In The Texas Panhandle, the pronghorn antelope population has remained strong over the past three decades. At the same time, western Texas has seen a dramatic decrease in its pronghorn population, so wildlife and research groups are working to balance things out.
AsThe Texas Observerreports, the pronghorn antelope is the fastest land mammal in North America.
From the mid-80s to 2011, the antelope’s population in the far west Texas Trans-Pecos region dropped from 17,000 to 3,745, prompting the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and other groups to kick off a pronghorn restoration project that, among other things, relocates pronghorn antelope from the Texas Panhandle – where the population has remained strong – back to the Trans-Pecos region.
Since 2011, over 600 pronghorn have been relocated from the Texas Panhandle, near areas like Pampa, to areas of western and southwestern Texas, like Marfa and Marathon.