"The restoration of Goitered gazelles is a cross-border cooperation project; They got repopulated on the territories of Azerbaijan and Georgia, in the Samukhi Valley," the Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili, stated. He thanked the staff of the N4 Division of the Land Border Protection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the rangers of the protected areas for their contribution to the successful implementation of the Goitered gazelle Population Restoration Project.
The Agency for Protected Areas of the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture has been implementing the Goitered gazelle Population Restoration Project at Vashlovani Protected Areas, since 2013, together with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), with financial support from the German government. Because Samukhi Valley is a border area and does not have the status of a protected area, the role of the border police is vital in the successful implementation of the project. N4 Division (Dedoplistskaro) of the Land Border Protection Department of the Border Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is actively involved in protecting and monitoring the Goitered gazelle's population.
"We started with 10 Goitered gazelles, and today, only on the territory of Georgia, there are already about 150 of them. Due to poaching, several attempts to restore the Goitered gazelle population were unsuccessful, but now, we can say that an already sustainable population is being formed, which is growing every year," the Minister of Environment and Agriculture, Levan Davitashvili, stated.
Vashlovani National Park is the only protected area in Georgia with a European diploma. It was first awarded a European diploma in 2015; In 2020, the term of the diploma got extended by ten years.
