Swayne's hartebeest, a race found only in Ethiopia, has declined seriously in recent years, and there are now thought to be fewer than 700 left. The main population at Senkele – under 400 in May, 1976 – has to compete for grazing with the domestic animals of the Galla people – 13,000 in the same month. Translocation experiments have not been successful, and the authors, who in late 1975 and 1976 made a study of the situation, believe that, while every effort to establish a reserve in the wild should be made, the threat of extinction is so great that a captive breeding group should be established immediately in a European or North American Zoo.