Conservation
Peninsular Pronghorn Conservation
In March 2006, The Living Desert with U.S. and Mexican partners translocated 25 endangered Peninsular pronghorn, Antilocapra americana peninsularis, to La Choya Peninsula in El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve (VBR) of Baja California Sur, Mexico. This is the first of several proposed reintroduced populations to someday form a recovered metapopulation of this rare animal.
The vision for this recovery effort came from VBR former Director, Victor Sanchez, in 1990 of recovering a dwindling wild population of less than 200 pronghorn. In 1997 a Peninsular Pronghorn Recovery Program was initiated with the formation of a semi-captive herd in the Reserve. By 2005 the semi-captive herd had grown to 196, enough to support the first translocation and establishment of a second wild population. The Living Desert along with it U.S. partners has continued to support this conservation effort by assisting the Reserve personnel with a rural pronghorn conservation education program to the schools bordering the Reserve, by assisting the Reserve in the development of new translocation techniques, in surveying the reintroduced population, and with financial support.
The vision for this recovery effort came from VBR former Director, Victor Sanchez, in 1990 of recovering a dwindling wild population of less than 200 pronghorn. In 1997 a Peninsular Pronghorn Recovery Program was initiated with the formation of a semi-captive herd in the Reserve. By 2005 the semi-captive herd had grown to 196, enough to support the first translocation and establishment of a second wild population. The Living Desert along with it U.S. partners has continued to support this conservation effort by assisting the Reserve personnel with a rural pronghorn conservation education program to the schools bordering the Reserve, by assisting the Reserve in the development of new translocation techniques, in surveying the reintroduced population, and with financial support.
