Scientists say that Arabian Wild Unicorn is back from extinction
June 20th, 2011 - 8:02 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattNew York, June 20 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Scientists and animal conservationists are very excited following reports that the Arabian Wild Unicorn has been brought back from the brink of extinction. Any hope for the animal officially known as Arabian Oryx seemed to have died down when the last wild unicorn was gunned down in 1972.
A group called the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has announced that the specie has been brought back to existence thanks to a comprehensive breeding program. IUCN has been involved in the breeding of the animal for more than three decades now and the program seem to have paid off very well with about 1,000 of the creatures now on the Arabian Peninsula desert.
IUCN announced that they had only six wild unicorns when they started the project. However with their intense breeding technique, the number reached thousand in less than four decades. IUCN plans to release the animals back into the wild but they say they will only do so in areas where the animals will not be placed in danger. Subsequently they are scouting for places where hunting has been banned.
Abu Dhabi’s Environmental Agency general director said that, “To have brought the Arabian Oryx back from the brink of extinction is a major feat and a true conservation success story, one which we hope will be repeated many times over for the other threatened species.”
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