Soultan Alaaeldin, Darwish Mohammed, Al-Johani Nawaf, Abdulkareem Ayman, Alfaifi Yousef, Assaeed Abdulaziz M, El-Bana Magdy, Browne Stephen
The Royal Commission for AlUla, Riyadh 12512, Saudi Arabia.
Plant Production Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Sep 11;13(18):2885. doi: 10.3390/ani13182885.
The feral donkey ( L.) is an invasive species in Saudi Arabia and can cause severe damage to natural and cultural heritage. Over the last 30 years, feral donkeys have become a serious problem, as their abundance and geographic distribution has increased drastically. The impacts of feral donkeys are not well documented, and information about their abundance and distribution is lacking, certainly in Saudi Arabia, which hampers the implementation of effective management plans. Accordingly, we used the minimum population number approach (MPN) to determine the number of feral donkeys in this part of northwest Saudi Arabia. A total of 1135 feral donkeys were encountered in the region. The area around Khaybar harbors ~25% ( = 338) of the feral donkey population, whereas Tayma and AlGhrameel nature reserves were the least-inhabited sites (almost absent). The average population density of feral donkeys was estimated as 1.03 (0.19 SE) donkey/km. We documented the negative ecological impact of feral donkeys on natural resources, which constituted overgrazing that resulted in habitat fragmentation and competition for resources with native species. We propose urgent actions to control the presence of feral donkeys in the region and suggest humane eradication as the most efficient and applicable to significantly reduce the negative impacts of feral donkeys.
野生驴（L.）在沙特阿拉伯是一种入侵物种，会对自然和文化遗产造成严重破坏。在过去30年里，野生驴已成为一个严重问题，因为它们的数量和地理分布急剧增加。野生驴的影响尚无充分记录，关于它们数量和分布的信息也很缺乏，在沙特阿拉伯尤其如此，这阻碍了有效管理计划的实施。因此，我们采用最小种群数量法（MPN）来确定沙特阿拉伯西北部这一地区野生驴的数量。该地区共发现1135头野生驴。海巴尔周围地区拥有约25%（=338头）的野生驴种群，而泰马和阿尔格拉米尔自然保护区是野生驴居住最少的地方（几乎没有）。野生驴的平均种群密度估计为每平方公里1.03头（标准误差0.19）。我们记录了野生驴对自然资源的负面生态影响，包括过度放牧导致栖息地破碎化以及与本地物种争夺资源。我们提议采取紧急行动来控制该地区野生驴的数量，并建议人道捕杀是最有效且适用的方法，以显著减少野生驴的负面影响。
