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Saiga Conservation Alliance

Saiga live in a land of extreme climates.

The saiga antelope has evolved to be perfectly adapted to its life in the steppe and semi-arid desert of Central Asia and Russia.
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The Saiga Conservation Alliance works across the saiga’s range to secure its future.

Resembling a character from a Dr. Seuss book, the saiga antelope has evolved to be perfectly adapted to its life in the steppe and semi-arid desert of Central Asia and Russia. It is a relic of Ice Age fauna that included mammoths and saber-tooth cats. The saiga lives in some of the harshest land in the world and migrates long distances between summer and winter lands.

Herds of saiga once numbered in the millions, but today only 160,000 survive. The saiga population crashed by 95% in fifteen years, the fastest decline ever recorded for a mammal species. Saigas are hunted for their meat and their horns, which are believed to have medicinal purposes. The fate of the saiga was closely tied to the economic downfall of the USSR in 1991, which resulted in the collapse of rural economies and in turn led to widespread unemployment and poverty. Saiga poaching provided a source of food and income. Saiga grazing is also threatened by increasing livestock numbers.

The Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA) works across the saiga’s range to secure its future. Recently, the saiga population has begun to increase again, thanks in large part to the efforts of SCA.

 

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Saigas' unique nose helps them in severe climates.

With their large, unusual looking nose saigas can heat up the air in freezing winter temperatures and filter the air in hot, dusty summers. Watch this video from TV network HITN and learn more about this amazing animal and how Saiga Conservation Alliance is working to protect them.
Saiga Conservation Alliance (Elena Bykova)
Women are a powerful voice in the household, and if they see the benefits of saigas as part of their culture, they will tell their sons and husbands not to poach and they themselves will not buy saiga meat.
Elena Bykova

Elena Bykova, Executive Secretary, Uzbekistan

Elena Bykova, a native of Uzbekistan, is a founding member of Saiga Conservation Alliance and a leader for saiga protection in her country. She has a strong background in field research, as well as a unique ability to foster collaboration among community members and influential leaders. Elena won the prestigious Whitley Award for her work with the saiga.

In this young and growing project, Elena and her team are actively making a difference for the saiga antelope and the people of the region.

A Unique Conservation Approach

Saiga Friends

Saiga Friends

Local community members known as Saiga Friends are actively working with SCA to map the distribution and migratory patterns of the saiga. This monitoring helps SCA understand the effects on the saiga of new developments, such as a border fence between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and also empowers Saiga Friends (who include former poachers) to take pride in and earn revenue from the saiga.

Education

Education

SCA brings attention to the plight of the saiga via media appearances, railway station signs, and community-based school talks and puppet shows. They have produced a cartoon about the saiga for children as well as an award-winning saiga documentary and an educational video. The annual Saiga Day is a festive event celebrated in villages throughout the saiga’s range.

Women’s Embroidery Project

Women’s Embroidery Project

To encourage people to stop buying saiga meat in local markets and thus decrease the demand for poaching, SCA helps women set up embroidery collectives. The new income the women receive from selling the embroidery allows them to transition from buying saiga meat to buying more expensive sheep meat. The income can also lessen a husband’s need to poach saiga to provide for his family.

Icon_community

Saiga Friends

Saiga Friends

Local community members known as Saiga Friends are actively working with SCA to map the distribution and migratory patterns of the saiga. This monitoring helps SCA understand the effects on...
Icon_education

Education

Education

SCA brings attention to the plight of the saiga via media appearances, railway station signs, and community-based school talks and puppet shows. They have produced a cartoon about the saiga...
Icon_wise investment

Women’s Embroidery Project

Women’s Embroidery Project

To encourage people to stop buying saiga meat in local markets and thus decrease the demand for poaching, SCA helps women set up embroidery collectives. The new income the women...

Saiga Friends

Saiga Friends

Local community members known as Saiga Friends are actively working with SCA to map the distribution and migratory patterns of the saiga. This monitoring helps SCA understand the effects on the saiga of new developments, such as a border fence between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and also empowers Saiga Friends (who include former poachers) to take pride in and earn revenue from the saiga.

Education

Education

SCA brings attention to the plight of the saiga via media appearances, railway station signs, and community-based school talks and puppet shows. They have produced a cartoon about the saiga for children as well as an award-winning saiga documentary and an educational video. The annual Saiga Day is a festive event celebrated in villages throughout the saiga’s range.

Women’s Embroidery Project

Women’s Embroidery Project

To encourage people to stop buying saiga meat in local markets and thus decrease the demand for poaching, SCA helps women set up embroidery collectives. The new income the women receive from selling the embroidery allows them to transition from buying saiga meat to buying more expensive sheep meat. The income can also lessen a husband’s need to poach saiga to provide for his family.

Impact by the Numbers

35-40% Fill 1 Created with Sketch.

increase of the saiga population in Kazakhstan between 2017 and 2018

2000 Fill 1 Created with Sketch.

children participated in Saiga Day celebrations, awareness activities, and wildlife camps in 2018

$90 will help a woman in rural Uzbekistan buy materials and equipment to start her own embroidery business.

$250 buys an infra-red camera, essential to help locate poachers who operate at night.

$1,200 will buy essential field equipment—such as tents, binoculars, field guides, uniforms, and transportation—to hold eco-camps for children living in remote steppe communities.

Donations of any amount can provide ex-hunters and unemployed men in rural villages with training and technical equipment to monitor and track saiga.

SCA's EJ Milner Talks About Saiga Conservation at Expo

The world population of saigas has crashed by an astounding 95% in the past 20 years, due to threats like poaching for saiga meat and horns and catastrophic disease outbreaks. Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA) is working on the frontlines to tackle these threats to protect saigas.

News & Stories

Saluting Rangers Worldwide on World Ranger Day

Saluting Rangers Worldwide on World Ranger Day

Rangers, forest guards, warriors, scouts, field enforcement officers—the titles they serve under are many, but these brave women and men... Learn More
Guardians of the Saiga: The Rangers of Stepnoi Reserve

Guardians of the Saiga: The Rangers of Stepnoi Reserve

As we bumped along the rutted dirt roads of Stepnoi Reserve in the back of the Land Rover, I found... Learn More
Finding Answers When Disasters Strike Saiga

Finding Answers When Disasters Strike Saiga

In May 2015, over 200,000 saiga antelopes in central Kazakhstan died in just three weeks, more than a third of... Learn More
Celebrating the Weird and Wonderful

Celebrating the Weird and Wonderful

Some animal species look a little weird, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, there’s something wonderful about the... Learn More
From Uzbekistan to Kenya: Saiga Conservation Alliance Shares Conservation Learnings in Africa

From Uzbekistan to Kenya: Saiga Conservation Alliance Shares Conservation Learnings in Africa

What was a stuffed saiga antelope doing in Kenya? The little toy saiga traveled the whole way from Uzbekistan with... Learn More
Is Imagination the Key to Saving Mother Earth?

Is Imagination the Key to Saving Mother Earth?

In this TED Talk, Olya Esipova—a passionate conservationist and Research Assistant and Educational Programs for WCN partner Saiga Conservation Alliance—talks... Learn More
Muraling for Saigas in Uzbekistan

Muraling for Saigas in Uzbekistan

This spring, the Saiga Conservation Alliance collaborated with renowned British wildlife artist Rory McCann as well as with local children... Learn More
Saiga Antelopes Decimated by Mysterious Disease

Saiga Antelopes Decimated by Mysterious Disease

The saiga, characterized by its distinctive snout, is an antelope that lives in the dry grasslands and semi-deserts of Kazakhstan,... Learn More
The Resiliency of Saiga Antelopes

The Resiliency of Saiga Antelopes

Like something out of the Twilight Zone, in just a few weeks, more than half of all saiga antelopes left on this... Learn More
The Next Generation of Saiga Conservation

The Next Generation of Saiga Conservation

Nineteen-year-old Olga Espiova may know more about the endangered saiga antelope than any other teenager in the world. Her parents,... Learn More
The Lesser Known Victims of the Illegal Wildlife Trade

The Lesser Known Victims of the Illegal Wildlife Trade

Not all of the species affected by the illegal wildlife trade are as well-known as rhinos and elephants. Two of... Learn More
Saigas Begin to Recover From Crisis

Saigas Begin to Recover From Crisis

The saiga antelope, characterized by its distinctive snout, has roamed the dry plains of the Eurasian steppe since before the... Learn More
Saiga Success: Population in Kazakhstan Doubles in Five Years

Saiga Success: Population in Kazakhstan Doubles in Five Years

The saiga antelope’s distinguishing characteristics are its rather unusual oversized nose and its rapid rate of extinction since the 1990s.... Learn More
UPDATE- More Than 2500 Mongolian Saigas Die in a Disease Outbreak

UPDATE- More Than 2500 Mongolian Saigas Die in a Disease Outbreak

Our partners at Saiga Conservation Alliance have provided us with an update from the field in April, 2017. They are sad... Learn More
Using Art to Create Conservation Culture

Using Art to Create Conservation Culture

This is part of our ongoing series about technology and conservation. Our previous installments are here and here. Sometimes the... Learn More
Photography Credits: Jean-Francois Lagrot, Eugeny Polonsky
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