The birth of a unique foal at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve is seen as a beacon of hope for Cape Mountain Zebra conservation.
Over the last 300 years, hunting and habitat destruction has decimated Cape Mountain Zebra numbers and isolated the three remaining small populations. Genetic drift over subsequent generations resulted in three genetically distinct stocks.
Public and private conservation efforts have led to a substantial increase in numbers, which resulted in the Cape Mountain Zebra being removed from the IUCN Red List of threatened species; except for one of the three stocks, which remained isolated and showed signs of inbreeding.
Until recently, Gamkaberg Nature Reserve, near Calitzdorp, was the only place in the world where zebra of this stock occurred. In 1974, the already small Cape Mountain Zebra population on Gamkaberg was reduced to only six animals after seven were poached by a local farmer.
The expansion of the nature reserve through land purchases by the World Wide…
