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Benny Shalmon: Nature and Parks Authority
Sahara Oryx in Yotvata's Animal and Nature Reserve
Benny Shalmon: Nature and Parks Authority

Israeli-born Sahara Oryx return to ancestral home

In northern savannas of Senegal, not far from Mauritania border, roams a herd of Israeli-born Sahara Oryx, who were relocated there over 10 years ago

The Guembuel Fauna Reserve, located in northern Senegal, is home to some unlikely Israeli immigrants: Zehava, Shlomi and Hai-Bar, three Sahara Oryx who were born and raised in the southern Israeli Kibbutz Yotvata.

 

Zehava, Shlomi and Hai-Bar are part of a herd of Israeli-born Sahara Oryx, who are roaming free at the nature reserve. They reproduce at an admirable rate, roam together in the beautiful African savannah and rehydrate at the lakes adjacent to the Senegal River.

 

The success story of the Sahara Oryx began 11 years ago, when Yotvata's Animal and Nature Reserve relocated 10 Sahara Oryx to Guembuel, as part of a worldwide project to preserve wildlife from extinction. The relocation of the Israeli-born Oryx to Senegal makes for the return of the rare species, which were extinct there and in neighboring nations.

 

Recently, Israel's Ambassador to Senegal Gideon Behar witnessed firsthand the animals' successful incorporation into their new habitat.

 

Behar visited the nature reserve accompanied by a BBC television crew, which is making a show documenting Israeli activity in Africa. The crew managed to capture on camera the heard of Israeli Oryx and their progeny, galloping freely along the vast open space.

 

About 50 Sahara Oryx descending from the Israeli-born ones remain in Guembuel, while 60 others were moved to the Ferlo Fauna Reserve, also in northern Senegal.

 

A year ago, Senegal transferred 10 of the offspring to a nature reserve in neighboring Mauritania, where they are acclimatizing well. Behar joked that even though Mauritania severed its diplomatic ties with Israel, the Israelis returned to the African nation in the form of the Sahara Oryx.

 

"Israel can credit itself with a significant achievement in the field of nature preservation, and the restoration of extinct species," Behar said. "It is certainly a source of pride for us, and the Senegalese are thanking us at every possible opportunity."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.23.10, 07:50
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