Comprehensive strategy seeks to coordinate efforts on preservation of Arabian Oryx
Jordan Times
May 27, 2007
WADI RUM (JT) — Representatives from seven Arab countries convened in Wadi Rum last week to look into the reintroduction of the Arabian Oryx into countries of the Arabian Peninsula, which are considered its original habitat.
During the two-day meeting, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Chief Commissioner Nader Dahabi briefed members of the coordination committee entrusted with the preservation of the endangered animal on Jordan’s experience, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) established the country’s first nature reserve of Shaumari in 1975, mainly to reintroduce species that had been extinct, including the Arabian Oryx, one of the most endangered animals in the world.
This magnificent desert animal was saved from the edge of extinction by
international rescue efforts. Shaumari was the first reserve to have this
animal live on Arabian soil again, according to the RSCN.
Eight animals were flown over in 1978 from the World Breeding Herd in
Phoenix Zoo, Arizona, and by 1999 — 20 years later — the herd grew to over 200
animals, some of which have already been released in the wilderness of Wadi Rum.
The reintroduction of the species was carried out in stages to help the
animal adapt to the new environment, Dahabi said.
During the first stage, the technical committee in charge of the project
faced several difficulties because of technical and financial problems, Dahabi
added.
Therefore, it was decided to broaden the breeding area, providing the
animals with a larger vegetation cover, the ASEZA chief commissioner said.
President of the Coordination Committee Majed Mansouri, who is also
secretary general of the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency, told the meeting that a
comprehensive strategy is being drawn up to coordinate all efforts to
preserve this animal.
There are 8,000 head of Oryx in the region, distributed among the United
Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman, Mansouri said, highlighting efforts to
reintroduce it in other Arab countries.
Several countries in the region have programmes to protect the Arabian Oryx
and reintroduce them into the wild.
There are captive populations in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates.
Wild populations of Oryx are found in the Uruq Bani Maarid protected area of
Saudi Arabia, established in 1995 with captive-bred animals from elsewhere
in the country, as well as at Jiddat Al Harasis in Oman where the animals were
reintroduced in the early 1980s.
Director of the Wadi Rum Reserve Khalil Al Abdullat said an integral
programme had been prepared to reintroduce the first herd of this rare animal through
a memorandum of understanding reached with the Abu Dhabi environment agency —
first in the reserve, then to be set free at a later stage to become part of
the country’s natural habitat.
The Arabian Oryx is also expected to provide a boost to tourism in Wadi Rum,
which it used to inhabit at one time, as rock drawings of the animal can be
found throughout the area.
Arabian Oryx began to decline due to overhunting in the mid-19th century and
by 1914, few survived outside Saudi Arabia.
Modern firearms and four-wheel-drive vehicles accelerated the decline of the
species, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
By the 1960s, Oryx only survived in the wild on the border where Saudi
Arabia, Yemen and Oman meet, and in the Wahiba area of northeast Oman.
The last Arabian Oryx to survive in the wild were located in the Jiddat Al
Harasis in Oman in 1972.