How Saudi Arabia Is Rescuing Endangered Arabian Leopards And Gazelles
Arabian leopards, the smallest of the leopard subspecies have been heavily impacted by climate change, habitat destruction, poaching and a loss of prey in the last few years.
Once spread out widely across the mountains of the Arabian peninsula in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Yemen, these big cats are currently on the brink of extinction.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the Arabian leopard as critically endangered, with 100-120 left in the wild, as of October 2022. Out of these, however, only 70-84 are estimated to be mature individuals.
These remaining leopards mainly live in Oman and Yemen, with very few, if any, left in Saudi Arabia. However, they are already locally extinct in Jordan, UAE, Israel, Palestine and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
In an effort to protect these highly endangered animals, Saudi Arabia has launched key conservation initiatives, as part of the Saudi Green Initiative.
Dr. Belisa Marochi, sustainability and leadership professor at Hult International Business School, told me in an interview: 'Spearheading these efforts is the National Center for Wildlife, which runs breeding programmes and restores degraded habitats, building on the success of the Arabian oryx recovery project.'
Saudi Arabia, along with other countries, successfully brought the Arabian oryx back from the brink of extinction. It is now used as a blueprint to shape Arabian leopard conservation efforts.
Along with leopards, Saudi Arabia is also working on preserving Arabian sand gazelles which have been classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, with between 1,750 and 2,150 mature individuals left in the wild as of 2016.
These conservation attempts are focused mainly on the country's Sharaan Nature Reserve and AIUIa region.
Urban development and declining prey main threats to Arabian leopards
For several years now, Arabian leopard habitats have been degraded by a number of factors. These include human encroachment, mainly through agriculture and urbanization, which had led to leopard habitat being turned into farms, settlements and roads, among others.
These changes contribute to isolating and dividing habitat areas, which in turn, makes it more difficult for Arabian leopards to breed and move around.
Decreasing prey populations are another issue, mainly caused by overhunting of vital prey species like gazelles, ibex and hyraxes. This causes leopards to turn more to livestock for food, which can lead to more human-leopard conflicts and retaliatory killings.
Overgrazing by livestock such as sheep, camels and goats can also reduce vegetation quality, which can reduce the number of prey available for leopards.
Similarly, human encroachment and urban development are major threats to Arabian gazelle habitats as well. These animals have also been significantly impacted by overhunting and poaching, along with increased competition with livestock in overgrazed areas.
Habitat restoration and rewilding key to conservation efforts
Saudi Arabia is now trying to restore and rewild Arabian leopard and gazelle habitats through a number of initiatives, led mainly by the Royal Commission for AlUla.
H. Bobby Fokidis, associate professor of biology at Rollins College, told me in an interview: 'The grand plan is to rewild parts of Saudi Arabia that haven't seen these species in decades, if not centuries.'
These include captive breeding and reintroduction programs, establishing nature reserves and planting more native trees and plants, along with more research and international collaborations.
An Arabian Leopard Fund has also been established by the RCU for this purpose. In 2019, the organization pledged $20 million to leopard conservation in Saudi Arabia and globally over the next decade.
The captive breeding programs have already started showing encouraging results, with a rare litter of Arabian leopard triplets being born at the RCU's Arabian Leopard Conservation Breeding Centre in Taif back in December 2024. This was the first time a triplet Arabian leopard litter was born in captivity in Saudi Arabia.
In time, the Kingdom plans to reintroduce these captive-bred leopards into its rewilded areas. The RCU is also working on partnerships with Conservation Biology Institute and the Smithsonian's National Zoo, to further improve its breeding initiatives.
Establishing natural reserves such as the Sharaan Nature Reserve was another important step to enhance rewilding initiatives. The RCU is working on protecting degraded habitats from domestic animals as well, thus giving natural vegetation a chance to regrow.
It is also trying to boost natural prey numbers for species such as Arabian gazelles, Arabian oryx and the Nubian ibex.
The Zoological Society of London has been contributing to Saudi Arabia's long-term sand gazelle breeding, captive management, reintroduction and monitoring efforts. This has mainly been in collaboration with the King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre.
Sand gazelles bred in captivity have been reintroduced to the Kingdom's Empty Quarter, as well as the Ibex Reserve and Uruq Bani Ma'arid. ZSL has also helped train local staff in data collection and conservation techniques, while also furthering the understanding of gazelle genetics.
Fokidis pointed out: 'For gazelles, the rewilding is a little further along. There have already been actual reintroductions of both Arabian and mountain gazelles into areas of substantial size like Sharaan and King Salman Royal Natural Reserves.'
Several native tree species like acacias are also being planted, especially in Sharaan National Park, in an attempt to reverse desertification and reintroduce vegetation to this area. According to the IUCN World Conservation Congress, more than half a million seedlings have been planted already across active restoration areas.
Community engagement to foster greater Arabian leopard-human harmony
In addition to the above measures, Saudi Arabia is focusing heavily on public awareness and community engagement programs. These have been crucial in educating local communities about the importance of Arabian leopards and sand gazelles in the ecosystem and encouraging public participation in conservation initiatives.
In several cases, this also includes suggesting livestock protection solutions, highlighting the benefits of ecotourism and implementing early warning systems.
These livestock protection methods can include using livestock guardian dogs and building predator-proof enclosures from wire mesh and other sturdy materials.
Community-based conservation programs also involve regular community meetings. These focus on assessing predator activity, as well as on conflict minimizing technique training. This can go a long way in decreasing livestock-leopard and human-leopard interactions.
Marochi noted: 'Public education plays a central role, with campaigns designed to raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding Saudi Arabia's natural heritage for generations to come. The initiative demonstrates that economic diversification and wildlife conservation can go hand in hand.'
The RCU has also joined forces with organizations such as Panthera, a wild cat conservation group, to further improve conservation methods and monitor the Arabian leopard's status in the Kingdom. It is also trying to work with other range states across the Arabian Peninsula in order to align conservation initiatives.
Fragile ecosystems and arid conditions make conservation trickier
Although Saudi Arabia has considerably ramped up its conservation efforts already, significant challenges still remain.
One of the main hurdles is how elusive and rare Arabian leopards are, making it very difficult for researchers and organizations to study them and develop appropriate conservation strategies.
Another great conservation challenge is Saudi Arabia's unique ecosystem.
Fokidis highlighted: 'Rewilding in Saudi Arabia means dealing with hyper-arid desert conditions and very fragile ecosystems that can take centuries to completely recover. The fact is that much of the original habitat has been fragmented or altered beyond recognition.'
Much of this damage has also been caused by off-roaders and dune bashers, who can significantly harm desert wildlife by causing vegetation loss, soil disturbances and habitat fragmentation. This in turn disrupts breeding grounds and food chains, while also increasing pollution and harming desert ecosystem productivity.
However, these activities continue to be very popular among tourists, especially given Saudi Arabia's increased efforts to promote tourism in the last few years.
'Unlike rewilding efforts in temperate climates like the US and Europe, Saudi Arabia's projects face extreme environmental conditions where species must be adapted to scarce water, harsh temperatures, and limited vegetation,' noted Fokidis.
Reintroducing apex predators like the Arabian leopard, along with a considerable number of prey species also means that a lot of open space is needed. However, given the increasing number of Saudi Arabian giga-projects such as NEOM and Diriyah, open space may soon be much harder to come by, potentially causing issues for long-term rewilding projects.
Poaching and illegal hunting, apart from retaliatory killings, are other ongoing issues, both for Arabian leopards and gazelles. This is mainly due to illegal trade in fur and skin, body parts, meat, horns and for traditional medicine.
Saudi Arabia has been attempting to restrict hunting to specific game reserves only, but whether this approach will be successful in the long-term remains to be seen.
The Kingdom is still relatively new to conservation biology, and as such, has to rely mainly on foreign biologists, external agencies and conservationists to frame these initiatives and share knowledge with domestic talent.
More school and public awareness programs are needed as well, in order to change the public mentality towards wildlife, which is still largely seen as a livestock threat or something to hunt.
Another major issue is determining how to balance conservation with development, especially as more giga-projects take off.
'You simply cannot pour concrete over ecosystems and expect things like leopards to thrive. It doesn't happen. These efforts are happening in real time alongside a broader societal transformation, and the success of Saudi conservation may hinge on how effectively these initiatives are integrated into their national identity,' Fokidis said.
Long-term commitment needed for successful rewilding
Although Saudi Arabia has already started rewilding and habitat restoration, these initiatives need to be maintained long-term in order to see significant results. This can not only help the Kingdom become a Middle Eastern leader in conservation, but also help long-term environmental resilience.
'Rewilding often occurs while the pressures that made those animals rare in the first place still exist, and depending on the long-term goal of achieving sustainable populations will only mean more rewilding elsewhere, possibly using your "saved" animals, so the work is ongoing,' Fokidis explained.
This may need considerable funding, ecological monitoring and scientific oversight, along with decades of commitment and genetic diversity planning. As such, long-term political agendas, funding and public awareness campaigns all need to align for decades on end to sustain these rewilding and restoration programs.
Several other Middle Eastern animal species, such as the Arabian oryx, sand cats, houbara bustards and Nubian ibex are still vulnerable to many of these habitat and ecosystem threats. As such, rewilding efforts may need to extend to these species as well in the future.
Fokidis noted: 'Saudi Arabia is trying, to its credit, Whether it's enough for Arabian leopards, we will see. If nothing else, this all proves that even in the desert, the flower of hope can grow, as long as it comes with a wildlife veterinarian, GPS collars, drone surveillance, and a few billion riyals.'
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