The Arabian Oryx was reportedly common in the Manasir area of western UAE, ranging into the Rub Al Khali (Philby 1933) but declined due to uncontrolled hunting and it became Extinct in the Wild in the UAE sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s. It has since been reintroduced to several sites: the Arabian Oryx Protected Area at Umm al Zumoul in southeast Abu Dhabi; Qasr Al Sarab Protected Area, which lies adjacent to the AOPA to the west; Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR), and Al Marmoom Conservation Area and adjacent desert in Dubai. Oryx are also present in government and private collections, some of which are extensive, and managed under a range of different conditions. The Arabian Oryx formerly occurred through most of the Arabian Peninsula, north to Kuwait and Iraq. The species' range had already contracted by the early years of the 20th century and the decline accelerated thereafter. Before 1920, oryx distribution was separated into areas over 1,000 km apart: a northern subpopulation in and around the Nafud (Saudi Arabia), and a larger southern subpopulation in the Rub Al Khali and the plains of central-southern Oman. Oryx disappeared from the north in the 1950s. In the south, their range steadily decreased due to hunting, and by the 1960s Oryx were restricted to parts of central and southern Oman. The last wild individuals were probably shot in 1972 on the Jiddat al Harasis, Oman. Arabian Oryx have been reintroduced to several sites across the Arabian Peninsula in addition to the sites in the United Arab Emirates. There is an introduced subpopulation on Hawar Island, Bahrain and large semi-managed subpopulations at several sites in Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia (Harrison and Bates 1991, IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group 2017c).