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Two threatened Przewalski horses arrive in Russia for species’ reintroduction

Since 2015, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has been carrying out efforts to re-introduce the Przewalski’s horse population at the Orenburg Reserves

MOSCOW, November 21 /TASS/. Several Przewalski’s horses have arrived in the Orenburg Reserves in Russia from the Hortobagy National Park in Hungary with the aim of reinstating the species’ wild population, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said on Monday.

"In the evening of November 20, 2016, fourteen cages with live cargo arrived at the Orenburg Reserves’ Preduralskaya steppe zone where the animals were released into a naturalized enclosure in two stages: first, a group of stag stallions was placed into a 45-hectare enclosure; the reproductive group (or fillies) of Przewalski’s horses was placed into the second enclosure," the Russian ministry reported.

Fourteen Przewalski’s horses from the Hortobagy National Park, including young mares, stag stallions and a stud-stallion, had been in quarantine for a month prior to their departure to Russia. The animals are to undergo a 12-month acclimatization at the Orenburg Reserves.

"Now there are 20 wild horses in the Reserves’ territory. They will make it possible to re-introduce the Przewalski’s horse population to roughly 100 species in Russia in the next ten years," the press service quoted Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment as saying.

Since 2015, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment along with the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Steppe project of the United Nations Development Program has been carrying out efforts to re-introduce the Przewalski’s horse population at the Orenburg Reserves.