October 8, 1969
WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE. N.M. - Any hunter can learn to shoot an African oryx (gemsbok), but it lakes a passle of special skills to move a herd.
This was demonstrated by personnel from the New Mexico Game and Fish Department who transplanted seven of the sleek, fawn-colored animals from the game farm near Redrock, N.M., to a wildlife area within the boundaries of White Sands Missile Range.
IN THIS STEP of the State's exotic animal experimental program, the animals were carted by trailer approximately 300 miles and released in a area near the WSMR western boundary, about 100 miles from headquarters, which closely resembles the oryx's native
habitat of South Africa.
The action began Tuesday (Sept. 30) when the animals were rounded up from an eight-section pasture at the farm northwest of Lordsburg.
The corralling of the fleet and fierce antelope-type animal is no small job. In addition to brains needed to out-guess the wily beast and a swift stride to stay clear of its sharp pointed horns, the men have to use ingenuity to lure the animals into the corral or use a tranquilizing gun.
TWELVE ORYX were corralled and ready for loading into trailers. But, that little job was easier said than done. With one gate damaged from ramming heads, the other corral gate on the eight-foot high predator-proof wire fence gave away and seven of the animals took off.
Finally, five animals, a yearling bull and four cows, were hauled in a trailer over the precarious road to the range site, along with two cows that were brought from the Albuquerque zoo in a second trailer.
Getting the oryx from the trailers proved almost as much a chore as loading them. Unlike "olives in the bottle," the last oryx was just as difficult to unload as the first had been.
With six men—three on each side of a rope wrapped around the animal's horns pulling while two or three others prodded and pounded on the trailer side, each animal was literally dragged from the trailer, then with a bound was lost in the brush.
THE FULL GROWN oryx bull weights between 650 and 750 pounds, all muscle covered by its fawn coat with black markings that look like highwater marks on a ship hull.
The oryx eats marginal forage and can go as long as eight months without water. Supplementary feeding is not necessary ever, during winter months.
William Huey, chief of Game Management, Game and Fish Department, and assistant chief, Walter Snyder, both of Santa Fe, were in charge of the oryx transplant. Assisting were department personnel from Redrock, Deming, Silver City, Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
THE FIRST ORYX were brought to the state in 1962 by Dr. Hibben and placed in the Albuquerque zoo. Any imported animals to a zoo must remain there. Only their offspring may be moved to open areas. It was offspring from the Albuquerque zoo animals that were taken to the Game Pasture at Redrock and these offspring were brought to the WSMR range.
The transplant on the missile range marks the first release of animals in the current exotic program on any site other than the Redrock pasture. The release could be a milestone in the program to establish non-native game population in the state.
I have heard for the first time Oryx. But as the natural creations they should be treated politely. No violence should be implemented on them.
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