The Saudi National Wildlife Research Centre (NWRC) recorded the birth of the First Arabian Tiger under captivity in healthy condition. The mother tigress was presented by Yemen to the Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development who kindly, in turn, gifted to the program on breeding of Arabian Tiger in 2000. After testing veterinary and health care of the mother tigress, she had been introduced to the Breeding Program in captivity 2006. In 2007, she was placed with an Arabian Tiger under the care of NWRC in Taif that was received from the Centre for the Protection and Breeding of endangered Animals of the Arabian peninsula in Sharjah within the framework of the regional cooperation programme under which the successful consummation took place. Speaking on the occasion, Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Saud Al-Saud, Secretary General of NCWCD said that the Arabian Tigers are among the rarest mammals in the Arabian Peninsula, where only 200 beasts are available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, making them the rarest wild animals in the world as well as projecting the dire needs of special care and breeding in captivity for this kind of wild cats. He said predators in general and tigers in particular, are subjected to a fierce onslaught from some of low-conscious on their importance and their role in the environment where these are being killed using firearms or poisoning on flimsy justifications and arguments.
