Mountain gazelle  (Gazella gazella)

The threats to the mountain gazelle vary across the species' range, but the primary causes of decline are habitat loss and hunting. Important habitat has been lost to agricultural developments, fencing of pasture for livestock, and the construction of human settlements and roads (1). Habitat deterioration has had a major impact on the Acacia gazelle (G. g. acaciae) in Israel, where the water table has fallen due to abstraction of underground water sources for agriculture. This has caused essential food sources such as Acacia trees and bushes to dry up and perennial plants to disappear, and the gazelle population is now less than 20 individuals (13). Since the remaining population is so small, inbreeding is a major threat, which can result in reduced genetic diversity that leaves the subspecies vulnerable to stochastic factors. Additionally, wolves (Canis lupus) and jackals (C. aureus) in Israel are increasingly preying upon this rare subspecies, as well as on the Palestine mountain gazelle (G. g. gazella) (1). The mountain gazelle has and continues to be hunted across much of its range for its skins, meat, trophy horns (3), for sport and for being a crop pest, while live capture for private collections is a major threat in Oman (1).

Shooting of the Palestine mountain gazelle (G. g. gazella) was legally banned in Israel in 1993 because of declining numbers (1), and stricter laws in most areas have reduced poaching of this species (3). By contrast, the acacia gazelle (G. g. acaciae) was under protection from the first day it was described in Israel in 1964 (14). However, habitat loss and exploitation continue to threaten populations, particularly those outside of protected areas (3). The Arabian mountain gazelle (G. g. cora) is found in the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary, Wadi Sareen Tahr Reserve, Jebel Samhan National Reserve, and As Saleel National Park in Oman, and reintroduced populations occur in the Ibex Reserve, Al-Khunfah Reserve and Uruq Bani Ma'arid Reserve in Saudi Arabia, but legal protection is not always effectively enforced (1). The Farasan Islands on which the Farasan gazelle (G. g. farasani) occurs have been a nature reserve under the control of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) since 1988, which carries out aerial censuses every two to three years. The habitat of the tiny acacia gazelle (G. g. acaciae) population recently became protected, and this rare subspecies has been given supplementary food in the past and the natural vegetation was irrigated (1). These measures lead the population to increase from just 13 gazelles (in 1995) to 24 individuals (in 2000) (11). Nevertheless, this Critically Endangered subspecies has remained in an extremely precarious position since, with its numbers having fluctuated for several years more or less around 20 individuals, and the threat of extinction still looms dangerously close. The decision (as of 27.12.2004) of the Israel Nature Reserve and National Parks Protection Authority to stop providing supplementary food and irrigation, and also to fence the gazelles instead of protecting them against wolves and jackals and reducing carnivore numbers, has given the acacia gazelle little chance of survival. As a result, the number dropped down to just 12 individuals in 2005 (15). Thus, this sad situation should act as a powerful incentive to do more to protect the other subspecies of mountain gazelle, in order that they should never reach a similar state.