The CSRRC was set up in order to protect the Caspian Seal, an animal that has been brought to the brink of extinction by illegal and legal hunting and the deterioration of their habitat in the Caspian Sea.
On the 6th August 2019, the Saby Charitable Foundation together with the Central Asian Institute for Ecological Research opened the Caspian Seal Research and Rehabilitation Centre (CSRRC) in Aktau, Kazakhstan, to restore the Caspian Seal population in the Kazakhstani sector of the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan makes up 33% of the Caspian Sea’s coastline.
The CSRRC will use the latest and most modern technology to rehabilitate sick and injured seals, research the changing environment of the Caspian Sea, in particular how pollution and climate change are impacting seal populations and monitor seals for disease. The centre is the first of its kind in Kazakhstan, equipped with the latest rehabilitative technologies and staffed by highly qualified specialists.