On 16 August, the global zoo and aquarium community comes together to celebrate one of conservation’s most inspiring success stories: the return of the scimitar-horned oryx to the wild. 

Previously listed as Extinct in the Wild on the IUCN Red List, the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) has made an extraordinary comeback. Once roaming widely across northern Africa, these desert antelopes vanished from their native habitats by the 1990s, driven to extinction in the wild by unregulated hunting, habitat degradation, and competition with livestock. 

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of committed international partners, the species has been brought back from the brink. Today, a fully reintroduced wild population is established in Chad, supported by ongoing monitoring and adaptive management. 

This recovery is no coincidence. It is the result of decades of work, long-term commitment and collaboration. Much of this has been led by the global zoo community. Beyond advocacy and funding, zoos have provided something critical: animals for reintroduction. 

At the 2025 Sahel and Sahara Interest Group (SSIG) meeting in Tunisia, WAZA CEO Martín Zordan emphasised this contribution in his presentation on the role of zoos in the conservation of Sahelo-Saharan wildlife. He explained how scimitar horned oryx bred in zoos formed the Abu Dhabi World Herd from where the animals for the reintroduction in Chad originated from. He also highlighted the importance of genetic diversity and the role zoos play in maintaining it.  

Over time, reintroduced populations can lose genetic diversity and can also be affected by emerging or reemerging threats. Zoos help address this by contributing animals from carefully coordinated breeding programmes, which strengthens the long-term health of wild populations. WAZA members RZSS Edinburgh Zoo, Saint Louis Zoo, The Wilds and Whipsnade Zoo contributed directly to this international effort.