Population of gazelles increasing in Azerbaijan

/AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Slender gazelles are considered as one of the most beautiful animals in the world. Watching the speedy-running and high-jumping gazelles can give an aesthetic pleasure to everyone, especially when they are literally frozen in the air.

These fabulous creatures are fearful, graceful and mistrustful. They always pass through Jungles and deserts with a bated breath.

The image of gazelle has widely entered the culture and literature of all peoples in the East, including the Caucasus since long time ago. Their unusual beauty hasn't left indifferent Azerbaijani poets and singers. As they still sing the songs, describing their lovers' eyes as beautiful as that of a gazelle.

Being like a graceful porcelain figurines, gazelles are not spread throughout the world. They are mostly found in arid and semiarid regions of Iran, Afghanistan and western Pakistan, Mongolia and South China, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Azerbaijan is one of those lucky regions where these wonderful animals dwell. Their fossils are found in the South Caucasus in the upper Miocene period, aged about 2 million years ago.

Gazelle was an important object of hunting during Stone Age. Many pictures on the rocks of Gobustan - the famous refuge of the ancient human- point to the role that the animal played in the life of primitive people.

Unfortunately, their number has been decreasing dramatically, and now they are listed in the "Red List" of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The history of gazelles in the Caucasus is relevantly sad. Only less than a century ago, numerous herds of graceful gazelles were grazing in all the valleys and foothills regions of the Southern Caucasus.

However, they began to disappear in the territory of Azerbaijan. Humans hunting and a large number of wolves negatively affected the race of these charming animals.

Fortunately, thanks to the "Reintroduction of gazelles to their historical habitat areas in Caucasus" project launched in 2010, some promising measures have been adopted to increase the number of this animal.

The project is implemented by the Azerbaijan's Ministry Ecology and Natural Resources and co-organized by Heydar Aliyev Foundation, International Dialogue for Environmental Action IDEA and the Azerbaijan office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have done a great job of restoring the population of gazelles.

The project aims to increase the population of gazelles and their resettlement to the areas they previously inhabited, from which they disappeared for various reasons.

Currently in Azerbaijan, there is an increase in gazelles' population, which returned to the historical habitat territory, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said.

The Ministry said that 150 gazelles were returned to their historical territories as part of the four-year project.

The joint project has a positive effect on the formation of a population of gazelles in the region.

The gazelles were released to the territory of Gobustan-Jengichay state nature reserve, Ajinohur plain, Aggol national park, Korchay state nature reserve as well as the border with Georgia territory.

There was an unpleasant situation in Gobustan-Jengichay state nature reserve, where one of those released gazelles was torn by wolves. The killed animal was found via a transmitter attached to its neck by the Ministry to monitor their lives.

Earlier last year, ten gazelles transported from Azerbaijan were reintroduced to neighboring Georgia as part of the IDEA campaign initiated by the same project. It was a major measure towards restoring the habitant of gazelles throughout the region.