Arabian Oryx runs wild once more

A UAE-funded programme to re-introduce the Arabian Oryx back into the wild, which started in Jordan, could be extended to Iraq and Syria.

Twenty captive-born antelopes were released in Jordan's Wadi Rum last year.

ABU DHABI // A UAE-funded programme to re-introduce the Arabian Oryx back into the wild, an effort which started in Jordan last year, could soon be extended to Iraq and Syria. The initiative, worth Dh4 million, released 20 antelopes, born in captivity in the UAE into Jordan's Wadi Rum last year. Three babies have since been born and another 40 animals are set to be released over this year and next. "We have two more countries in the pipeline," said Abdulnasser al Shamsi, the executive director of animal welfare and forestry projects at the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi.

Once numerous across the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabian Oryx has been extinct from the wild since 1972. The antelope has since survived only in zoos and private collections. Abu Dhabi has the largest population, about 3,000 animals in captivity, and 155 live in a protected area in Umm al Zamool. Yesterday, Mr al Shamsi said that 15 to 20 UAE-born Arabian Oryx can be sent to Iraq as early as next year, possibly in a secure area near the border with Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He was speaking from Damascus, where a regional conservation strategy to protect the Arabian Oryx is being discussed.

In Oman hundreds of animals were introduced in protected areas in the 1990s. However, poachers and hunters caused the numbers to dwindle from 450 in 1996 to only a few in 2007. "This goes to prove it is not just a matter of opening the gates and letting the animals out," said Declan O'Donovan, the director of wildlife services at Wadi Al Safa Wildlife Centre, a private establishment in Dubai. "It is imperative that the local populations are fully behind this."