THE RETURN OF WILD HORSES

Przewalski’s Horse, or the Dzungian Horse – the last wild horse in the world – was wiped out in the wild at the turn of the 1960s and 70s. It survived only due to the care of a few people, particular credit for its survival being deserved by Prague Zoo. In addition the zoo has been keeping a worldwide breed registry of this species since 1959.       

Mostly under the management Netherlands, German and Swiss organisations, the reintroduction of Przewalski’s Horse to Mongolia has been underway since the beginning of the 90s. Prague Zoo became involved in this initiative in 1998 and 2000 by presenting four horses which were transported by internationally organised transfer to the Takhin Tal and Hustain Nuruu regions. The Zoo has been directly involved on the ground in Mongolia, mainly by supporting the rangers in Takhin Tal, or rather the Gobi B National Park.

Over the past few years, however, transfer operations have stopped, despite being necessary for increasing the present population. This is why we have decided that this year, on the occasion of the 80 anniversary of Prague Zoo, to perform the first ever Czech transport of Przewalski’s horses to Mongolia. We have decided to implement a project which, over the last 20 years, our zoo staff have not even dared to dream about…

Over the past few months, our plan began to gain a more solid form, until today we already know that we will be able to use an Army aircraft to transport four Przewalski’s horses. Soon it will be heading off to western Mongolia to Khomiin Tal, to reinforce and revitalise the smallest of the three Mongolian populations.

In this way, Prague Zoo is, let us hope successfully, rounding off an extremely significant phase in the efforts to save the Przewalski’s horse and reintroduce it to its natural habitat and also, in its jubilee year, we this can serve as a reminder that we are one of the most significant zoological gardens in international terms.

 

 

Flight CEF 629:
Transport of the horses and the four-member accompanying team will be provided by the military transport aircraft CASA C-295M from the Czech Army 24^th Transport Air Force Base in Prague Kbely. 

The intended flight plan is as follows:

Tuesday, 14^th June at 1500 CEST, depart Prague Kbely

Tuesday, 14^th June at 2110 CEST, land at Kazan’, depart at 2230 CEST

Wednesday, 15^th June at 0345 CEST, land at Novosibirsk, depart at 0505 CEST

Wednesday, 15^th June at 0800 CEST (1400 hrs local time), land at Khovd

Sunday, 19^th June at 0400 CEST (1000 hrs local time), depart Khovd, land at Prague Kbely at 2145 CEST

 

The stallion, Matyáš, born 13^th April 2008 in Slatiňany as the 6^th foal. In October 2009, he and his father, Fučík, were transferred to the stud and acclimatisation station at Dolní Dobřejov, to the same stallion group as the well-known Lomax, born in Prague. At first, he did not leave is father’s side, having been used to him from a young age, but after a couple of months, he and Lomax “hit it off” and since then have formed an inseparable pair.

The mare, Lima, was, like her brother, Matyáš, also born at the chateau in Slatiňany, but on 10^th April 2007. She is mild mannered and does behave in any way aggressively with other horses. She was transferred with her mother on 20^th April 2011 to Dolní Dobřejov. She very quickly adapted to the surroundings after the first couple of unsure days, now behaving as if she has never known any other home.

The mare, Kordula, was born on 7^th June 2006 as the 213^th foal at Prague Zoo. Her father was Gino, born in 1986 in Denver, and her mother was Uršula, born at Prague Zoo in 1990. In 2008, Kordula was transferred to the stud and acclimatisation station in Dolní Dobřejov where she joined a band of eleven mares. Kordula is a mild and composed mare, behaving friendlily not only to other horses but also to people.

The mare Cassovia, was born on 26^th August 2006 at Košice Zoo. Her father is an eleven-year-old stallion from Prague, Xeron, who was transferred to Košice Zoo in August 2005. Cassovia was transported to the acclimatisation station in Dolní Dobřejov in mid-May, where she is growing accustomed to the wide open spaces and being prepared for transport to Mongolia. Cassovia is a calm-tempered mare.

  

All horses shall be assembled at the Prague Zoo acclimatisation station in Dolní Dobřejov in the Benešov district. Here, they will grow accustomed to open spaces and also will be taught to enter the courtyards from where they are to be loaded into crates on the day of transport. Continual veterinary examinations, vaccinations and hoof care will be performed.

On the day of transportation, loading will start in the early morning hours at Dolní Dobřejov. The horses will be sedated or immobilised before being loaded into the crates; during the journey they will be administered LAN, a drug for sedating animals for long periods and Equine Appeasement Pheromone, which will be supplied by our colleagues from the “Association pour le cheval de Przewalski: TAKH”. Afterwards, the horses will be transferred by lorry to the Kbely airfield where they will be transferred to the military aircraft in their transport crates; the veterinary surgeon, Roman Vodička, and the stud master, Jan Marek, will be present at the horses’ side for the duration of the flight, to make regular checks on their state of mental and physical health. Thanks to specially made openings in the transport crates, it will be possible to give the horses food and water, apply medicines or sedatives.

On arrival in Mongolia, the horses will be transferred from the aircraft to lorries and transported to where they will be released – Khomiin Tal. It is located 250 km from Khovd, about seven hours’ drive by off-road vehicles. A track across the steppe goes on for about 200 kilometres, the last 50 km leads across rugged sand dunes.

Before the horses will be united with the rest of the herd in Khomiin Tal, they will spend some time in quarantine enclosures.

It must be emphasised that the journey will be exceptionally arduous both for the horses and for those looking after them and any kind of complications, at worst leading to the death of any of the transported horses, cannot be ruled out.

 

Basic information on Khomiin Tal:

Khomiin Tal, occupying more than 250,000 hectares, is a buffer zone to the Khar Us Nuur National Park east of the town of Khovd (the Old Russian name was Kobdo). This town played an important role in the story of the Przewalski’s Horse, which all caravans of horses caught at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in Gobi and Dzungaria passed through on their way to Biysk in the Russian Altai, then onward to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Project Presented by:
Tomáš Chalupa, Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic,
Alexandr Vondra, Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic,
Ivan Kabický, Vice Mayor of the City of Prague,
Bohuslav Dvořák, Brigadier General, General Staff of the Czech Army,
Jiří Vávra, Colonel, Commander of 24th Transport Air Force Base in Prague Kbely,
Jan Tajovský, Sales Director of Nowaco – Main Sponsor of the Airlift,
Roman Vodička, Veterinarian of Prague Zoo,
and Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague Zoo.