Kazakh Poachers killed 500 Saiga in 2010

    By Stan Rogers
    Poachers in Kazakhstan killed 483 endangered saiga antelopes, Kazakhstan Today reported January 19, quoting Interior Ministry spokesman Kuanyshbek Zhumanov.
    Authorities opened 32 criminal cases in response to the poaching, he said. The endangered antelope's population in Kazakhstan fell from 1m in 2000 to 81,000 in 2009, according to Agriculture Ministry statistics.
    The Agriculture Ministry prolonged the ban on saiga hunting from 2011 to the end of 2020, RIA Novosti reported January 18. The saiga is Kazakhstan’s national animal, according to Central Asia Online.