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[[File:Reem-Lavan001.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Arabian oryx at Chay Bar Yotvata, Israel]]
The [[Arabian oryx]] (''Oryx leucoryx''), also called the white oryx, was [[extinct]] in the wild as of 1972,<ref name="arabian/oryx/oman"/> but was [[Species reintroduction|reintroduced to the wild]] starting in 1982.<ref name="yalooni/transfer"/> Initial reintroduction was primarily from two herds: the "World Herd" originally started at the [[Phoenix Zoo]] in 1963 from only nine oryx<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oryxoman.com |title=The Arabian Oryx Project (Sultanate of Oman) Web site |
==Decline of a species==
The Arabian oryx was known to be in decline since the early 1900s in the Arabian Peninsula. By the 1930 there were two separate populations isolated from each other.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arabian-oryx.gov.sa/en/history.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904062547/http://www.arabian-oryx.gov.sa/en/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-09-04 |title=Historical distribution |
==Operation Oryx==
'''Operation Oryx''' was a program of the Phoenix Zoo and the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society of [[London]] (now [[Fauna and Flora International]]), with financial help from the [[World Wide Fund for Nature]]. One of the first captive breeding programs at any zoo, this program had the specific goal of saving and then reintroducing Arabian oryx in the wild.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phoenixzoo.org/learn/conservation_efforts_detail.aspx?ARTICLE_ID=100321 |title=Phoenix Zoo Species Survival Plan |
The initial plan of the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society was to establish a herd in [[Kenya]] where another species of oryx already lived and flourished. The Kenyan plan was dropped because of an outbreak of [[Foot-and-mouth disease|hoof-and-mouth disease]], and the oryx destined for Kenya were shipped to the Phoenix Zoo instead.<ref name="yalooni/transfer"/>
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There were originally four individuals captured and seven donated for this project. The four were captured in [[Aden]] (now Yemen) near the border of Oman by an expedition led by the late Major Ian Grimwood, then chief [[game warden]] of Kenya, with help from Manahil and Mahra tribesmen. One male from this group later died of capture stress.<ref name="arabian/oryx/timeline" /> The seven donated oryx were: one from the [[London Zoo]], two from [[Sheikh]] Jaber Abdullah al-Sabah, and two pairs from the collection of [[Saud of Saudi Arabia|King Saud bin Abdul Aziz]]. One of the oryx from Sheikh Jaber Abdullah al-Sabah died before delivery as well, leaving nine oryx to start the "World Herd."
Five Arabian oryx were delivered to the Phoenix Zoo in 1963 (four in June and one in September). A baby was born to the herd in October 1963 from a conception en route, and another was born in spring 1964, bringing the starting population of the Phoenix Zoo herd to seven. The four oryx donated by King Saud arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in July 1964, bringing the population of the "World Herd" to 11.<ref name="colin/tudge">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lastanimalsatzoo00tudg|url-access=registration|title=Last Animals at the Zoo|last=Tudge|first=Colin|publisher=Island Press|year=1992|isbn=1-55963-158-9|___location=Washington, D.C., Covelo, CA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lastanimalsatzoo00tudg/page/126 126], 127|
The breeding program at the Phoenix Zoo was very successful, and the zoo celebrated its 225th Arabian oryx birth in 2002. From [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], individuals were sent to other zoos and parks (including the San Diego Wild Animal Park) to start their herds. Most of the Arabian oryx in the wild today have ancestors from the Phoenix Zoo.<ref>{{cite news| title=Arizona Zoo Saves Rare Antelope From Extinction |author=Lopez, Larry | date=1980-05-31 |publisher=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>
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These oryx became the core of the Oman herd in the wild, though there were several other releases of captive bred animals over the next two decades.<ref name="arabian/oryx/timeline"/> The area of their release became the [[Arabian Oryx Sanctuary]].
On June 28, 2007, Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was the first site to be removed from the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site|World Heritage List]]. UNESCO cited the Omani government's decision to open 90% of the site to [[Hydrocarbon exploration|oil prospecting]] as the main reason for this decision. The Arabian oryx population on the site has been reduced from 450 oryx in 1996 to only 65 in 2007, mostly due to poaching and illegal live capture. There are now fewer than four breeding pairs left on the site.<ref name="UNESCO world heritage">{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/362 |title=Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary: first site ever to be deleted from UNESCO's World Heritage List |
===Saudi Arabia===
Organized captive breeding of the Arabian oryx in Saudi Arabia began in April 1986, when 57 oryx from the farm of the late King Khalid bin Abdul Aziz in Ath-Thumamah (now the King Khalid Wildlife Research Center or KKWRC) were brought to the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) near [[Ta’if|At-Ta'if]].<ref name="captive/breeding/saudi">{{cite web|url=http://www.arabian-oryx.gov.sa/en/captivebreeding.html|title=Captive Breeding at the NWRC|
Between the initial 1986 founding and 1996, 33 additional oryx (including some from the "World Herd") have been introduced to the founder generation of Arabian oryx at the NWRC. Since 1996, all additions to the population have been through births.<ref name="captive/breeding/saudi"/>
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Reintroduction of a wild population began in 1995 in the [['Uruq Bani Ma'arid|'Uruq Bani Ma'arid Protected Area]]. The reserve covers about {{convert|12000|km2|abbr=on}} at the western edge of the [[Rub' al Khali|Rubʿ al-Khali]] desert or "Empty Quarter". As of 2009, the IUCN Red List estimates the oryx population on this reserve at 160 individuals.<ref name="redlist/oryx/details"/>
A free ranging herd was established in the newly created [[Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area]] in 1989. This {{convert|2244|km2|abbr=on}} fenced reserve is home to reintroduced oryx, [[gazelle]] and the [[houbara bustard]].<ref name="arabian/oryx/project/regional">{{cite web |url=http://www.oryxoman.com/region.html |title=The Arabian Oryx Project (regional) |
===Israel===
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Since March 1999, the [[Emirate of Abu Dhabi]] has been host to an inter-governmental body known as The Coordinating Committee for the Conservation of the Arabian Oryx, which oversees the coordination of conservation efforts for this species within the Arabian Peninsula.<ref name="arabian/oryx/project/regional"/> In 2012, GSCAO carried out an Arabian Oryx Disease Survey which was funded by the [[Environment Agency Abu Dhabi|Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD)]], in the range states.
The Arabian oryx are periodically released in protected areas, such as the Qasr Al Sarab Protected Area. As of 2017, it is estimated that around 10,000 Arabian oryx, of which 5,000 are estimated to be in Abu Dhabi, are currently in the United Arab Emirates.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://gulfnews.com/business/tourism/arabian-oryx-programme-boosts-uaes-biodiversity-1.2129389|title=Arabian Oryx programme boosts
===Jordan===
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|publisher=UAE Interact
|work=uaeinteract.com
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}}</ref><ref name="thenational">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/the-arabian-oryx-returns-to-jordan
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|work=thenational.ae
|date=2009-07-31
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}}</ref>
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|work=omanet.om
|publisher=Ministry of Information, Sultanate of Oman
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|url-status=dead
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}}</ref>
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|publisher = Saudi Aramco World
|date = July–August 1982
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|url-status = dead
}}</ref>
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{{Cite web
|url=http://www.oryxoman.com/timeline/htmlconsole.htm
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|title=The Arabian Oryx Project - Timeline
|work=oryxoman.com
|publisher=Sultanate of Oman
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}}</ref>
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|work=scientificamerican.com
|date=17 June 2011
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}}</ref>
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