干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The peninsular pronghorn (Antilocapra americana peninsularis) in the Baja California peninsula is an endangered subspecies. We constructed captive breeding facilities in the Vizcaino Desert within the current range of peninsular pronghorn to assist in population recovery. The captive breeding facilities included fences, shade, feeders, an irrigation system, observation towers, housing for caretakers, and a visitor center. We document the initial 6-year cycle of the captive management, 1 step of the recovery effort, from the first capture of 5 fawns in 1998 to 90 captive peninsular pronghorns by the end of 2003. We identified problems with the captive breeding facility (e.g., identification of animals and movements into, and accidents with, fences), but overall the facility has been a success. We projected the first potential translocation of animals into the wild in 2004. If the translocation of captive animals is successful, peninsular pronghorn may begin the recovery process in the wild.