Editing Addax (section)

==Threats and conservation==

[[File:Addax-Jerusalem-Biblical-Zoo-IZE-481b.jpg|right|thumb|An addax in a [[breeding program]] at the [[Jerusalem Biblical Zoo]], [[Israel]]]]
Declines in the population of the addax have been ongoing since the mid-1800s.<ref name=scf>{{cite web|title=Addax|url=http://www.saharaconservation.org/?Addax|publisher=Sahara Conservation Fund|access-date=14 January 2013|archive-date=22 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522145329/http://www.saharaconservation.org/?Addax|url-status=live}}</ref> More recently, addaxes were found from Algeria to Sudan, but due mainly to overhunting, they have become much more restricted and rare.<ref name="iucn"/>

Addaxes are easy to hunt due to their slow movements. [[Roadkill]], firearms for easy hunting and nomadic settlements near waterholes (their dry-season feeding places) have also decreased their numbers.<ref name=newby>{{cite journal|last=Newby|first=J.|title=Can Addax and Oryx be saved in the Sahel?|journal=Oryx|year=2009|volume=15|issue=3|doi=10.1017/S0030605300024662|page=262|doi-access=free}}</ref> Moreover, their meat and leather are highly prized. Other threats include chronic [[drought]]s in the deserts, [[habitat destruction]] due to more [[human settlements]] and [[agriculture]]. Fewer than 500 individuals are thought to exist in the wild today, most of the animals being found between the [[Termit Massif Reserve|Termit]] area of Niger, the Bodélé region of western Chad,<ref name=iucn/> and the [[Aoukar]] in Mauritania.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-GCQyrotgMC&dq=Aoukar+addax&pg=PT326|title=The Rough Guide to West Africa|first=Richard|last=Trillo|date=16 June 2008|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781405380706|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Today there are over 600 addaxes in Europe, [[Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve]] (Israel), [[Sabratha]] (Libya), [[Giza Zoo]] (Egypt), North America, Japan and Australia under captive breeding programmes. There are thousands more in private collections and ranches in the United States and the Middle East. Addaxes are legally protected in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria; hunting of all gazelles is forbidden in Libya and Egypt. Although enormous reserves, such as the [[Hoggar Mountains]] and [[Tassili n'Ajjer|Tasilli]] in Algeria, the [[Ténéré]] in Niger, the [[Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve]] in Chad, and the newly established [[Wadi Howar National Park]] in Sudan, cover areas where the addax previously occurred, some do not keep addaxes at the present time because they lack the resources. The addax has been reintroduced into [[Bou-Hedma National Park]] (Tunisia) and [[Souss-Massa National Park]] (Morocco). Reintroductions in the wild are ongoing in [[Jebil National Park]] (Tunisia) and [[Grand Erg Oriental]] (the Sahara), and another is planned for Morocco.<ref name=iucn/>