The Arabian oryx used to roam over Saudi Arabia's deserts and much of the Middle East but by 1970, it had been hunted to extinction in the wild. However, a captive breeding programme had been initiated at the Phoenix Zoo in the United States in the 1960s and the oryx has since been successfully reintroduced into the wild in the Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area in Saudi Arabia, a fenced reserve of over . It is also now present in the 'Uruq Bani Ma'arid protected area, where the goitered gazelle and mountain gazelle are also to be found.