Arabian oryx reintroduction

The Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), also called the white oryx, was extinct in the wild as of 1972, but was reintroduced to the wild starting in 1982. Initial reintroduction was primarily from two herds: the "World Herd" originally started at the Phoenix Zoo in 1963 from only nine oryx and the Saudi Arabian herd started in 1986 from private collections and some "World Herd" stock by the Saudi National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC). As of 2009 there have been reintroductions in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, and as of 2013 the IUCN Red List classifies the species as vulnerable.

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. In 1960, Lee Talbot reported that Arabian oryx appeared to be extinct in its former range along the southern edge of Ar-Rub' al-Khali. He believed that any oryx still existing would be exterminated within the next few years and recommended that a captive breeding program be started to save the species. Michael Crouch, then Assistant Adviser in the Eastern Aden Protectorate, drew attention to the fact that each spring, small groups of oryx still emerged onto the gravel plains in the northeast corner of the Protectorate, where he thought a capture attempt would be possible.

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.

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 hoof-and-mouth disease, and the oryx destined for Kenya were shipped to the Phoenix Zoo instead.

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