Wildlife Without Borders:

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Wildlife Without Borders Conserving the
Sahelo-Saharan Antelopes of North Africa
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The Sahara

• - Worlds biggest desert
• 3 million square miles
• Bigger than Australia
• 11 times the size of Texas
• - Bordered by the Sahel
• - Shared by 14 countries
• Less than 5 rainfall
• Not a barren wasteland!
• - Great habitat diversity
• - Many threatened species

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A Barren Wilderness?
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Habitat Diversity
Acacia trees
Grasslands
Steppes
Sand seas
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Water and Mountains
Gueltas
Oasis
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Threats to Wildlife

• Prolonged drought
• Desertification and loss of pasture
• Habitat encroachment
• Over-hunting
• Chronic lack of resources for conservation
• Lack of awareness/interest in aridlands

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Going

• Large species in big trouble
• Addax critically endangered lt300 in the wild
• Dama gazelle critically endangered lt500 in the
  wild
• Dorcas gazelle locally extinct in many places

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going

• Other species too
• Ostrich desert race virtually extinct
• Cheetah desert race extremely rare
• Barbary Sheep isolated and highly vulnerable

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gone!

• Oryx is the largest mammal extinct in the past 30
  years
• Last photo of oryx in the wild taken in Niger in
  1980
• Last oryx late-80s or early 90s
• Zoos and private collections are the last hope
• Projects in Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco

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First Action Plan by CMS

• Conference of the Parties in 1998 (Djerba)
• First CMS initiative focused on terrestrial
  mammals -- six antelopes
• 14 Sahelo-Saharan range states

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Sahara Conservation Fund
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First SCF-Sponsored Wildlife Surveys Science-based
approaches to conservation

• - Assess current status-threats (wildlife,
  habitat quality, land-use)
• Assist governments and agencies
• Mobilize support for the CMS Action Plan
• Identify solutions and actions
• Coordinate with local players

2002
2001
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SCF Database Since 2001 Situation is Critical!
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When Data Compiled Priority Countries
Scale 0 (least) to 3 (most)
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2003 Conference of the Parties in Agadir What
do stakeholders want?

• Priorities
• TrainingCapacity Building (e.g., husbandry
  training EAZA/AZA, ranger training etc.)
• Ex situ captive breeding programs
• Reintroductions
• Sustainable hunting!
• Field surveys and monitoring
• Trans-boundary park formation

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Obstacles to Cooperation

• - Transboundary conflict
• - Civil unrest tribal conflict
• Nationalism
• - Chronic lack of funding and international
  support
• Insufficient incentives for cooperation
• General lack of interest in aridlands
• - Insufficient management expertise

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Before TB parksSCF Priority Conservation Sites
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Chad/Niger Last Sites for Key Species
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SCF Vision Addax Without Borders
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Evidence of Addax Crossing the Border
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Priority Addax Project (Niger-Chad)

• Saving the worlds last addax
• Creating vast new protected areas
• Applying science research to management
• Community-based action, management and
  custodianship

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Focal Area in Niger Termit Tin Toumma Protected
Area

• Best remaining refuge for Saharan wildlife
• Addax, dama gazelle, cheetah, Barbary sheep
• Establishment of protected area
• Wildlife inventory and ecological monitoring

Maurice Ascani
Francoise Claro
Desert cheetah
25-50 of the animals left on earth!
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Termit/Tin Toumma Project
Overall 2-yr Budget 500,000
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An SCF CMS Partnership
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Role of Zoos Private Collections

• - Captive-breeding reintroduction
• - Science research
• Husbandry veterinary care
• Training capacity building
• - Awareness education
• Vital insurance policy

huge opportunity for win-win partnerships with
private collections in Gulf States
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SCF Reintroduction Projects

• Partnership with CMS, North-American and European
  Zoos
• Expensive complex (meta-population management
  strategies)
• Pilot projects with addax scimitar-horned oryx
  ongoing in Tunisia and Morocco

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Foreign Hunting Parties

• - SCF is not anti-hunting
• Gazelles bustards hardest hit
• Sustainability is key
• Legality and ethics
• Corruption is rife
• Lack of management
• - Quotas control needed
• - Sustainable models possible

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Recent Activities

• Algeria wildlife surveys 2006 cheetah (confirmed
  presence) and small gazelles
• Mission to Chad 2006 only 9 addax, but Ouadi
  Rimé-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve still holds what
  most abundant population of dorcas gazelles left
  in the wild
• Aerial Survey in Mali 2005 6,552 km² of the
  South Tamesna. only 3 dama gazelles spotted,
  along with several dozens of dorcas gazelles
• Tunisia reintroduction

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Recent survey Algeria (March 2007)

• Distribution of slender-horned gazelles far East
  to West
• Dorcas gazelles present everywhere (but number of
  individuals has decreased in 20 years)
• Training in survey/monitoring techniques

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Annual SSIG MeetingConservation and Science
Forum Information Sharing

• Hannover Zoo, Germany -- May 31 Jun 1 2007

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Partnership is the Key!
support for conservation is derived from
stakeholders across all sectors of society
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Getting Deserts on the Map!
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Thanks for listening!