Oman efforts to protect Arabian oryx bear fruit

Omani authorities have taken strict measures to overcome fears of the Arabian oryx becoming extinct.

According to a top official in the Environment Ministry, the efforts have paid off with a growth rate of four per cent, recorded in the last two years.

The Director General of Nature Conservation, Ali Amor Al Kiyumi, told Gulf News yesterday: "We have assumed control over the problem of poachers and smugglers threatening the species. We cannot deny that the problem has been eliminated."

He was referring to people, who try to smuggle the Arabian oryx out of the country and sell it to private zoos around the world. Some kill them in the wild for their horns, hide and meat.

The Arabian oryx, a white antelope found in the Arabian Peninsula, was facing extinction in the wild when 200 of them were either caught or killed by poachers in the nineties.

The situation was so alarming that their numbers fell from 400, when a reintroduction programme was launched in 1982 by releasing them in the wild, to 100 by 1999.

However, increased vigilance by the environmentalists in Oman and a breeding programme by the Directorate General of Nature Conservation has not only arrested the decline in numbers of the Arabian oryx, but also has witnessed a steady growth.

The World Wide Fund for Nature has listed the Arabian oryx as an endangered species. When poaching and smuggling between 1996 and 1999 went unchecked, it was feared that the white antelope, considered responsible for the unicorn myth, could become extinct.

"Yes," added Al Kiyumi, "we were faced with that problem when people from outside Oman would come to hunt the species or smuggle it out of the country."

However, he pointed out that now the Ministry of Regional Municipality, Water Resources and Environment, has ensured, through legislation, that culprits get harsh punishment for indulging in poaching or smuggling.

A wild sanctuary to protect and breed the Arabian oryx has been set up in the Al Wusta region of the country. According to some experts, female antelopes and calf are targeted.

Experts thought they had won the long battle to return the Arabian oryx to the wild when their numbers reached 400 in 1996. "We are again hopeful that the number of oryx would again rise," said Al Kiyumi.

"With the four to five per cent annual growth, we are sure that the numbers will keep rising again," he reckons.

In 1974, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said decided to restore the species to its original habitat. However, the first animal arrived only in 1980 and just 10 years after it was eliminated, the first captive-bred oryx were released into the desert in 1982.

Twenty years on, Oman has 120 oryx in the wild. "We will ensure that the numbers keep on increasing," hoped a conservationist.