DUSHANBE, October 16, Asia-Plus -- Senior representatives from of the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences told a news conference in Dushanbe on October 16 that a unique natural reserve Tigrovaya Balka (Tiger’s Gully) in Khatlon is in danger.

According to them, two lakes in the reserve -- Oikuli Kalon and Oikuli Khurd – have already dried up, and seven other lakes in the territory of the reserve are currently in a very poor state.

“Chemical chlorine and organophosphorous compounds have killed 20 of 30 fish species that have lived in these lakes,” the researchers said.  

  Tigrovaya Balka is a unique natural reserve in Tajikistan that has been deteriorating over the last decade.  The unstable economic situation in the areas neighboring the reserve regions is one the main reasons for irrational usage of the natural resources by the local population through the mass extermination of wild animals in the reserve, the illegal cutting down of the forest and poacher fishing.