Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 20, December 1990, pp. 1-11. | Page 3

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subspecies of wolves, especially the small Canis lupus arabs, feed also on rodents
and other small animals.
Mendelssohn (1983) writes: "Wolves are endangered by shooting, as in most
countries of this region "everybody carries a gun and shoots at everything"
(Kumerloeve, personal communication) and wolves are shot on sight. If they
prey on livestock, retaliation poisoning or trapping ensues. Many poisons are
available and widely used: Fluoracetamide (1081), Sodiumfluoracetate (1080),
Strychnine, as well as pesticides, such as Endrin, Parathion, etc. Rabies is
endemic in most countries of the region, and the veterinary authorities carry out
poisoning campaigns, using mostly strychnine and 1080, in order to eradicate
predators and feral dogs.”
Thus the life of the wolf in most areas of the Middle East is precarious because of
the unpredictable and unsure supply of food, persecution and antirabies
campaigns. Their survival is due to the fact that in most areas of this region the
density of human population is still low, and nomadic livestock raising is
widespread, with quite a high rate of mortality in the herds, thus supplying
carcasses. The human population, however, increases rapidly, and veterinary
care of the nomadic herds improves, causing a decrease in the availability of
carcasses (Mendelssohn 1983).
The eventual survival of wolves in the Middle East will depend on the slowly
developing nature conservation ethic, in which predators ought to be included.
As the general attitude is, however, still strongly anti-predator, extensive
conservation education is extremely urgent. Legal protection alone is
meaningless: In Turkey the leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) and the tiger
(Panthera tigris virgata) have been protected since 1966, but still every detected
specimen is shot and both subspecies are about to be exterminated or have
already disappeared (Kumerloeve 1975, Mendelssohn 1983)."
Dr. David L. Harrison (1981) wrote in his book "Mammals of the Arabian Gulf"
about the Wolf : "Although the Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs) is considerably
smaller than its northern Eurasian relatives, it is nevertheless strikingly larger
than the Jackal, with a total length of about 1140 mm. The general build is like an
Alsatian dog, with rather long legs, a short, bushy tail and large ears. The coat is
rather short and coarse, variably greyish or yellowish brown on the flanks, with a
blackish crest along the spine. The tip of the tail is also black, while the cheeks
and underside are usually white. Wolves from the more northerly parts of the
peninsula (Canis lupus pallipes) are larger and have thicker, more luxuriant coats.”
The desert wolves of Arabia usually hunt singly or in pairs, and many tales are
told by the Bedouin of their cunning in snatching sheep from the flocks.
Considering the long-standing enmity of the species with man it is surprising
that young wolves can be readily tamed. The species seems to be dependent on
water and is therefore not found in the hearts of the deserts. It has occurred,
albeit in scanty numbers, throughout the Gulf region from Dibbah, Buraimi and
Jebel Hafit in the south to Hofuf, Jabrin and the vicinity of Kuwait in the north
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 20 – December 1990