ISIS jihadi fighter have reportedly drugged and kidnapped up to 7,000 gazelles from a nature reserve near the Iraqi town of Al-Rutbah. The reserve stretches to the Saudi border, and is "home to countless species of protected animals", Express reported. Iraqi forces are planning to seize Al-Rutbah, forcing ISIS soldiers to take gazelles for food from the reserve. The move may have killed smaller animals.

ISIS soldiers loaded the unconscious animals into a convoy of cars and trucks which moved out of the reserve on the way to Syria, where they currently have occupied several strategic locations. This move may have reduced the species' population by 10%, and shows how desperate the terrorist outfit is for resources. It is currently losing land and fighters rapidly. ISIS may slaughter and eat the animals if food rations dry up, which depend on supply lines in the arid desert climate they hold power in.