The increase in the saiga antelope population, according to some experts, has inflicted serious damage to Kazakhstan’s agriculture. Saigas trample crops, and hunters have long proposed controlling the number of these animals through regulated culling. It appears that officials have finally taken this step, but there are critics.

For instance, well-known agro-expert Kirill Pavlov explicitly expresses concerns about the use of barbaric methods and poaching. He fears that this might once again threaten the saiga population with extinction. In his words:

«How about public monitoring during the saiga culling? What do you say, gentlemen from the Ministry of Ecology and Wildlife Management? You mention that you’ll catch saigas with nets. However, this is a purely poaching scheme to avoid spending on bullets — encircle the herd from both sides and tighten the rope. As a result, the animals break their legs and are left lying on the steppe.

Please be kind enough to let the public monitor how you kill these rare animals. Otherwise, there is no trust in you.»

Pavlov had previously mocked the entire idea of regulated saiga culling:

«According to ‘saiga logic,’ we need to cull around 30,000 civil servants. Judge for yourself — corruption does us much more harm than saigas, and not only to farmers. I agree, not all civil servants are corrupt, but not all saigas eat wheat either. Based on scientific evidence, to halt the population growth, 30% of it needs to be eradicated, using saigas as an example.

You can’t sell meat from civil servants anywhere, except maybe as soap (there’s enough fat there), and not all of them have horns. But there are plenty of willing participants on the side of the hunters for such a safari. There you go, a quick way to combat corruption in the country.»