Las Cruces hikers share tales of oryx sightings
Game and Fish warns of dangers posed by wildlife
LAS CRUCES — Sarah Silva was hiking with her partner, journalist Heath Haussamen, one day last July on the Achenbach Canyon Trail in the Organ Mountain Desert Peaks National Monument.
Both experienced hikers and hunters, the couple had seen Facebook posts reporting sightings of oryxes, a large antelope species native to Africa, close to the trail. They decided to hike up and see if they could spot one themselves.
“Our experience with wild animals is that they will keep their distance,” Silva said in an interview.
They got a closer look than they ever expected when an oryx charged them and pinned the pair by a bush for nearly an hour.
Oryxes were introduced into White Sands Missile Range, east of Las Cruces, 50 years ago. They have thrived in a region where they have no natural predators, and are well equipped to defend themselves against mountain lions, coyotes and other local species.
Biologists at the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish estimate the current population at 4,000 to 6,000. During the 201920 season, an estimated 1,687 oryxes were legally hunted, according to that year’s harvest report.
It once was rare to see them away from the range, but in recent years, sightings on the west side of the Organ Mountain range have become more frequent.
A year ago, an ailing oryx wandered onto the New Mexico State University campus, leading Game and Fish officers on a chase until it was cornered and euthanized near the Pan American Center.
Josh Hunt, a local photographer, has counted seven oryx sightings over the past year and a half, and his most recent encounter brought him close enough to film one. Most of the sightings were near the Achenbach Canyon Trail and Soledad Canyon, but the most recent was on a trail in the Dripping Springs Natural Area.
Oryxes tend to shy away from humans, but Hunt said the one he encountered most recently “was by far and away the most tame, the least shy. … He started walking straight toward me. At one point, I’m guessing he was within 15 yards or so — he was pretty close.”
The animal did not appear frightened, injured or sick, and Hunt could not tell whether it was male or female.
“I’ve heard people tell stories about them being aggressive, particularly with cars, and I’ve had lots of warnings when I’ve showed pictures over the years,” he said, “but every experience I’ve ever had with one — all the other ones wanted to run away, but this one was just like a horse, sitting there.”
Charged by an oryx
“Oryx are known to kill African lions in their native range. They impale them on those horns,” Jeremy Lane of the Game and Fish department said. “If you see an animal on a trail, like at Dripping Springs, it’s best just to keep an eye on it and give it a very wide berth — go around it and leave it alone.”
Silva, a local organizer who helped found the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument, figured she and Haussamen might see an oryx grazing far off in the valley.
Sticking to the trail, they ventured up over a saddle offering hikers a view into the missile range area and saw the oryx at a distance of about 150 yards. “There she is,” she recalled saying to Haussamen.
And then the oryx charged straight at them.
“It was terrifying,” she recalled. “I had never been charged by an animal before.”
The pair ran, but the only cover nearby was a 7-foot-tall juniper, and the oryx stopped just a few yards from them, pinning them both for nearly an hour.
“She was beautiful,” Silva said. “I had never seen an animal like that up close, they’re just stunning. … Any time we moved, she would paw at the ground with her hoof, and she would snort and shake her horns. She did not like us there.”
The oryx grazed while keeping one eye on them, inching closer; and whenever they tried to slowly move out of the area, Silva said the oryx would draw nearer still. There was another hiding spot 30 yards downhill — which they judged the oryx could cover in seconds.
They were both carrying handguns but, as Silva said, “A 9mm wouldn’t have stopped her. … There was a high likelihood that we’d just irritate it and make it more upset.”
To buy some distance and time, they tossed rocks at her feet, backing her up 10 yards or so, and then slowly made their way downhill, eventually climbing down into a canyon before the oryx stopped her pursuit.
They guessed from the animal’s behavior that there was a calf nearby — seemingly confirmed when another hiker later reported seeing a younger oryx around that area.
“Oryx are not aggressive unless they feel threatened,” Lane said. “Things that might cause them to become aggressive include the individual being injured, maybe struck by a car, that kind of thing, and being approached by a person. When they’re calving, like when they are giving birth or have young oryxes with them, they are going to be super-protective, obviously. Just like with any wildlife, we recommend never approaching or attempting to feed them.”
In a situation like Silva’s, Lane said hikers should stay put if they feel moving would put them in danger and use a mobile phone to call a game warden via 911.
“There are more people going out into these spaces and they can feel super safe,” Silva said. “It’s good to remember that we’re not at the top of the food chain out there. (The oryxes) believe they are at the top of the food chain, and they most likely are. It can feel safe, but we still want to be super aware when we’re out there.”