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TIL between 1969 and 1977, 95 African oryx (a type of large antelope)
were released in southern New Mexico. There are now thousands of them in
the state and that number continues go grow.
https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/african-oryx.htm#:~:text=Native...
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|u/compuwiza1 - 10 hours
|
|Do the deer and the antelopes play?


  |u/Bigred2989- - 10 hours
  |
  |With seldom a discouraging word.


    |u/invol713 - 8 hours
    |
    |Where often is heard many 4-letter words, as the deer cause car
    |crashes each day. -Life in the Rockies


  |u/bigfatfurrytexan - 2 hours
  |
  |Fwiw, that song was about pronghorn I believe


|u/Thin-Rip-3686 - 9 hours
|
|Have eaten oryx from the White Sands reservation. Permits are highly
|sought after.  To those who have had it, there is not a better meat.


  |u/dabigchina - 7 hours
  |
  |Had it in Africa. It is much tastier than most game I've had.   That
  |being said, I still prefer beef.


|u/TheMadhopper - 10 hours
|
|Theres a big hunting industry around them. You can see them sometimes
|from the highway when your driving around 


|u/Bigred2989- - 10 hours
|
|The state released them to give game hunters something to shoot without
|having to pay for a trip to Africa. Ranchers in Texas were doing the
|same thing for awhile and even sending a ton of surplus animals to
|Africa where their numbers were dwindling. I think they stopped when an
|animal rights group got the Federal government to forbid the practice of
|breeding Oryx for sport hunting, and the ranchers culled all their
|herds.


  |u/AwfulUsername123 - 10 hours
  |
  |That didn't happen. Despite criticism, Texan ranches still have
  |thousands of oryx and still make money charging people to hunt them.


    |u/gwaydms - 8 hours
    |
    |But introduced game animals that have escaped the high-fence ranches
    |are fair game, so to speak, as long as you have a hunting license.
    |There are a lot of oryx, nilgai, and especially axis deer in the
    |Texas Hill Country. They're bad for the native ecosystem, and
    |they're good eating.


      |u/bmccrobie - 7 hours
      |
      |Axis deer up the ass, as my uncle would say.


      |u/IFLCivicEngagement - 2 hours
      |
      |It depends on what you mean by "fair game." A lot of them are on
      |permitted hunting land controlled by the state. To hunt these
      |areas you have to win a lottery. My understanding with Nilgai at
      |least, is that once you get drawn in, you have no bag limit, but
      |you must be drawn in to be there. 


    |u/Bigred2989- - 10 hours
    |
    |Wasn't aware. I remembered a couple of 60 Minutes reports about the
    |topic and the culling was the last thing I heard. I guess they were
    |just threatening to do it.


|u/SugarNervous - 10 hours
|
|Fauna pollution.


|u/ACorania - 51 minutes
|
|I was weirded out the first time I saw them out here.


|u/MasterpieceNo8893 - 10 hours
|
|TIL too! Fascinating!