Ulaanbaatar
Environment minister thanks Prague Zoo for Takhi preservation efforts
PoliticsUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ D.Oyunkhorol, Minister of Environment and Tourism received Ivana Grollova, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to Mongolia and Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague Zoo.
Prague Zoo made valuable contribution for the preservation of Przewalski’s horse or takhi by carrying-out a number of successful projects to relocate the Takhi to Mongolia since 2010. In the past, a total of 23 Takhis has been relocated to Mongolia, 19 of which have been positioned at the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area and the Khomyn Tal or Khomyn Steppe of Zavkhan province with a funding of the Prague Zoo. Other investments of the Prague Zoo were made for ensuring favorable habitat land for Takhi, apart from a series of transportation of Takhi to Mongolia.
At the meeting, Director Miroslav Bobek vowed to provide financial and other types of assistances for relocating the Przewalski’s horse to Mongolia. “The zoo is planning to bring more Takhis to Mongolia on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of re-introduction of Takhi in Mongolia which will be marked June 2017.
Wild horse or takhi has been relocated to Mongolia since 1992 and currently, the population of Takhi in the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area, Khustai National Park in Tuv province and Khomyn Tal in Zavkhan province has reached 500.
D.Oyunkhorol, Minister of Environment and Tourism thanked the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ulaanbaatar and the Prague Zoo for their invaluable contribution for the preservation of takhi, which had once become endangered in Mongolia. She also vowed to support the actions of the Embassy of Czech Republic in Ulaanbaatar and the Prague Zoo towards aimed at growing the Takhi population in Mongolia.
In addition, she informed about the works planned to do prior to the anniversary in the summer of 2017, such as an expansion of the B part of the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area, one of its reintroduction sites in Mongolia. The Ministry of Environment is developing a national program “Takhi reintroduction and preservation” – legal document designed for Takhi protection and its population growth.
