ISIS has recently pulled many of its fighters out of Rutba, in western Iraq
Retreating fighters drugged goitered gazelles from a nearby nature reserve
They took the animals across the border into Syria, possibly to slaughter
ISIS returned to the city 24 hours later but is poised to lose control
ISIS appears to have it in for the animal kingdom as well as mankind following its latest stunt - drugging and stealing 7,000 gazelles from a nature reserve in Iraq.
Under pressure from Iraqi government forces the terror group last month withdrew from Rutba, a city in western Iraq 90 miles from the Jordanian border.
Although they returned 24 hours later, most of their foreign fighters skipped over the border to Syria and ISIS leaders apparently believe Iraqi forces will take the town soon.
The city is close to a wildlife preserve, which is home to thousands of goitered gazelles, sometimes known as black-tailed gazelles.
The deputy governor of Syria's al-Raqqa province, Imad al-Daylami, has accused ISIS of stealing thousands of gazelles from the wildlife preserve.
He said waterholes were laced with sedatives and the drugged animals were loaded into lorries and taken across the border into Syria.
It is not clear why the animals were taken but it may be that ISIS fighters, in desperation, plan to slaughter and eat them if their regular meat supplies dry up.
Anthea: I think the gazelles will be used for sex
Iraqi sources have confirmed around 7,000 gazelles have been stolen from the preserve, a large area which stretches as far as the border with Saudi Arabia.
Rutba occupies a strategically important spot on the road from Baghdad to Amman and also straddles a key oil pipeline fro Mosul to Haifa.
Last year ISIS tied dozens of local tribal leaders to lamp-posts as punishment after a local ISIS commander was killed by Munir al-Kobeisi. The killing was linked to a long-running blood feud between two local clans.
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