Kazakhstan sees return of wild horses

The first steps into a new home: A Przewalski's horse carefully leaves the container in which it was transported from the Czech Republic to the Kazakh steppe. He will never forget the sight of the animals running into the steppe, Prague Zoo Director Miroslav Bobek told dpa news agency, calling it a "historic moment." The journey to get to this point was a long one.

The "Return Of The Wild Horses" community project of the Prague and Berlin zoos aims to reintroduce the animals to Kazakhstan. Przewalski's horses are one of the last wild horse breeds in the world and were almost extinct for a time. There are now around 2,400 animals worldwide, but only a few live in the wild.

The flight from Prague, for which the animals were sedated, took 15 hours. "We had to deal with many problems, but in the end we successfully transported the three Przewalski's horses over a distance of more than 4,000 kilometers," zoo director Bobek told dpa. The animals will meet four specimens from Berlin Zoo in the Kazakh steppe.

In early June, two mares, Ypsilonka and Zeta the Second, and a stallion, Zorro, arrived at the reintroduction center, where they will get used to life in the Altyn Dala nature reserve. The Prague horses were transported from the airport to their destination in pick-up trucks over unpaved roads. Here a container with a horse is being unloaded.

The four Berlin horses also arrived in Kazakhstan at the beginning of June. Together with the Czech animals, they will form the first herd in the region. Over the next five years, at least 40 horses are to be reintroduced to their natural habitat. The long-term goal is to create a new population of the rare horse species in the wild.

In the past, Prague Zoo has already successfully reintroduced Przewalski's horses to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, including these ones. The animals are well adapted to the extreme conditions of the Central Asian steppes. Przewalski's horses are very hardy. They can live in both icy cold and extreme heat.

The reintroduction is not only intended to preserve the species ― researchers are also hoping for a positive effect on the local flora and fauna. As large grazers, wild horses contribute to open spaces, which can have a positive impact on insects, small mammals and ground-nesting birds. The Przewalski's horses are also said to make the grass steppe more resilient to fires.