Re-introduction - fallow deer

Persian fallow-deer 

The Persian fallow-deer (Dama mesopotamica) became extinct in Israel in the early 20th century and was considered extinct in the world by the 1940's. However, in 1956 two dozen individuals were discovered in South-Western Iran. Following the discovery, few fallow-deer were transferred to Germany (Opel Zoo, Kronberg, Germany) and these were the founders of the first captive breeding group of Persian fallow-deer. In 1978 the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA) joined the international efforts to save the Persian fallow-deer and decided to start a captive breeding program in its Carmel Mt. Hai-Bar Wildlife Preserve. In 1996, after the group has grown, it was decided to start reintroducing Persian fallow-deer to the wild at the Kziv Stream Nature Reserve in the western Galilee. The Jerusalem Zoo joined the fallow-deer conservation efforts in 1997, when the first individuals were brought to the Zoo to its "Bible-Land preserve" exhibit. The group at the Zoo also bred very well and today it is the largest zoo-kept herd of Persian fallow-deer in the world. Since it started keeping fallow-deer, the Zoo has been taking part in their reintroduction and many individuals have been transferred from the Zoo to the Kziv Stream Nature Reserve for their release in the wild. 

In recent years the Zoo and INNPPA have initiated a second reintroduction project, this time at the Jerusalem Hills region. The rationale behind the second project is to create a second, separate wild population that will instigate higher genetic variation among the wild deer and reduce the chance of a catastrophe (e.g. disease) decimating or even exterminating the whole wild population. The area that was chosen for the project is also situated within a nature reserve, amidst dense vegetation and with nearby water sources. With the aid of the Friends of the Zoo Association and the Zoo's Prof. Shulov Fund for the Study of Animals in Captivity, an acclimatization enclosure was constructed and every several months a group of Persian fallow-deer is transferred to this enclosure and later released to the wild. Furthermore, the Zoo's staff is involved in the daily tracking of the reintroduced deer, together with INNPPA rangers and students from the Ecology, Systematics and Evolution Department at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The tracking is conducted by radio-telemetry transmitters or GPS receivers, which were donated by "Elbit – Medical Imaging Systems" and were fitted on collars that were put on the deer. This tracking allows us to estimate the survival of the deer and learn about their activity in the wild, information that hardly exists because of the rarity of this species in the world.