity for wild grazers. A have been possible in the light of the local til the late 1970s. Atamuradov et al. (1999) kulan wild ass (Equus hemionus ) ecological conditions. In the difficult years and Lukarevsky (2001) mention some un- reintroduction project is ongoing. Chee- after Turkmenistan’s independence, over- confirmed reports from the 1980s and even tahs were still observed until the mid-1950s, harvesting and illegal reduced the in the 1990s for the Ustjurt Plateau in the when the border fence to Iran was built. herbivore populations to critical levels. north of the country, but all authors con- This fence, situated several kilometres in- Today, the authorities are regaining con- sider the cheetah to be extinct today. side Turkmenistan, still divides the Maena trol, supported by non-governmental con- Soon after the cheetah finally vanished, Chaacha steppe and prevents wildlife mi- servation organisations. The armed forces wildlife biologists and nature conserva- gration between the flat lands in in the Batchys area now co-operate with tionists started to discuss possible reintro- Turkmenistan and the foothills of the conservationists, and poaching by locals duction (e.g. Borodin 1984, Atamuradov Kopetdag in Iran. Gazelles (Gazella is diminishing. The kulan population is et al. 1999; see also contributions in Cat subgutturosa), which would likely be the increasing slowly. Trophy hunting inside News 8 and 9, 1988). Turkmenistan was main prey of cheetah, exist nowadays only the reserve has been stopped, but a con- the last of the former Soviet republics outside the fence. The reason for the ab- cept for the sustainable use of the game where the cheetah existed, and it was es- sence of the gazelle in the main part of populations by local and foreign hunters pecially important for the Asiatic cheetah Maena Chaacha is said to be poaching, outside the reserve is still lacking. because the country linked the cheetah but also the fact that they are cut off from Ustjurt Plateau with the Gaplangyr habitat in the Central Asian steppe around the hills, which are seasonally important reserve (~40°53’N / 56°60’E, area 3 in Fig. 1) Lake Aral with the cheetah population in when the flats dry out. was the last resort for the cheetah in Cen- Iran. Batchys reserve (35°53’N/61°46’E, area tral Asia. We visited the Gaplangyr Viktor Lukarevsky, a renowned cat spe- 2 in Fig. 1) is a zapovednik, a fully pro- zapovednik and then the southern part of cialist and a long-term resident in tected area with restricted access. The the Ustjurt Plateau, westwards parallel to Turkmenistan, recently revived the initia- originally huge reserve is now reduced to the border with and tive in favour of the cheetah in 2 an area of 877 km , but the surroundings . The habitat is steppe, but the Turkmenistan. He submitted a proposal for of Batchys includes also two zakazniks dominating landscape features are escarp- a feasibility study to WWF International (partly protected areas) and steppe with ments and large saltpans. The steppe was and to the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. A extensive agricultural use, which can be central point of the proposal was an expe- used to graze large domestic sheep flocks incorporated into a conservation strategy. in Soviet times, but the sheep are gone. dition to the Ustjurt Plateau in the triangle The reserve was world-famous for its large The southern Ustjurt Plateau is the of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and populations of kulan, gazelle and urial winter range of the saiga (Saiga Uzbekistan to assess the habitat quality (Ovis orientalis arkal). This former wealth tatarica). The escarpments and the steppe and the prey base for the possible return is gone, reduced through poaching by lo- are the living space of urial and gazelle, of the cheetah. I was invited to take part in cals and the military, but also trophy hunt- this expedition, which took place in May ing by foreign hunters. Atamuradov et al. respectively, and kulan have been reintro- 2002. I will briefly summarise the findings, (1999) still reported a population of 7,300 duced into the Gaplangyr. However, we my personal impression, and the recom- kulan, when, in fact, the population was did not spot any large during mendations of the Cat Specialist Group already reduced to 300-400 . To- the whole trip, even though the open land- regarding the reintroduction of the chee- day, the Ministry of Nature Protection, in scape is easy to view. We found tracks tah in Turkmenistan. collaboration with WWF and other NGOs, and droppings of urial, gazelle and kulan, is making big efforts to regain control and but not frequently and rarely fresh. The The Areas Visited the populations are starting to recover. region is not inhabited and very remote. However, the increase is very slow, prob- Nevertheless, tracks of cars and motorcy- We first visited the south-eastern part of ably also as a consequence of the drought cles, even far away from the few roads, Turkmenistan, a steppe area bordering Iran of the past years. and inside the reserve were abundant. and Afghanistan. This region has two The cheetah disappeared from the Hunting or poaching seems to be impor- large protected areas, the Maena Chaacha southeast of Turkmenistan in the 1950s, tant even in these regions far away from and the Batchys, and was generally de- when large carnivores were still persecuted the nearest settlements. Not only residents scribed as an area rich in wildlife. as pests. The herbivore populations hunt in this area. An officer of an army Maena Chaacha reserve (36°47’N/ steadily increased and reached their peak post told us that an Arab hunting party, 60°34’E, area 1 in Fig. 1) is not a fully pro- in the late 1980s. At that time, the herbiv- with at least 70 four-wheel drive vehicles, tected area. It is still used for sheep hus- ore abundance in the Batchys area obvi- roamed the area in December 2001.

CAT News 36 13 Fig 1. Protected areas in the re- gions visited in Turkmenistan. 1 Maena Chaacha reserve (about 3,000 km2) 2 Batchys reserve (877 km2) 3 Gaplangyr reserve (2828 km2) in the south-east of the Ustjurt Pla- teau. 2 and 3 are zapovedniks (fully pro- tected areas with restricted access), whereas 1 is a zakaznik with lim- ited agricultural use.

Our Ustjurt expedition came to an early points or requirements must be consid- team and an adequate infrastructure. end when the team was deported from the ered before any detailed planning can start: A project team can be assembled, but Kazakh border by a military patrol in spite the infrastructure will be a problem. 1. Ecological prerequisites. Suitable of our permits from the Ministry of Na- Whereas in the south, in the Maena cheetah habitat is available in the ture Protection. But even from this rela- Chaacha or Batchys area, a certain in- north-west as well as in the south-east tively short visit, the verdict was clear: frastructure is already in place, in the of Turkmenistan, both within and out- There is no prey base for a reintroduction north, in the Gaplangyr/Usjurt region, side protected areas. The protected of the cheetah in the north-west of nothing is available. A close surveil- areas might be a centre for a popula- Turkmenistan. lance of released animals there would tion, but any viable population will be very difficult or very expensive. The stretch far beyond the reserves. As a two areas differ, among other things, onclusions and consequence of the considerable de- C in regard to their distance from the re- crease in domestic stock, wild herbiv- Recommendations maining cheetah population in Iran. A ores, if properly managed, might ex- reintroduction in the north would have Turkmenistan can play an important role pand into these areas. At the moment, no immediate consequences for the in the conservation of the Asiatic chee- the prey base is poor even in the conservation of the cheetah in Iran; tah. It is a neighbour of Iran, which has zapovedniks. the last Asiatic cheetahs. Turkmenistan any reintroduction in the south must 2. Wildlife management and law en- has the potential habitat to host a cheetah involve consideration of the situation forcement. The Ministry of Nature population, and it offers a corridor to the and the conservation strategy in the Protection of Turkmenistan has made central Asian steppes in the vicinity of neighbouring country. a strong commitment regarding wild- Lake Aral, which used to be the home of 4. Availability of cheetahs. Any reintro- life protection. But there can be no this fascinating cat. Nevertheless, the prey duction programme in Turkmenistan doubt that years of hard work for train- base for a reintroduction is totally insuffi- must be considered in the context of ing staff, building infrastructure and cient. For the years to come, Turkmenistan the conservation of the Asiatic chee- public education lie ahead to imple- should give high priority to the protec- tah. Former projects proposed to get ment the laws on nature protection. tion, the recovery, and the proper man- animals from Iran or to use African Most of the protected areas in agement of the herbivore populations. cheetahs. Nowadays, the cheetah Turkmenistan are remote and conse- These years can be used for an in- population in Iran is too weak to act as quently difficult to survey. Further- depth discussion of many important and a source, and there is only one Asiatic more, proper wildlife management for problematical aspects of reintroduction of cheetah known to be in captivity. the long-term conservation of all wild- cheetahs in . The reintroduc- life and sustainable harvest of game tion of any (large) cat is a difficult endeav- The release of African cheetahs would species outside the protected areas is our – and should be carried according to be problematic, and controversial. Asiatic needed. the IUCN Guidelines for Reintroductions cheetahs are listed as a different subspe- – and in the case of the Asiatic cheetah, 3. Project background. Any reintroduc- cies. An assessment of the species’ tax- where the potential source population it- tion programme needs adequate prepa- onomy based on genetic differences is self is Critically Endangered, it is especially ration and monitoring of the released currently under way (S. O’Brien, pers. delicate. Among others, the following animals. This requires a well-trained Com.). Even if the genetic separation turns

14 Spring 2002 out to be minimal, it would still have to be Weighing 10-13 kg, the Iberian lynx is tested whether African cheetahs can adapt Spanish Government little more than half the size of the Eura- to the cold Central Asian winter. It is clear Conservation Plan sian lynx (Lynx lynx) found from western that any proposal to release African chee- Europe to the Russian Far East. It is more tahs in Asia would provoke a fundamen- for Iberian Lynx heavily spotted. tal dispute within the conservation soci- The government plan involves coop- ety. We must however bear in mind that eration with non-governmental organisa- we might face the alternative of losing the tions, such as WWF, and also aims to im- cheetah from Asia or supplementing the he Spanish government has prove access to water for the scattered remaining gene pool with African animals. announced a US$7 million populations as well as removing man-made Any decision regarding a cheetah re- Tplan to save the Iberian obstacles to movement, such as roads. An introduction programme in Turkmenistan lynx (Lynx pardinus), the most en- increase in road networks in Spain and is premature at the moment. However, on dangered cat species, which is now improvements that have led to faster mov- behalf of the Cat Specialist Group, I pro- thought to number fewer than 300 ing traffic has led to many deaths of lynx pose that all governmental and private in- in the wild. as they crossed. A few days after the gov- stitutions involved continue to create the ernment announcement, two were killed on roads close to the Doñana National conditions needed for the return of this Environment Minister Jaume Matas Park, near Seville, one of its last sanctuar- charismatic creature and integrate the pro- said on 27 March that the aim was to raise ies. posal for a reintroduction of the cheetah lynx in captivity and to protect the moun- Some funds will also go toward cam- in Turkmenistan within the wider context tainous scrubland refuges in central and eras and DNA testing to monitor the sur- of saving the Asiatic cheetah. south-western Spain where the wild sur- vival of lynx populations. vivors live in heavily fragmented habitat. As part of the plan, the Environment Only four lynx are in captivity and there Acknowledgements Ministry will also help finance a project to has been no breeding of the endangered raise lynx cubs in captivity at Jerez Zoo in This invitation offered me the opportunity cats. the south of Spain. Inigo Sánchez, direc- not only to look into the cheetah project, Loss of the Iberian lynx would be the tor of the zoo, is seeking 12 healthy ani- but also to learn more about Turkmenistan, first extinction on record of a cat species mals to initiate an effective reproduction and to meet many local nature conserva- for at least 2,000 years. programme. Two female kittens have been tion specialists. I am grateful to the Ten years ago the lynx, once found captured, but no males are available at Turkmen Ministry of Nature Protection throughout the Iberian peninsula, was es- present. (Vice-Minister Dr Makhdum Kuli timated to have declined to 1,200 confined Last year a third female was found close Aknuradov) and to WWF International (Dr to south-western Spain, with a few in to death in Doñana and brought to the Hartmut Jungius and Dr Olga Pereladova) neighbouring Portugal. The decline is at- zoo. Although not expected to survive, for the invitation and support in obtaining tributed to the crash in the population of she now weighs 9 kg and has been moved the visa; to Dr Viktor Lukarevsky and his its main prey, the rabbit, due to the intro- to the El Acebuche Centre in Doñana, team for the professional organisation of duced virus myxomatosis, followed by Vi- home to two ageing female lynxes, which the trips in Turkmenistan; and to Dr David ral Haemorrhagic Fever. may now be past reproduction. Mallon, who provided a lot of baseline in- formation and helped me with the Russian literature in preparing for the journey. References Reintroduction of Canada Lynx in Colorado Atamuradov H. I., Fet G. N., Fet V., Valdez R. & Feldman W. R. 1999. Biodiversity, genetic diversity, and olorado wildlife officials are pleased with the progress of their protected areas in Turkmenistan. programme to reintroduce Canada lynx to the state. State biolo- Journal of Sustainable Forestry, Cgist Gene Byrne said the overall mortality rate among from the ½: 73-88. total of 96 lynx received in the winters of 1999 and 2000 from Alaska Borodin A. M. 1984. Red book or the and British Columbia and the Yukon was what was expected at the out- USSR. Lesnaya promyshlennost’, set. There was, however, a great improvement in survival rates in the Moskva (cheetah pp. 48-49, compiled second year, once wildlife officials had a better understanding of the by A. G. Bannikov). cats. Lukarevsky V. 2001. Leopard, striped hyena and wolf in Turkmenistan. “We are still tracking 44 of them on a regular basis and there are 13 missing, but that Signar, Moskva. (In Russian; English does not mean they are dead,” Byrne said in an interview with the Whitehorse Star. The edition in preparation.) missing lynx might have wandered out of the study area; their radio collars might have stopped working, or both. * Joint Chair, IUCN Cat Specialist Group. Of 39 confirmed deaths, nine were from starvation, five were killed on the roads; five were shot illegally and one was killed by another predator, probably a bobcat. Byrne said

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