Help us to save saigas.
The saiga antelope has roamed the earth since before the Ice Age, but now a sudden and mysterious outbreak of disease threatens the saiga’s existence. In just two and a half weeks between May 10 and May 27, an estimated 120,000 deaths occurred, wiping out more than 35% of the world’s population, and the death toll continues to rise. As of now, the cause of deaths is unclear, but researchers have jumped into action and clearer answers are expected within the next few weeks. We need your help to investigate this outbreak and protect the saigas that remain.
Poaching has traditionally been one of the biggest threats to this endangered antelope, and the current disease is especially devastating because it has decimated the group of saigas that until now has been the largest and the most secure from poaching. This makes it crucial right now to both understand the causes of the outbreak and to increase anti-poaching efforts to protect all of the groups of saigas that live across the Eurasian steppe.
The good news is that the saiga is a remarkably resilient species that has—with help—recovered from devastating population declines before. If we act quickly, we can gather the information that we need to understand what has been wiping out the saigas and how we can stop it from spreading any further. This will also help to mitigate future similar threats.
I hope together we can give the saiga antelope a future. If we act quickly, we can strengthen the critically needed anti-poaching patrol units in order to protect the remaining saigas.
In the meantime researchers can gather the information that we need to understand what has been wiping out these beautiful animals, how we can stop it from spreading any further and to help stop this tragedy from happening again
You can make a donation to the Saiga Conservation Alliance’s emergency fund here: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/saigacrisis
Or here if you are based in the USA: http://wildnet.org/donate?id=18
