Founder's conservation vision flourishes on Sir Bani Yas Island

Few Arabian oryx remained in the wild when Sheikh Zayed issued the order to round up some of the animals and bring them to Sir Bani Yas. Today the sanctuary is a thriving facility that bears testament to the founding President's conservation goals, James Langton writes They were the last of their kind. A tiny band, probably less than a dozen strong, rescued from oblivion by an audacious plan that took them from the harsh interior of the Rub Al Khali, or Empty Quarter, to a distant island in the Arabian Gulf. It is 40 years since the island of Sir Bani Yas became the best hope for the survival of the Arabian oryx. At the time, many feared the species could not be saved. Man, their only predator, had reduced their numbers to a handful. Salvation came at the hands of Sheikh Zayed, the founding President. In the summer of 1971, the Ruler of Abu Dhabi was wrestling with the final issues that would lead to the creation of the UAE that December. Conservation was very much on Sheikh Zayed's mind, though, and with it the urgent plight of the oryx, a magnificent antelope with a pure white coat and horns up to 75cm long. Orders were given for a last round-up. Every wild oryx that could be located in the UAE was taken into captivity. A few were sent to the zoo at Al Ain. The rest, perhaps no more than eight, were taken to Sir Bani Yas, the country's largest natural island, 9 kilometres off the coast of Jebel Dhanna. The rescue was carried out in the nick of time. The following year the Arabian oryx, once native across the entire Arabian Peninsula and much of the Middle East, was officially declared extinct in the wild. But this is a conservation story with a happy ending. In four decades, those few surviving animals have grown into a herd that by next year should number 500. Conservation measures have ensured the oryx has not just survived but thrived. The species is no longer considered endangered and Sir Bani Yas is now a key component in a sophisticated project to reintroduce the animal back into the wild. Before its reincarnation as a wildlife sanctuary, the island had an ancient history. The very name ties it to the Bani Yas tribe and the Al Nahyan family, rulers of Abu Dhabi. There are a number of Bronze Age sites and the remains of 7th-century Nestorian monastery, the oldest pre-Christian site in the UAE, discovered in 1992. In the 1970s, Sheikh Zayed embarked on an ambitious plan to plant tens of thousands of trees and plants across what had been a bleak vista of rock and scrub. Desalinated water was sent through an undersea pipeline to a drip irrigation system. When the first oryx arrived, the island was already developing a cover of lush vegetation. Historic footage survives of Sheikh Zayed visiting the island in the 1980s and talking about his ambitions as a conservationist. Sitting cross-legged on a low hill overlooking a small group of oryx, the President shows an encyclopaedic knowledge of the island and its animal population. The Arabian oryx, he explains, is "called Al maha in Arabic. Tribes refer to it as widhehi". The President is able to list every species of animal on the island. "They are cared for constantly," he says. "The veterinary doctors in Al Ain Zoo monitor them too. Now that their numbers are growing, we will bring in vets to live on the island. "They need professionals to monitor their feeding habits and provide them with the best nutrition suitable for them. They can treat the animals and administer the proper drugs for them when needed."