Ray of hope for endangered species

By Bonnie James/Deputy News Editor

Qatar has many world firsts, but none as unique as Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, nurtured by Sheikh Saoud bin Mohamed bin Ali al-Thani’s vision to create a world where extinction of species and loss of habitat is stopped and even reversed.

It is highly unusual for a conservation establishment to be acclaimed globally and to remain comparatively unknown in the home country. Well, that is precisely the status of Al Wabra, which describes itself as “a well hidden secret in Qatar.”

Al Wabra is not open to the public. Only schools are allowed to arrange visits for small groups of students, with a focus on conservation education and awareness building.

“But now, it is time for Al Wabra’s work to be recognised in Qatar so that the community is well aware of the mission to be a global leader in education, research and conservation of endangered animals and their habitats,” director Dr Tim Bouts told Gulf Times during a recent visit.

Founded as a hobby farm by his father, it was in 2000 that Sheikh Saoud brought in professional management and staff to the 2.5sqkm Al Wabra, located close to the town of Al Shahaniyah in central Qatar and about an hour’s drive from Doha.

Al Wabra has as many as 2,006 animals of 90 different species, as of November 1, 2012, in around 480 cages and enclosures. The nearly 200 staff from 13 nations, all residing on site, includes four veterinarians, two curators, five biologists, 40 wild animal keepers and around 150 support staff.

Unlike a zoo, the enclosures are made for the animals and not for visitors. Precisely for this reason, a Gulf Times team was driven through Al Wabra in a closed vehicle, past the ‘homes’ of a variety of animals, including the Somali cheetah and more than 20 species of ungulates including Qatar’s national animal, the Arabian Oryx. Large numbers of a species are kept in several breeding groups.

“Al Wabra has travelled a rigorous way to transit from a typical Arabian private animal collection, to a research breeding centre for threatened species,” Dr Bouts explained.

Al Wabra is self-reliant on several fronts, including 95% of food requirements with the exception of fruits and vegetables - alfalfa is grown as fodder, mice and rats are bred to feed the Arabian sandcats and insects are bred for the Birds of Paradise, whereas fatally injured ungulates are put down and the meat served to the cheetah.

Stellar conservation work on the spix’s macaw, Beira antelope, Somali wild ass, and the Birds of Paradise are among the key reasons for Al Wabra’s global fame in the conservation circles.

The spix’s macaw, native to the Caatinga region (Curaca, Bahia) in Brazil, is the most endangered parrot in the world. The species is extinct in the wild and just 79 birds are left in the world – all in captivity, with Al Wabra holding 60 (79%), comprising 24 males and 36 females.

It would not be an exaggeration to state that Al Wabra is the only hope for the survival of the beautiful cobalt blue birds, made famous by the 2011 Hollywood hit animation film ‘Rio,’ and their eventual reintroduction into the wild.

Sheikh Saoud was able to buy, way back in 2000, two collections of spix’s macaws from the Philippines and Switzerland and bring them to Al Wabra. The birds, especially the ones from the Philippines, initially had health problems caused by heavy metal pollution.

Out of the 328 eggs laid between 2003 and May 2012, only 33 (10.1%) hatched, probably due to their close genetic relatedness. “A few days before the eggs hatch, we put them in an incubator and hand raise the chicks to ensure maximum survival,” Dr Bouts said while sharing hopes for natural raising soon.

Now there are 16 egg laying females and at least five males producing viable semen, the latter fact ascertained through semen collection from 13 males during the last breeding season.

Flocking and natural pairing has started already among Al Wabra’s spix’s macaws. There are eight bonded pairs now. A new breeding facility is being built to complement the existing two.

“Five spix’s macaw chicks have been born so far during 2012 in the world and they are all in Al Wabra, three males and two females,” Dr Bouts said, while pointing out that the ‘male majority’ is a good sign for the species’ future.

The far reaching vision of Sheikh Saoud for reintroduction of spix’s macaw to the wild is evident from his 2008 purchase of Concordia Farm, a 2,380 hectare prime spix’s macaw habitat in the Caatinga near the town of Curaca, where the species was last seen.

“This will be the first area to see the release of spix’s macaw in the wild and Al Wabra intends to do this with local NGOs and the Brazilian government in Brazil,” Dr Bouts said.

The farm was used as the field base for the species’ recovery efforts in the 1990s and still boasts the tree nesting-hollow used by the last known wild pair back in the 1980s.

Al Wabra staff are already working in Brazil to prepare the land for reintroduction of the spix’s macaw.

It is planned to acquire new land near Curaca for a breeding facility. Birds will be supplied from Al Wabra so that their offspring could hopefully be released to the species’ native habitat in the future.

Yet another world first for Al Wabra was a pregnancy diagnosis in Beira antelopes earlier in 2012.

Al Wabra is the only place in the world to keep and breed the small, desert-dwelling antelopes, in captivity.

Typically occurring in the Horn of Africa, Beira antelopes are listed as vulnerable on the Redlist of endangered species, regularly updated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Al Wabra’s successful conservation programmes started with the Lear’s macaw (also from Brazil, 200km away from where spix’s macaw comes). When the birds were not breeding in captivity, a team from Al Wabra went to  Caatinga and learnt that the birds need rock crevices during mating season.

“Al Wabra recreated the environment in a new aviary and ever since, the successful method has been emulated by conservation centres elsewhere,” Dr Bouts said. A salient feature of Al Wabra is the way the centre recreates the natural surroundings of the species it hosts. Tropical creatures including the Greater Bird of Paradise and the Golden Handed Tamarin live in a ‘tropical forest’ with a ‘rain system.’

Iranian wild goats and Laristan sheep have ‘rocky cliffs’ to climb. Gerenuk, the long-necked gazelles which mostly browse standing on their hind legs, have tall trees in their enclosure to feed,

Al Wabra is one of the four centres in the Middle East, and the only one in Qatar, to be accredited by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. It is equipped with all facilities for animal and bird care, including an advanced surgical theatre.

Researchers and (under)graduate veterinary students from across the world also seek out Al Wabra. The centre also participates in an in-situ conservation programme in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia for the protection of the Dibatag antelope.

Dr Bouts gives credit to Sheikh Saoud for Al Wabra’s achievements. “Sheikh Saoud’s passion for conservation is indescribable. He is at Al Wabra every single day when he is in Qatar. The depth of his vision could be gauged from the fact that he is not getting any monetary return from Al Wabra.”

More information on Al Wabra could be had from http://awwp.alwabra.com, http://www.facebook.com/awwp.spix and http://www.facebook.com/AlWabraWildlifePreservation

BELOW:

1) A herd of Arabian Oryx, Qatar’s national animal. Right: A Spix’s macaw is busy eating a piece of walnut. PICTURES: Jayaram

2) The Somali wild ass.

3) A Somali cheetah in its enclosure.. Right:  Marabou storks at Al Wabra.