Saudi gazelle

The regional report on Arabian Peninsula mammals published in 2023 classifies the Saudi gazelle (Gazella saudiya) as extinct under its treatment as a separate species. It cites the absence of records for decades despite repeated surveys and the lack of evidence of survival from investigations of privately owned gazelle populations in the Arabian Peninsula.

The regional report on Arabian Peninsula mammals published in 2023 identifies over-hunting as the believed main cause of the Saudi gazelle's decline and notes that its preference for open gravel plains made it highly vulnerable to motorised hunting.

A 2001 IUCN/SSC workshop report places the Saudi gazelle (Gazella dorcas saudiya) in the Red List category Extinct in the Wild (EW); in the report's summary table the criteria column reads simply the 2000 IUCN Red List.

The U.S. list of endangered and threatened wildlife (50 CFR 17.11, 2024 edition) carries the Saudi Arabian gazelle, Gazella dorcas saudiya, as an endangered species wherever found, under a listing cited to the Federal Register of 25 June 1979 (44 FR 37124).

A 2001 IUCN/SSC datasheet records the Saudi gazelle as protected under national wildlife legislation in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

A 2001 IUCN/SSC workshop report states that three captive groups thought to be Saudi gazelles had been examined and found to be hybrids; a 2001 genetic study likewise concluded that captive populations once put forward as breeding stock appear to have been wrongly identified and are of no use for conserving the species.

The 2001 IUCN/SSC report says that, with no known wild population and no captive stock proven to be genuine Saudi gazelles, several facts about the subspecies could not be established.

The workshop considered surveys and genetic studies critically important for this subspecies, because without them it would be impossible to determine whether any population remained.