Three bontebok antelope arrived in San Diego in February 1974, after a lengthy saga of mishaps in which the antelope had to be quarantined not once but twice, through no fault of their own but because of other animals nearby. It all started with a trip to South Africa termed "Operation Bontebok" in 1968, with the final happy outcome of the rare and unusual species, once on the brink of extinction, finally making a home in San Diego. (The tubes on the horns are there for safety during shipping—they were soon removed.)