Recent Saiga population crash in China highlights how conservation of migratory species can only succeed with international collaboration

Saiga ( Saiga tatarica ) was extirpated in China. Since Mid-1980s, attempts have been made for revival the species in the country, however, only a breeding herd of Saiga was successfully established at Wuwei, Gansu, China. The reintroduced Saiga population experienced a bumpy growth. Then, the population collapsed following the catastrophe die-off in the Saiga ranging countries in Central Asia. After reviewing the population trend and conservation breeding of Saiga in China, we concluded that to establish a migratory species that needs vast range size like Saiga on central Asia steppe, an international collaboration is needed. We recommend China to ratify the CMS in order to facilitate international conservation efforts to restoring the species in its former range.

The Saiga (Saiga tatarica) is a wide-ranging transboundary migratory species of the Central Asian steppes that requires large areas of seasonally differentiated habitats and territories to fulfill its life cycle (Singh et al., 2011). Currently, Saiga survive only in remnant habitats in Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan (Fig. 1). In recent years the Saiga population decreased dramatically following collapse of the USSR in 1991 (Lushchekina and Struchkov, 2001;Milner-Gulland et al., 2001), but subsequently rebounded after two decades of concerted efforts with collaborative international conservation. However, a sudden outbreak of hemorrhagic septicemia caused by bacterium Pasteurella multocida serotype B occurred in 2015, causing the death of more than 200,000 Saiga within a short period of time in Kazakhstan and Russia (Fereidouni et al., 2019). A further mass die-off of Saiga was reported in Mongolia in 2018 due to Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR, Pruvot et al., 2020). This cluster of disease outbreaks has put the once hopeful recovery of Saiga in peril again.
In China, Saiga became extinct in the mid-20 th century due to land cover change and especially over-hunting (Wang et al., 2001). The Wuwei Endangered Wildlife Breeding Centre (WEWBC, Now Gansu Endangered Animal Research Center) was established in Gansu Province in 1987 by the former Ministry of Forestry (now the National Forestry and Grassland Administration former), and as captive breeding population of Saiga was established with introductions from San Diego Zoo, USA and Berlin Zoo, Germany in 1989and 1990(Cui et al, 2016. However, the population grew only slowly during the initial period of establishment. For their part, subsequent attempts to introduce Saiga from Kazakhstan (1991) and Russia (1997) to Xinjiang failed, largely due to high mortality resulting from the stress of long-distance transportation. Only two Saiga from a herd of 21 coming from Kazakhstan survived the translocation in 1991 and both later died. Of a herd of 30 Saiga relocated from Russia to Xinjiang, only one survived the long-distance movement and it was later sent to WEWBC in 1997 (Wang et al., 2001). The Saiga population in WEWBC has not recruited any new blood into the population in the two decades since that time.
From the initial 11 Saiga that arrived in 1989-90, the Saiga population in WEWBC began to increase more substantially in the new millennium and the population size reached over 130 in 2013. However, the population then crashed: first it declined due to bad weather in the winter of 2014, then a disease broke out and drastically reduced the Saiga population to only 20 individuals in 2018 (Fig. 2). The population thus returned to its original size from the mid-1990s at the beginning of the reintroduction program and it is impossible to foresee how long the population will need to recover, in part because of the population's low genetic diversity.
Analyses of the mitochondrial DNA control region and microsatellites from 40 umbilical cord blood samples revealed that genetic diversity was 0.49 and only two haplotypes were found in the population (Zhao et al., 2013). The Saiga is recognized as prone to disease. The infectious disease caused by the blue-tongue virus, BTV, was detected in 4 Saiga brought from San Diego Zoo in 1989, and these were therefore put down at the quarantine stage. More recently, PPR virus is the suspected pathogen that likely caused the mass die-off of Saiga at WEWBC in 2018 (Fig. 2). cross-border Saiga migration routes and to implement or participate in transboundary protection projects, to diversify the genetic base of its own population, to prevent and to control the spread of infectious diseases both internally and across borders, and thus in all of these ways to contribute to establishing a robust, healthy international Saiga meta-population (Jiang, et al., 2020). International conservation expertise in many disciplines and strategic management plans are already available or currently in development through the Saiga Conservation Alliance, providing an established platform for collaboration and action. Furthermore, these proposed avenues for strengthening Saiga conservation may readily be embedded in the framework of China's outward-looking development programming and investments, in particular through the biodiversity-oriented and people-to-people pillars of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (Lechner et al., 2018;Ascensão et al., 2018;Nandintsetseg et al. 2019). Likewise, the upcoming global attention on environmental issues and biodiversity targets at CBD 2020, which will be held in Kunming, China, may serve as unique opportunity to reflect on the role and indeed the necessity for effective, fruitful international collaborations for ecological and socially-sound conservation.
Both the Saiga and the people living in its range countries stand to benefit.
mitochondrial DNA assessment of the genetic diversity of captive Saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica) in China. Chinese Science Bulletin 58: 2163-2167.