Reintroduction of the scimitar–horned oryx in to the Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve, Chad

Summary

Scimitar-horned oryx once ranged across the sub-desert belt of Africa but was declared Extinct in the Wild over 15 years ago, surviving only in zoo and private herds, including one built by the UAE's founding president. Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, working with the Chadian government and the Sahara Conservation Fund, chose the 77,950 square kilometre Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve as a release site after years of remote sensing, wildlife surveys and habitat studies confirmed it could support the species, and began implementation in 2014. Selected oryx, timed to the cool season in the UAE and the rainy season in Chad, were flown from Abu Dhabi to Abeche and trucked 200 km to the reserve, where they spent one to six months acclimatizing in 500 by 500 metre pre-release pens before release; the first group arrived in March 2016 and was released that August, with two further groups following through August 2017. By the time of writing, 89 oryx were living in the reserve, 71 originally released plus 18 wild-born calves, nearly all fitted with GPS satellite collars that had logged over 300,000 location points across roughly 7,500 square kilometres of range. Widespread dry-season bush fires destroyed grazing land, a poacher shot one oryx eighteen months after release, and providing water attracted jackals that killed at least one calf, but the project rates itself highly successful, crediting careful site selection, strong bilateral government commitment and close local community engagement.