Saiga - Rare Central Asian Antelope Species - Hit Hard By Unknown Disease - At Least 200 Killed

More than 200 female saiga antelopes have died in Kazakhstan from an unknown disease, further threatening a species already at risk of extinction from poaching and habitat loss, officials said Thursday.

Kazakh authorities have launched an inquiry to find the cause of the deaths of the saiga, which are listed as critically endgangered by the WWF. No other animal species in the area appeared to have been affected. "We were told Thursday by the hunting and forestry rangers in western Kazakhstan that a fatal zoological disease has badly hit these animals in Janibek district," the regional emergency situations department said.

The region is home to the biggest herds of saigas, the department was quoted as saying by the Interfax Kazakhstan news agency. Numbers of the animals, which live on the steppes of western Kazakhstan, have plummeted during the 1990s from around one million to 50,000, according to the WWF.

Saigas are recognisable by their distinctive bulbous noses, which resemble short trunks. They are also known for their spectacular migrations which involve tens of thousands of animals.



EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Mystery_disease_kills_rare_Kazakh_antelopes_999.html

Updated - may have been poisoned - up to 2,000 killed.

Around 2,000 endangered Saiga antelopes have been found dead in Kazakhstan in a suspected poisoning attack, an environmental official said Friday.

"Around 2,000 dead Saigas have been found," an agriculture ministry official, Yerlan Nysanbayev, told journalists, cited by Interfax-Kazakhstan.

The animals had "swollen stomachs, greenish foam coming out of their mouths and extreme diarrhoea," Nysanbayev said. "Veterinarians say these three symptoms are clear signs of poisoning."

The antelopes were found dead, after inspectors noticed a "grey fog of unknown origin" over their grazing area, Nysanbayev said.

The antelopes' deaths are being investigated, Nysanbayev said. "If we find that people are to blame, we will launch a criminal case."

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/afp/100521102143.l0yvz30w.html