IUCN Press release on the Saola

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Last chance to save Saola from extinction – IUCN

 

03 September 2009 | News - Press Release

 

*One of the world’s most enigmatic mammals, the Saola (Pseudoryx

nghetinhensis), could be on the brink of extinction, according to a group of

experts who held an emergency meeting in Lao PDR to try to save the animal.*

 

The Saola, which was only discovered to world science in 1992, resembles the

desert antelopes of Arabia, but is more closely related to wild cattle. It

lives in the remote valleys of the Annamite Mountains, along the border of

Lao PDR and Vietnam.

 

*“We are at a point in history when we still have a small but rapidly

closing window of opportunity to conserve this extraordinary animal,” *says

*William Robichaud, Coordinator of the Saola Working Group, set up by IUCN’s

Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group.* *“That window has probably already

closed for another species of wild cattle, the Kouprey, and experts at this

meeting are determined that the Saola not be next. " *

 

Conservation biologists based in four countries, met in Vientiane, Lao PDR,

last month, and agreed that Saola numbers appear to have declined sharply

since its discovery in 1992, when it was already rare and restricted to a

small range.

 

Today, the Saola's increasing proximity to extinction is likely paralleled

by only two or three other large mammal species in Southeast Asia, such as

the Javan Rhinoceros, according to the experts. The situation is compounded

by the fact that there are no populations of Saola held in zoos.

 

*“The animal's prominent white facial markings and long tapering horns lend

it a singular beauty, and its reclusive habits in the wet forests of the

Annamites an air of mystery,” *says Barney *Long, of the IUCN Asian Wild

Cattle Specialist Group*. *“Saola have rarely been seen or photographed, and

have proved difficult to keep alive in captivity. None is held in any zoo,

anywhere in the world. Its wild population may number only in the dozens,

certainly not more than a few hundred.” *

 

The Saola is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of

Threatened Species™, which means it faces " an extremely high risk of

extinction in the wild”. With none in zoos and almost nothing known about

how to maintain them in captivity, for Saola, extinction in the wild would

mean its extinction everywhere, with no possibility of recovery and

reintroduction.

 

The Saola is threatened primarily by hunting. The Vientiane meeting

identified snaring and hunting with dogs, to which the Saola is especially

vulnerable, as the main direct threats to the species.

 

Experts at the meeting emphasized that the Saola cannot be saved without

intensified removal of poachers' snares and reduction of hunting with dogs

in key areas of the Annamite forests. Improved methods to detect Saola in

the wild and radio tracking to understand the animal’s conservation needs

are needed, according to the biologists.

 

In addition, there needs to be more awareness in Lao PDR, Vietnam and the

world conservation community of the perilous status of this species and

markedly increased donor support for Saola conservation, according to the

group.

 

*For more information, please contact: *

 

- *William Robichaud,* Coordinator, Saola Working Group of the IUCN Asian

Wild Cattle Specialist Group, t +856 20 2004 145, e saolawg

- *Barney Long,* Saola Working Group of the IUCN Asian Wild Cattle

Specialist Group, t +1 202 352 0741, e barney.long

- *Sarah Horsley*, IUCN Media Relations Officer, t +41 22 999 0127, m +41

79 528 3486, e sarah.horsley

 

*Notes to editors*

 

- The conservationists convened under the auspices of the International

Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC).

The gathering was organized by the Saola Working Group of IUCN SSC’s Asian

Wild Cattle Specialist Group (www.asianwildcattle.org).

- Funding came from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, with

additional support from the IUCN Country Office in Lao PDR, BirdLife

International in Indochina and Global Wildlife Conservation. The Critical

Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de

Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility,

the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A

fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity

conservation.

- The meeting's theme was From Plans to Action, in recognition that

increased collaborative action is needed to save the species from

extinction.

- The Saola Working Group includes staff of the Forestry departments of

Lao PDR and Vietnam, Vietnam's Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources

and Vinh University, as well as biologists and conservationists from

non-government organizations, such as the Wildlife Conservation Society and

the World Wildlife Fund. Experts from the Smithsonian Institution and Gilman

Conservation International also joined the meeting.

 

*Photos of the Saola *are available from sarah.horsley

 

 

 

The only live adult Saola ever seen by the outside world. This female was

captured in 1996 in Laos by local villagers, and transferred to a nearby

menagerie, but survived only a few weeks. Copyright 1996 by W.

Robichaud/WCS.

 

Photo: W. Robichaud/WCS

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