In a significant milestone for wildlife conservation, Przewalski’s horses bred in Hungary’s Hortobágy National Park are set to be reintroduced to the wild in Kazakhstan this June. Once extinct in their natural habitat, these horses are making a comeback due to international breeding and rewilding initiatives. The relocation, organized by the Hortobágy National Park Directorate and Budapest Zoo, involves horses that have thrived in a 3,000-hectare enclosure in Hungary since 1997, where their population has increased tenfold.
Péter Csobán from the Hortobágy National Park highlighted the vital role of zoos and breeding programs in preventing the extinction of Przewalski’s horse, which once faced threats from habitat loss, hunting, and competition with livestock. These horses are essential for maintaining grassland biodiversity, and the selected young mares for reintroduction possess high genetic value to enhance the survival prospects of the new population in Kazakhstan.
The reintroduction process will include health screenings and quarantine before the horses are airlifted by the Czech Air Force and transported overland. This effort aligns with a broader trend of reintroducing captive-bred animals to their former habitats, a practice that has seen success for Przewalski’s horse in Mongolia since the 1990s. Named after explorer Nikolai Przewalski, this species is the only truly wild horse still in existence, having survived extinction through coordinated global breeding efforts.
