The deer was almost feared lost in the 1970s, when researchers claimed that only 120 remained in a small pocket of north-eastern Afghanistan, in the Takhar province, on the border of Tajikistan.
Later that decade, in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, heralding a war that lasted nine years and unleashing chaos which saw hundreds of thousands killed and millions flee the country. A devastating civil war followed the Soviet invasion and then the Taliban installed themselves in 1996 until they were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.
The country has since then maintained democracy, albeit with militants still active and dominant in certain regions and security in some parts by no means guaranteed.