ABSTRACT
Petroleum Development Ltd, Oman's first petroleum-producing company took as its symbol the oryx, which it duly represented on its company flag. In the early 1970s a conservationist and wildlife photographer friend of mine working in Oman spent two weeks living with a group of Harasis and following tracks of what were believed to be the last live herd of wild oryx in Oman. There are herds in captivity in the United States and small captive herds in Riyadh, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, one of which was recently the victim of a fatal disease. It would seem that the days of the wild oryx, in Arabia at least, are numbered. In 1973, Dr David Harrison and the Fauna Preservation Society of London suggested a mission into the interior of Oman to locate the tahr and find a likely place for a game reserve.
