The Walia ibex, a rare species of wild goat found only in northern Ethiopia, is once again considered critically endangered, after recent population estimates showed a sustained decline below a key threshold.
The iconic species, largely confined to the remote, steep cliffs of Simien Mountains National Park, was previous listed as vulnerable on the Red List of the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority.
The conservation status of the Walia ibex (Capra walie) has oscillated over the years. In 1986, it was listed as endangered, then reclassified as critically endangered in 1996, before being moved back to endangered in 2008.
Between 2009 and 2012, surveys found the Walia ibex population had increased from 680 individuals to 850. Based on this trend, researchers estimated that by 2020 there would be more than 975 individuals. Concluding that the species was doing better, they reclassified the ibex as vulnerable.
The 2020 assessment noted that in 2019, only 619 ibex had been counted, but concluded that this single record didn’t change the overall increasing trend.
“With today’s knowledge this conclusion was not justified,” Paul Scholte, senior adviser to the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority and lead assessor of the IUCN Walia Ibex Assessment, told Mongabay by email.
A study published last year by Scholte and his colleagues found that Walia ibex numbers have been steadily declining from a high of 865 individuals in 2015 to just 306 by May 2024.
Most importantly, there were fewer than 250 mature individuals (those that can reproduce) in 2023 and 2024, thereby falling under the IUCN criterion for listing the species as critically endangered, Scholte said.
An additional count in November 2024, not included in the 2025 study, found just 289 ibex, including 228 mature individuals, Scholte added. Another count in December 2025, found only 271 individuals. “In other words another 18 individuals lost within a year,” he said.
For their study, Scholte and his colleagues also interviewed nearly 200 people, including park personnel, local authorities and village residents, to understand why ibex populations have been declining. The interviewees identified poaching as a major threat to the ibex, possibly for food and traditional medicine, followed by human encroachment and habitat degradation. The situation was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic in combination with the 2021-2022 war between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
According to the interviewees, the instability from the war opened the door for poaching, while COVID-19 “obstructed tourist flows, decreased revenues and halted patrolling activities and awareness,” the authors wrote in the paper.
Scholte said poaching continues to be a threat. “In April 2025, four poachers were apprehended, with the remains of two Walia ibexes that were confiscated, showing the continuing pressure on this species during a period of prolonged insecurity reigning in this part of Ethiopia,” he said.
Banner image of a male Walia ibex in Ethiopia, courtesy of Paul Scholte.
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