A mysterious and sudden die-off of thousands of Saiga antelope in Kazakhstan has put the critically endangered species in deeper trouble.
According to BBC News, the cause of the die-off is not confirmed, but suspected to be an environmental factor aggravating guttural bacteria typically inactive. The individual's death is swift and violent, but it also brings about the demise of their young.
When the Saiga antelope is infected, its symptoms include severe depression, diarrhea and foaming at the mouth. If they are caring for a calf, the younger animal typically dies within hours of its parent.
"They get into respiratory problems, they can't breathe easily. They stop eating and are extremely depressed; the mothers die and then the calves are very distressed and then they die maybe one or two days later," Richard Kock, from the Royal Veterinary College in London, told BBC News.
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) estimated the loss of Saiga antelope to be more than 120,000 animals. But the recent die-off is especially discouraging because the species was just starting to recover from seeing their numbers dwindle as low as 50,000.
"This loss is a huge blow for Saiga conservation in Kazakhstan and in the world, given that 90 percent of the global Saiga population is found in our country. It is very painful to witness this mass mortality," Erlan Nysynbaev, vice minister of agriculture in Kazakhstan, said in a press release. "We established a working group that includes all relevant experts, including international ones, and are determined to identify the causes and undertake all possible efforts to avoid such events in the future."
