Population: There is no data on the current number of stoats in recent years, but it is known that the number has decreased at present. In the 1930s, the largest number of ermine was observed in Northern Kazakhstan, when its skins accounted for 74% of all harvests. In Western Kazakhstan, harvesting reached 10,000 hides. Ermine is rare in Central Kazakhstan, with maximum harvests of up to 500 pelts per season. In East Kazakhstan, the number was at the level of 1.5–3 thousand pelts.
Status. Non-endangered species with economic value other than hunting
Habitat. Ermine in Kazakhstan inhabits almost the entire northern territory, as well as in the mountains of the south and south-east of the republic. The distribution of the species in this area is uneven. The southern boundary of the ermine distribution runs from the Caspian Sea (the Emba River delta area) to the northern shore of the Aral Sea and the lower reaches of the Syrdarya River, then through Kyzylorda to the Ulutau Mountains and south of the Kazakh Highlands. Then it passes south of Kyzylarai and stretches to the Alakol basin, then south-west along the foot of the Dzungarian Alatau, northern and western Tien Shan.
