Conservation plans brought in two years ago in the Mahazat Al-Said Protectorate have reduced the number of gazelle and oryx deaths for the second consecutive year, according to Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Muhammad, Secretary General of the Saudi Commission for Wildlife Conservation. Prince Bandar said that only eight deaths had been registered at the protectorate in the last seven months. “The deaths recorded this year represent normal expected figures, as a three to five percent rate is a natural figure for wildlife in the summer,” Prince Bandar said. The fall in death numbers, the Prince said, was the result of the wildlife commission's environmental strategy approved two years ago which put into effect both short- and long-term plans to address previous death rates of between 200 and 400 gazelles a year. The moves included providing water and food at locations identified as vulnerable to heat and drought, and installing new environmental monitoring stations in the protectorate. – Okaz/SG The Mahazat Al-Said Protectorate, located approximately 180 km to the northeast of Taif, is the second largest enclosed protectorate in the world.
