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LEZIMA GOMES
Doha
World Wildlife Day was celebrated on March 3 across the world. Coined on December 20, 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly, UN World Wildlife Day was instituted to raise awareness about the world's wild animals and plants.
While most of us might be unaware of the Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation (AWWP), it is one of Qatar's biggest gifts to the world.
AWWP, spread over 2.5km and situated near Al Shahaniya, is playing a major role in not just creating awareness, but is also helping to restore, protect and breed some of the most endangered species. Privately owned and self-funded, AWWP takes pride in calling itself a well hidden secret in Qatar.
A haven for many rare wild animals, it is the brainchild of late Sheikh Saoud bin Mohammed bin Ali al Thani. He inherited the farm from his parents, which then had a few Arabian animals. He wanted something special, and so came the idea of creating a breeding centre for endangered species.
Set up in 1998, the AWWP is a state-of-the-art breeding and research centre for endangered wildlife species with an international team of expert vets, biologists and keepers dedicated to the care and conservation of the animals.
"The farm is actually internationally renowned for the research regarding zoological diseases, breeding endangered and threatened species of animals and vascular plants . Since wildlife preservation and conservation efforts in Qatar are relatively obscure, not much is known about the farm," said AWWP Director Dr Cromwell Purchase.
Unlike a zoo, at the AWWP, you will not see animals like elephants or tigers. But instead most of the species at the farm are endangered such as the Arabian sand cat, the lean gazelle and Arabian Oryx, with the main focus on various species of antelopes and birds.
What late Sheikh Saoud wanted to do is look after animals that are neglected, particularly the antelope species. Dr Purchase said, ''At the AWWP, we care for the animals. We want them to be happy. At a zoo, you will see 700-800 species. We want to breed genetically good stock. We have about 2,000 animals and 80 species.''
The AWWP is not open to public but recently has started school tours to help children in Qatar learn more about the species on the farm. It also offers students of zoology an opportunity for internships.
The facility has a high success rate in breeding difficult and sensitive animals."We have worked with various endangered species and managed to revive them. Once that is done, we bring in more species that need help, '' explained Dr Purchase.
AWWP has collaborated with a lot of conservational organisations and now has the highest rate of breeding of endangered species than any other institution.
Dr Purchase said, ''We have state of the art equipment and also do a lot of cutting edge reproductive research in gene-related technology. Our mission is to be a global leader in high quality captive management, research, education conservation, and understanding various endangered species and their habitats.''
Citing a recent example of the trust that various institutes have in AWWP, he said,"The Great Blue Turaco is a 'least concerned' species at the moment in West Africa. It is hunted for its meat and feathers. There are no statistics to give a good definition of their final numbers to see how fast they are moving to being endangered. In captivity they cannot be reared, so most institutes don't know how to rear the chicks. They can bring the bird to captivity and make them lay eggs but the babies don't survive. We got our first pair recently and the others are on their way. We were asked to take them in because of our success rate with breeding birds and also because of our reproduction research."
While the farm works mainly with endangered species, it also give attention to those that are not endangered but are in habitats that are potentially at risk.
''Some species might not be endangered yet but we need to learn to look after them in captivity, so we are prepared just in case something happens to their environment," explained said Dr Purchase.
Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation aims to invest more in educating, especially young people, in wildlife and nature. A special education and visitors area is planned.
