Four Ibexes Die Mysteriously in Negev

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – The mysterious death of four ibexes in the Mitzpe Ramon area of the Negev desert has prompted an investigation into the possibility they were poisoned, The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.

Although poisoning is suspected, Nature and Parks Authority inspector Yedidya Shmuel said that there was no immediate evidence of poisoning.

However, the NPA’s veterinarian Roni King said that poisoning is the likely cause of death, even though the source has not yet been identified.

“The goal in locating the source of the poison in the field is to stop the exposure to it and prevent the continued death of nearby wildlife,” King said in a statement.

The four ibexes were taken to an autopsy laboratory at the Beit Dagan Veterinary Institute to test for toxins and diseases.

“If this is indeed a deliberate harm brought on protected wildlife, the perpetrators must be found and brought to justice,” said Mediad Goren, of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI).

Ibexes, specifically Nubian ibexes, are desert-dwelling relatives of goats that live in the Middle East and North Africa and are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

The ibex population in Israel was once much greater, but was decimated by hunters during World War I.