A NEW ISSUE OF ARABIAN WILDLIFE IS RELEASED

This is the ninth issue of Arabian Wildlife Magazine. Regular readers will be keen to know why there was such a long period of time between the eighth and ninth issues. Having built up a dedicated readership in over twenty countries, it was a hard decision to suspend publication for a while.

The first eight issues were sponsored by the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development in Riyadh and I take this opportunity to commend the NCWCD for their foresight in supporting the publication. It was a pleasure to work with their staff and I am personally grateful to Prof. Abdulaziz Abuzinada, Secretary General of the NCWCD, who acted as the magazine's titular editor.

Despite the comfort that such a sponsorship agreement gave us, as owners of the title and publishers of the magazine, we believe that the only real future for Arabian Wildlife Magazine is as an independent entity that is not exclusively linked to any single organisation.

Like the oryx that have been released into the wild in various parts of the peninsula, Arabian Wildlife magazine must now stand on its own feet. We are confident that it can do this and we welcome, and hope for, support from many different organisations, companies and advertisers - all of whom can play their own role in helping to raise public awareness of Arabia's natural wealth and its wonderful wildlife.

The most important element in the Arabian Wildlife publishing programme is you, the reader. We have always enjoyed, and been inspired by, readers' feedback. In addition to hundreds of Letters to the Editor, we have received a large number of emails on our web site – http://www.arabianwildlife.com. A random sample of these is published on page 48. Keep them coming and we will do our best to respond.

We hope that you enjoy this issue and we thank you for your support.

Peter Vine
Managing Editor