Proceedings WAZA Melbourne

Proceedings of the 67th Annual Conference

Melbourne 7–11 October 2012

Fighting Extinction

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Editor: Gerald Dick, WAZA Executive Office IUCN Conservation Centre Rue Mauverney 28 CH-1196 Gland Switzerland

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ISSN: 2073-6576

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Fighting ExtinctionProceedings of the 67th Annual Conference

7–11 October 2012

Hosted by ZoosVictoria

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October 2012 | Melbourne 1

EditorialDear WAZA Members and Friends!

I would like to start with a big thank you to our host, Zoos Victoria! Ad-ditionally, I wish to congratulate at the occasion of their 150th Anniver-sary – a nice coincidence with WAZA’s 77th Anniversary.

Our conference was a big success and the focus on “fighting extinction” covered a wide array of topics, rang-ing from conservation, education to collection sustainability and popu-lation management. The keynote presenters underlined the important role of zoos and aquariums and the responsibility of our community in the interaction with about 700 mil-lion visitors to zoo and aquarium facilities worldwide.

Many positive examples and suc-cess stories were presented and the important link to the decade on biodiversity was underlined by many speakers. Fruitful discussions took place on the cooperation between as-sociations, animal welfare and global species management plans. Welfare and population management as well as associated strategic developments have been identified as focus of work for the coming years. Finally, two resolutions, one on endorsing the new IUCN reintroduction guidelines and one on CO2 compensation while highlighting ocean acidification were adopted.

Thanks again for this highlight in WAZA’s jubilee year and thanks to all members for the ongoing support and active involvement in the global zoo and aquarium community!!

Gerald Dick Executive Director

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INF Documents presented at the conference without previous documentation, made available after the Conference

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ADM Administrative sessions

COM Committee meetings at the Conference

WS Workshop results

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Proceedings of 67th Annual Conference2

Table of Contents

Welcome Address by the Host ..................................... 5Welcome Address by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Victoria, Australia ........................................................ 7Welcome to Our Region ..............................................9Welcome Address by the WAZA President ..............................................11

Keynote Addresses ........................... 13The Environmental Crisis – A Question of Leadership .......................................... 14A New Model for Conservation ...................................17

WAZA Congress Papers Abstracts ....... 19

Received Full WAZA Congress Contributions ..................... 29Love your Locals ....................................................... 30Release to the Wild of Charismatic Mega Fauna: the Risks and Successes ............................................ 33Current Conservation Efforts Supported by the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums ............ 37Breeding and reintroduction of Ural owls (Strix uralensis) ....................................... 39The Big C – A Discussion on the Allocation of Scarce Resources for Zoo and Aquarium Conservations ........ 40Conservation of Swedish Amphibians – A Success Story? ........................................................ 43Zoos FIGHTING extinction & Zoos FACILITATING extinction ............................... 45Facts and Figures from The Granby Zoo: Increasing Revenues as a Major Player in Social Economy ..................................................... 47Conservation Efforts for the Endangered Ozark Hellbender .................................. 52Managing Toucans and Flamingos at the Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná State, Brazil ............ 54Panama’s Noah’s Ark ................................................. 56Conservation Medicine: An Approach to Fight the Extinction of All Species ......................... 58Temaikèn’s Natural Reserve in Misiones, Argentina: Join Us! .................................................... 62Conserving Madagascar’s Biodiversity, Building Local Capacity and Raising Environmental Awareness of Youth: The cooperative work of zoos for Madagascar – The Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group .............................................. 64Unraveling a Mystery! ...............................................66Community Conservation – A Peri-Urban Case Study in Fighting Extinction ..........68

Special Session on Population Management and Ocean Conservation .................................... 73Future Proofing Programs – an Australasian approach ...........................................74Mission of Mermaids (film screening) and Introduction to Ocean Acidification ........................... 79

List of Participants ............................ 83



Welcome Address by the HostKenneth Hinchcliff, Chairman of Zoos Victoria

I would like to thank the Hon. Ryan Smith, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Jörg Junhold, WAZA President and Karen Fifield, Chairper-son of ZAA for being here today.

Zoos Victoria is extremely proud to be hosting 200 delegates from the world’s leading zoos and aquariums here in Melbourne.

We gather because we are on a shared quest: Fighting Extinction.

And I am absolutely confident that by the end of our week together, we will be inspired with new ideas, experi-ences and insights, that will help us all play an important role in ensur-ing our children and grandchildren continue to experience species in the wild, not only in our zoos.

For that is at the very heart of our work at Zoos Victoria.

We have so much to learn from each another this week, but let me take the liberty of touching on some of the work we are doing here in Victoria, home of Australia’s oldest zoo.

At Zoos Victoria, we are now in our third year of a 20-year plan to posi-tion ourselves as the world’s leading zoo -based conservation organisation.

This is not an empty goal or a hollow public relations promise. It’s what we believe needs to happen to prevent some of our most unique native ani-mals from extinction.

It is why we have made conservation central to everything we do – whether you run the zoo kiosk or work in the native animal recovery team.

We saw the opportunity for Zoos Victoria to play a much larger and more active role in conservation, in Australia and globally.

We saw how important it is to support specialist knowledge in the captive holding and management of threat-ened native species.

And we saw that it is essential to influence change in human behav-iour across the community, so that zoos are not the only places where children will see wild animals in the future.

Fighting Extinction is our number one priority. In practice, it means we want every animal in our collection to have conservation relevance.

For visitors, it means we want to inspire them to become conservation advocates.

For our staff, we want to support their development so they help our organi-zation transition from a traditional zoo to a fully ‑fledged conservation organization.

And financially, it means we are focused on long -term sustainability in all our operations, so that we can deliver increased investment in con-servation.

Conservation requires us all to work with our visitors and the broader community so they are empowered to save species from extinction. That’s why we focus on working with people and wildlife. Our fresh approach is already leading to some encouraging results. Such as a water-shed funding agreement with world fashion brand, Lacoste, to strengthen the recovery of the Philippine croco-dile in our Save Your Logo partnership.

By thinking outside the square, we’re reaching more people beyond the zoo gates. I hope you get time when you’re in the city to see the incredible street art promoting conservation in one of our celebrated lanes, AC/DC Lane. Or at the Royal Children’s Hospital, which is the first hospital in the world to permanently exhibit live animals – Melbourne Zoo’s meerkat troupe of nine, who are cheering up the sickest children while teaching them about animals.


Over the past two years our Don’t Palm us Off campaign has connected thousands of Australians to the plight of orang -utans in South East Asia from unsustainable palm oil produc-tion.

Some 160,000 students visit a Zoos Victoria campus each year, making it one of the largest non -classroom educators in the State.

Recently, every Victorian school was given the opportunity to design, paint and exhibit one of 55 mini elephants alongside renowned Australian artists, to celebrate Melbourne Zoo’s most famous Asian Elephant calf, Mali.

In our zoos, we have continued to expand our capacity to save priority threatened species by bolstering re-covery Programs, such as for Tasma-nian Devils at Healesville Sanctuary.

The Tasmanian Devil is threatened by a serious Facial Tumor Disease, a fatal and contagious condition that is spreading rapidly through wild populations. Over the past breeding

season, 24 Tasmanian Devil joeys were born at Healesville Sanctuary. This is an outstanding result for our expert keeping team.

We have also taken stock of all of our conservation work and looked at it in the context of what is happening globally. This has led us to unite under a single premise: that Zoos Victoria is fighting, and will continue to fight extinction.

We are strengthening our efforts to save species from extinction, par-ticularly those that are most at risk in Victoria. We have made a public commitment to ensure that no native terrestrial vertebrate species in Victo-ria will go extinct within the next five years. We call this our Fighting Extinc-tion Commitment. And we will be taking every opportunity to showcase our work with threatened species and find new and exciting ways to engage our visitors in this critical quest. You will see some of these efforts when you visit Healesville Sanctuary on Wednesday.

Finally let me say how exciting it is to see so many delegates around the world – united in our efforts to Fight Extinction.

By working together, and with our communities, we will give our most precious creatures a fighting chance. I hope your time in Melbourne will inspire you on our shared goal of Fighting Extinction.


Welcome Address by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Victoria, AustraliaThe Hon Ryan Smith

Jörg Junhold – President of WAZA

Gerald Dick –Executive Director of WAZA

Karen Fifield – President of ZAA

Welcome to Melbourne, an exciting city where we are united with your mission and conference theme, Fight‑ing Extinction.

During your week here, I am sure you will fall in love with our native wildlife and help us, as we wish to help you, save species on the edge of extinc-tion.

Melbourne Zoo, where you met last night, is celebrating its 150th anniver-sary this year.

This is an important milestone. As well as celebrating Australia’s oldest zoo and our conservation achieve-ments, we are also using our 150th year to take stock of what is happen-ing globally and in our own backyard.

For Zoos Victoria has an ambitious goal: to be the world’s leading zoo-based conservation organization within 20 years.

We will not get there without the help of like-minded organizations like your own.

Playing host to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, with 200 del-egates from 35 countries around the world, is a great opportunity for us to learn about global efforts to fight extinction.

One thing is startlingly clear: extinc-tion rates across the globe are reach-ing historic levels. And unfortunately Australia is no exception.

As an island nation, Australia experi-ences direct challenges to our unique wildlife. Here in Victoria, bushfires and climate change are a major threat to some of our unique species.

I congratulate the leadership of Zoos Victoria for redoubling its efforts to fight for endangered native species. Twenty key species at greatest risk of extinction are now receiving the most support, to ensure that no native Vic-torian terrestrial vertebrate species will go extinct.

Hopefully you will get to meet many of these special creatures on Wednes-day when you visit Healesville Sanctu-ary.

Shy characters like the Platypus. Our rare and endangered Helmeted Honeyeater. And the Tasmanian Devil, that we are trying to protect against a fatal facial tumor disease that is spreading rapidly through wild populations.

Our resolve to strengthen our con-servation efforts locally has been spurred by the success of our efforts on international issues such as defor-estation in South East Asia.

A successful Zoos Victoria campaign to raise awareness in our community of the effects of unsustainable oil palm farming has led to truth in labe-ling legislation in our national Senate.


The Don’t Palm Us Off campaign brought together the voices of 163,000 Australians who were heard in Canberra, demonstrating the power of the community to affect change.

As Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, and Minister for Youth, I am energized by the power of zoos and aquariums to connect children and the community with conservation.

As a father who visits our zoos regu-larly with my children, I have seen firsthand how they are inspired to act to save wildlife.

It’s so important to give all children the experience of wildlife up close.

As a government, we are pleased to be supporting new interactive exhib-its, with funding for the Growing Wild exhibit, to nurture a love of nature and wildlife. This new exhibit with child-level viewing areas brings kids fact-to-face with inquisitive Meerkats and Giant Tortoises.

Engaging the interest of children in nature and wildlife and raising aware-ness of the importance of looking after the environment, will help us all in our goal, Fighting Extinction.

For instance, many Victorians would not know the endangered Leadbeater Possum is our faunal emblem. So the task for us in Victoria, and the task for all of us committed to fight extinc-tion, is to introduce our threatened animals to the world in every way possible. It’s difficult to expect people to take action to help save animals they don’t know.

That’s why I am extremely proud that our Government has made it free for children to visit our zoos on any weekend or on school holidays.

We are thrilled that through making zoo visits free for children, record numbers of children are visiting our three zoos, where they are learning more about wildlife.

Total zoo visitation last year was 1,890,000 a growth of 10%. Of these 640,000 were children who enjoyed the opportunity of the free zoo pro-vided by the State Policy.

While there are a great many things happening at Zoos Victoria, which you will learn about during the con-ference, there are also real challenges that we need your help and experi-ence with.

We are very pleased that you have chosen Melbourne for your annual conference.

As like-minded people committed to global conservation, I am sure you will have a very positive experience here in Victoria, and build friendships that will help in the care of endan-gered animals the world-over.


Welcome to the land down under, and the land of the long white cloud across the ditch, welcome to the an-tipodes, welcome to country, wom-injeka, tena kotou, tena kotou, tena katoa, greetings, greetings, greetings to you all. We are all at this confer-ence from all over the world, united in conservation.

• Over 17 million visitors, • over 600,000 school students, • over 100 conservation breeding

programs, • over $2million in funding to uni-

versities and research institutes for conservation research,

• and much more financial support for in situ conservation programs in wild places,

• over 14,000 native animals per year treated in zoo hospitals, over 1200 vertebrate species cared for,

• over 200 native species and 150 exotic species held that are on the IUCN red list of endangered species,

• employment of thousands of people and

• many more are engaged in commu-nity volunteer programs.

These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg that our 87 members of the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia do for conservation and to fight extinction. The story is all in the numbers.

In our small region with a population of around 27 million people across Australia and New Zealand I believe our member zoos and aquariums punch well above our weight in all facets of our work and show leader-ship as a collaborative community of both small and large organisations.

Specifically I would like to mention the following areas which demon-strate this trend.

• We have world leading exhibit design and visitor engagement in-novation to connect wild places with our collections and the emotional learning experience visitors have

• We support scientific and innovative visitor research to better under-stand our work and why we do it

• Our leading edge species manage-ment programs support and sustain our precious collections and allow ever increasing global cooperation both for animals and for support of conservation programs in the wild

• we have significant conservation breeding programs such as the Tas-manian devil, the regent honeyeater, corroboree frog, tuatara, grand and otago skinks and brown kiwi programs to name a few

• We have agreed to new animal wel-fare paradigms in the Five Domains developed by Professor David Mel-lor from Massey University in New Zealand, which I believe will change the face of our zoo community into the future

• Our well supported community conservation programs change hearts and minds like They’re Call-ing on You and Don’t Palm Me Off programs

• We support conservation efforts in the field such as the successful Ten-kile Alliance in Papua New Guinea, the Philippine Crocodile project and Forest and Bird Places for Penguins on the south coast of Wellington

• We have made a significant invest-ment into accreditation of mem-bers to ensure the best care of our animals and professional growth for our member organisations

• And we are developing our own standards with government in true partnership

In 2009 a number of members and a few non members of our Association contributed data and financial support to an economic and social value study for zoos and aquariums in Australia which our Association commissioned.

Much of the data from this report can be extrapolated across the region particularly for New Zealand.

The study looked at value for consum-ers, for conservation, contribution to education, contribution to bio-securi-ty and economic value.

For Australia alone it was discovered that;

• For zoos and aquariums the total production added to the economy is $424 million per annum

• Zoos and aquariums employ about 5300 people

• International visitors to zoos and aquariums create an estimated net benefit to the Australian economy of about $58million

• More Australians over 15 years of age visit zoos and aquariums than any other cultural organisation

• Government subsidies to zoos are much lower than other cultural activities such as museums despite our growing visitation and scope of our work

• Learning with emotional connection is seen as a major reason for people to visit zoos

• Insitu and ex situ conservation ac-tivities were far ranging both within our region and globally and support-ed not only financially but by staff resources and ongoing commitment

• The Australian Registry of Wildlife Health monitors disease which could be of community concern and zoos and aquariums contribute to this as part of our social commitment

Welcome to Our RegionKaren Fifield, President, Zoo Aquarium Association Australasia


These findings give us a snapshot of Australia and give us the information we need to value what we do and to start to understand how much the community values what we do and how much they want to be involved with us. We need to talk about this much more – I think we are often too self effacing about our work and we shouldn’t be – we should use the numbers to say how influential we are.

Australia and New Zealand are both highly urbanised countries – around 89 and 86% respectively. As people in our region search for connections with nature, which I believe is a deep seated human need, our zoos and aquariums will become even more important as living treasures and places of significance.

As an Australian by birth and a New Zealander by choice I have had the privilege to live and work in two of the most unique and marvellous countries on earth.

As President of ZAA it is my pleasure to welcome you to our beautiful part of the world and encourage you to talk lots, make new contacts and enjoy the lovely experiences at Zoos Victoria. Jenny and her talented team have three amazing properties for you to enjoy- much of what I have spoken about is clearly visible at Mel-bourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Open Range Zoo.

You are all in for a treat this week. I am very proud of our member organisations like Zoos Victoria and the work they do to show leadership and innovation for the cause we all believe in.

And as we, as zoos and aquariums, assume leadership in the conserva-tion space of the 21st century we take responsibility to think, act, and speak in a way that inspires people to follow what we say and do. Leadership is not about power and authority it is more than that – it requires a vision of a world that does not exist that inspires people to follow as volunteers for the cause. If we want to take leadership to fight extinction we must inspire action.

It is a game of numbers. Numbers of us, numbers of people we can influence from governments to visi-tors, number of connections we have worldwide, numbers of animals and wild places we must save, numbers of dollars it will cost, numbers of years left to do it.

Working alone we can not make the amount of critical change required to make our vision of a world without extinction of species a reality despite all our brave individual or organisa-tional efforts but with the 17 million visitors in our region and the over 700 million worldwide we are indeed a powerhouse to explain why we must act together. They are pretty significant numbers and we have to use them.

But the first part of this change in the numbers starts with us and the work that we do in our zoos and aquari-ums into the future so that our full potential for conservation is realised not just in our Australasian region but the world over.

Have an inspirational and awesome conference and use this conference as a springboard to our future view of our work.

I look forward to talking with all of you over a Yarra Valley vino or two. Ka kite ano


Welcome Address by the WAZA PresidentJörg Junhold – Zoo Leipzig

Honorable Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Mr. Ryan Smith; honorable Chairperson of the Austral-ian Zoo Association, Mrs. Karen Fi-field; distinguished guests, colleagues and friends; ladies and gentlemen, it is an enormous pleasure for me to welcome you here in Melbourne to this 67th Conference and Annual Meeting of WAZA. My special heart-felt greetings go to our distinguished host Zoos Victoria, represented by the Board Member Mr. Ken Hinchcliff and our esteemed colleague, Jenny Gray.

I am well aware what is means to or-ganize such a prestigious conference and I like to express my particular thanks on behalf of all the 200 partici-pants for your ongoing committment and your tremendous work.

I am especially proud to open this conference as it is the 77th Anniver-sary of our organization. WAZA has a changeful history and it is with its de-velopment also reflecting the change that every single zoo has taken. Start-ing as an „old boys club “of zoodirec-tors we came to be the united voice of the worldwide community of zoos and aquariums and a catalyst for their joint conservation action. We should be aware that this does not only mean a remarkable change in our mission but that we have taken over a high degree of responsibility as well. I believe that the international conservation network expects to see zoos taking over an even more per-ceptible role for wildlife conservation in the future.

Only a few weeks ago in mid-Sep-tember Dr Gerald Dick and myself at-tended the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Jeju, Korea. This congress is the largest and most important conservation meeting on our planet which is held every four years and it was attended by 10‘ 000 participants this time. We were very honoured to officially represent WAZA and thanks to a joint collaboration between our Executive Office and several of our members three sessions were offered which presented and discussed the zoos‘ commitment for conservation and education. Two memorable events of this confer-ence are that IUCN has released a list of the 100 most threatened species on earth and secondly that the or-ganization will establish a Red List of Threatened Ecosystems next to the existing one for species.

The final congress declaration of Jeju states that biodiversity should not be seen as a problem but as an op-portunity for a positive development of society. Nature-based solutions deliver a broad range of societal ben-efits – but awareness and knowledge about ecosystem services are the key for their recognition. This is the point where zoos and aquariums are in a priviledged position to support this goal by inspiring their 700 million annual visitors about the value of biodiversity.

This declaration of IUCN reflects the committment of the global conserva-tion community on the implementa-tion of the UN Decade on Biodiver-sity. And it perfectly fits to our own strategy to implement this important global initiative. As decided during our last Annual Conference, WAZA plans to develop different kinds of communication tools for our mem-bers that should be used to inform the public about biodiversity issues. A group of 32 zoos is already working on this project. Thanks to a proposed generous grant of the Swiss MAVA Foundation we will produce videos, mobile phone apps and website services in different languages. An important part of the project are visitor surveys in order to find out more about what people know about biodiversity and how this knowledge can be improved. Since we have a broad interest in our membership to collaborate in this working group I am sure that this project can really im-prove our communication and public perception and place us in the front line of the discussion about biodiver-sity conservation.


I like to invite all members to be aware about this important project and to support it later on by using the communication services.

Another remarkable result of this World Conservation Congress is the new elected President of IUCN – Mr. Zhang Xinsheng from China. It has been our long term wish as WAZA and one of the focal points which I have set for the time of my presi-dency that we increase the number of members in Asia, especially in China. The European region and also WAZA are already in contact to the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. By the end of last year a high-level delegation of this association visited Europe in order to establish better contact with the international zoo community. They were kindly hosted by ZSL, BIAZA and EAZA and I was honoured to represent WAZA at this meeting in London, where we had very intensive and fruitful discussions with our Chinese colleagues. My hope is that a Chinese President of IUCN will positively influence this future co-operation within the zoo and aquar-ium community. The Chinese zoos serve 1.3 billion people which mean a large share of the world popula-tion. This underlines the enormous potential that Chinese zoos have for conservation and education and our goal should be to help our Chinese colleagues to make the best use of this chance.

Dear colleagues – the title of this con-ference is “Fighting Extinction”. This clarifies in very simple words: Time is running out and the challenges we face in terms of species conservation are huge.

We have a superb variety of speakers and workshops scheduled in the com-ing days and there are already two important resolutions on the table to be ratified by this Annual Conference. One on the support of the new IUCN Guidelines for Reintroduction and other Conservation Translocations, and the other one on avoiding dis-astrous and unmanageable climate change effects.

For our committee meetings and working sessions I see three major topics to be discussed: First the implementation of the Dec-ade on Biodiversity, second WAZA’s role to improve the sustainability of our animal collections and third the progress on the ethical framework including a global Strategy on Animal Welfare.

I urge you to use this opportunity for the exchange of ideas and discus-sions in this global setting that we represent. I am sure that we will have a productive week and that we will share many exciting moments. I de-clare this 67th Conference and Annual Meeting of WAZA open.

Thank you and Wo Men Chicca!


Keynote Addresses


The Environmental Crisis – A Question of LeadershipArron Wood, Fire Starters

Introduction

2007 Prime Minister’s Environmen-talist of the Year Arron Wood grew up in Mildura spending his early years campaigning to save the River Mur-ray. Rather aptly titled his autobiog-raphy‘ Billabong Boy’ was inspired by those early years. Arron is an expert in business sustainability and his company recently won the 2012 Vic-torian Telstra News Ltd Micro Busi-ness of the Year. He is founder of the award-winning education program Kids Teaching Kids and is the 3AW environment reporter. Arron received The Centenary Medal for outstanding contribution to conservation, award-ed by the Governor-General and completed a Churchill Fellowship to New York with the United Nations. As a past winner of the United Nations Individual Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment Arron was also the 2001 Young Australian of the Year for the environment. He holds a degree in Forest Science and is cur-rently the youngest Board Member of the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority. In what was a huge career highlight Arron’s commitment to the environ-ment was covered on ABC’s Austral-ian Story. From a boy who was told to regularly‘ be quiet’ in school to someone who now uses his voice to inspire others.

Why Zoos Matter?

1. Zoos and Aquaria are very often the first entry point for people to learn about deeper environmental concepts and issues.

2. Animals can be the tangible, relat-able face of ambiguous and com-plex issues such as climate change.

3. WAZA members are more than animal exhibitors they are educa-tion centres, conservation or-ganisations and they are striving to combat extinction. This is a changed role and therefore the way these organisations operate must also change.

I want to focus on the community and communication component of the role WAZA member organisations play.

Climate Change

You can’t talk about conservation without talking about climate change. Climate change has been great at galvanising people but could be dangerous in the longer term:

I’m a climate change sceptic. I’m not a sceptic about whether it is happen-ing or whether it is caused by humans, I’m a sceptic in that a single focus on climate change has consumed us when biodiversity, species loss, en-vironmental flows, soil health and a myriad of other issues are looming as even greater threats that will be ac-celerated by climate change – not to mention social & economic impacts.

A single focus, a single group or a single solution is not the silver bullet answer. When on a Churchill Fel-lowship to New York and Geneva I struggled with what United Nations meant. How difficult is it to truly unite nations when we are so different? I came to the conclusion that this environmental crisis could be our big-gest opportunity yet because it may demonstrate that it doesn’t matter how old or young, rich or poor, what country or culture, what language you speak or religion you follow we all need to drink clean water and breathe fresh air.

Thinking local, acting local is important.

So what does the future hold?

The shortest distance in the dis-course about climate change is that between denial and despair. The head wrested from the sand soon becomes the head in the hands. “Nothing needs doing” slides effortlessly into

“nothing can be done”.

Heart, Head and Hand – too often we go for the head first. Sustainability is not a new concept and long before green was the new black we had statements like:

We should be using Nature’s inex‑haustible sources of energy – the sun, wind and tide. I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. | Thomas Edison, 1931


That is why is important for us to combine passion and understand-ing with actual action. That is why I founded the Kids Teaching Kids Program.

Children comprise twenty per cent of the population, but are one hundred percent of our future. From my work involving 66,000 students and teach-ers across Australia in the Kids Teach-ing Kids Program I also know that young people have so much to offer right now when it comes to solving environmental issues.

13 years and over 2600 workshops with kids teaching kids on energy, water, waste, biodiversity and cli-mate change has resulted in 100’s of on-ground projects with communities coming together around an issue that unites us all – the environment. All of these workshops are developed in partnership with wonderful adult mentors. However, while the kids remain optimistic and active, the complex negotiations going on glob-ally, the pronouncements by the unin-formed, the many different levels of understanding and vested interests in the status quo make me less so.

I can’t help asking, at a time when the Australia’s attention has been so focused on leadership,‘ Who can lead us?’ There are 7 billion people in the world today, of that, 1 billion own 80% of wealth; 2 billion people have no access to clean water, there is a massive and growing gap between rich and poor and we are all facing an uncertain climate future.

The thing that saddens me most is that we have so many of the answers. We have ordinary homes that use 90% less water and power than the average home, we have modern irri-gation techniques that allow enough for agriculture and the environment, we have some of the best scientists and technologies in the world and we have cars that can run on green electricity.

The world obviously needs more leaders that have a social conscience and an innate sense of responsibility for the future of life on this planet. Education and schools offer a very powerful opportunity to reinstate positive sustainability and commu-nity values and can be the catalyst for environmental and social understand-ing and action in our communities, but they can’t do it alone. Ultimately whether we are teachers, bankers, miners, nurses or even politicians we must all seek a sustainable future -we all need fresh water to drink, clean air to breathe and food to sustain us.

If we want student leadership then we must provide them with the necessary social, academic, emo-tional and practical skills to cope in our increasingly complex society, but we must also embody the values we wish to see. Above all every student needs the motivation to learn and the capacity to take that learning through to action. Hope and a belief in a bright and compelling future is a very big part in keeping young people motivated to want to do more, to learn more. The Kids Teaching Kids Program was designed with exactly these outcomes in mind.

They deserve leadership that is about action and inspiration. I’ve seen the kids that come out of environmen-tal work of many kinds – they are resilient, optimistic, have a sense of future, are capable public speakers and can communicate ideas in many different forms. If the only outcome is that these young people can cope with the ups and downs of life then that is an amazing gift. You can find out more about the Kids Teaching Kids Program by visiting www.kid-steachingkids.com.au

The Resilient Person

One of the greatest things that WAZA members can do is link habitat conservation and combat-ing extinction with human wellbeing and even human health. There is growing research about the impacts of green spaces, interaction with animals, walking in wild places and the link to human wellbeing and even depression. Given this research we at-tempted to turn the attributes of the resilient child into learning outcomes.

The attributes are:

4. Problem solving skills: abstract and reflective thinking, flexibility

5. Social competence: pro-social behaviours such as responsiveness, empathy, caring, communication skills, a sense of humour

6. Autonomy: an internal locus of control, a strong sense of independence, power, self

-esteem, and control 7. General characteristics: healthy

expectations, goal directedness, orientation to the future, motivation to achieve, persistence, hopefulness, hardiness, belief in a bright and compelling future, a sense of anticipation

Mental illness is rapidly becoming one of the greatest human health issues.

• Depression affects 1 in 4 – rural sui-cide rates in Australia went up dur-ing the recent prolonged drought period

• Kids as young as 5 suffering clinical depression

• 25% of people in our jails are men-tally ill

One in five children already has a psychological disorder and by 2020, mental illness will be one of the top five causes of death or disability in the young. | United Nations

You also need to tell the positive stories. When ABC Australia Story aired the story on my Dad and I my IN box went into melt down with all the congratulatory emails and offers of help. It was simply overwhelming to get such a response.


Some Good News – Future We Are Creating Everyday

Some of those good news stories include:

• The proposal for increasing our network of marine parks.

• I’ve visited homes in suburban Melb that use 90% less water than the av-erage home and are positive energy suppliers

• China will purchase $760 billion in renewable energy in the next 20 years – First solar energy billionaire – was the richest man in China

• Green buildings are also healthy buildings for people – less sick days, greater well being etc Council House 2 Building in Melbourne The building design cuts C02 emissions by 87%, electricity usage by 82%, gas usage by 87% and water usage by 72%.

• Vect-sure in Sweden Fossil Fuel Free by 2025 – “But, the best argument has always been the economic one,” Edman says. “Clean technology and energy solutions are the biggest emerging global sectors. We can earn a lot of money and create a lot of jobs by being at the frontier”.

• California on track to meet 90% reduction by 2050

• Germany has brought about an 18% reduction

• Green Beer, Leading Edge Houses and Farms (9.2 star energy rated Mirvac home)

• Canberra, ACT on the way to 90,000 households being powered by wind

In Closing

When asked if I am pessimistic or opti‑mistic about the future, my answer is always the same:

If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessi‑mistic, you don’t understand the data.

But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t opti‑mistic, you haven’t got a pulse.

What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.

The poet Adrie‑N Rich wrote,

“So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.”

There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing.

It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums. | Paul Hawken


Introduction

Martin Copley is an Australian conservationalist and philanthropist who established the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, AWC, an organization which purchases and manages large areas of land, mainly former farm land as sanctuaries for the conserva-tion of biodiversity.

Australia is one of a small number of mega-diverse nations in the world. Yet we also have the planet’s worst mammal extinction rate, while a high proportion of our surviving spe-cies are on the brink. It is now clear that business as usual in Australia will mean more extinctions. A new model for conservation is required if we are to provide a secure future for Australia’s wildlife: Australian Wildlife Conservancy, AWC, is rolling out such a model, integrating practi-cal innovative and on-ground action with good science. We manage 3 million hectares – in iconic locations such as the Kimberley, Cape York and Lake Eyre – protecting 83% of native bird species and 67% of Australia’s mammal species. Some of the largest remaining populations of Australian most threatened species, such as Numbats and Bridled Nailtail wal-labies, occur on AWC’s properties. Critical to our ongoing success in developing a new model for conser-vation are our partners: indigenous organisations, pastoralists, universi-ties, governments and, of course, the zoo industry.

The Extinction Crisis

Over the last two hundred years Australia has experienced the worst mammal extinction record of any country in the world and biodiver-sity continues in serious decline. Iconic Kakadu National Park is a clear example with a 75% decline in small mammal species in the last 12 years.

“Business as usual is not acceptable”.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy Background

AWC had its origins 20 years ago when I set up a small sanctuary, known as Karakamia, in the Perth Hills. Today there are 23 sanctuaries covering 3 million hectares across the country. The aim is to rebuild our natural capital through on-ground protection and recovery programs – based on strong science. These sanctuaries now protect 67% of all terrestrial mammal species and 83% of bird species.

The Threats in the North

In the north AWC is fighting that eco-logical “axis of evil”: feral herbivores, late season unplanned fires and feral predators.

• Our work in the Kimberley, AWC’s northern Australia hub, has shown that the exclusion of feral herbi-vores leads to a dramatic recov-ery in native wildlife, contrasting strongly with the experience at Kakadu. After experimenting with a 40,000ha exclusion fence at Morn-ington in the central Kimberley, we have just completed a 100,00ha exclusion fence in the Northern Territory close to Kakadu. We are anticipating an immediate recovery in mammal populations.

• Unplanned hot fires late in the dry season have been burning northern Australia to a cinder. Over the last 8 years, AWC through a program called Ecofire, has established a system of mosaic burning which has limited these fires in the central Kimberley. Flying 24000 Kms by helicopter this year in the early dry season and by dropping 50,000 incendiaries with pin point accuracy, AWC has created a chain of patch burns that have reduced significant-ly the incidence of hot fires and led to greatly enhanced ecosystems.

• Extrapolating from the cat popula-tion at Mornington we estimate fe-ral cats kill 2 million native animals a day in northern Australia alone. By radio-collaring cats and dingoes (through the use of tracker dogs), we are gathering data that sug-gests that cats avoid dingo territory. We also know that, as generalists and scavengers, dingoes are more benign to our wildlife. The re-estab-lishment of the dingo may prove to be an effective control of feral cats provided we can prove that dingoes have minimal effect on cattle – at least in the Kimberley.

A New Model for ConservationMartin Copley, Australian Wildlife Conservancy


The Principal Threat in the South

In Southern Australia predation from cats and foxes is the most significant threat to wildlife. AWC has responded to this by protecting native species of mammal behind predator proof fences: an 8000ha enclosure in west-ern New South Wales, the largest fe-ral free area in Australia, two smaller sanctuaries in SA and WA and the commencement of a 6000 ha fence in the mid-west of WA. We also have a 6000ha feral predator free island in Shark Bay. These areas protect and build populations of endangered spe-cies in the wild of which AWC now has several of the critical populations.

Recent AWC Initiatives

Two recent initiatives are worthy of mention:

• The first is a collaboration with the state government of Western Aus-tralia in actively managing govern-ment land in the Artesian Range in the Kimberley. This is a hot – spot for endemics and a first and signifi-cant partnership with government for a private sector conservation organisation.

• The second initiative is the manage-ment of a neighbouring aboriginal pastoral lease, where, supported by WA government funding, AWC is managing the lease for conserva-tion and sustainable cattle pro-duction. This is an example of the outreach that AWC is now achieving in its areas of operation.

The AWC Model

The model that has led to all these outcomes is essentially driven by the strong link between on-ground sci-ence and operations. 80% of our staff, both scientists and on-ground man-agers, are located in the bush, often in extremely remote areas. This is the key to understanding and responding to the major threatening processes. Our effectiveness in delivering incred-ible outcomes on an annual budget of $10-11m is due to private sector rigour and flexibility, which even gov-ernments are now recognising.

Faure Island

Finally I would like to show you a slide of Faure Island in Shark Bay WA as an example of collaboration. Faure is the second largest island in the world from which feral cats have been eradicated. This was done through a collaboration with DEC, the WA conservation agency. 3000 sheep and goats were removed with the help of local pastoralists and finally re‑intro-ductions were made with the help of DEC, a salt mining company and Perth Zoo. Faure is now a restored gem in the middle of Shark Bay, a World Heritage Area and a classic example of AWC’s work. Thanks go to all those involved in that project and to you for listening.


WAZA Congress Papers Abstracts


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Table of Contents

Author Title

Jenny Gray Love your Locals – Saving Victorian Species

Susan Hunt Release to the Wild of Charismatic Megafauna: The Risks and Successes

Markus Gusset Species Extinct in the Wild: There and Back Again

Kanako Tomisawa What kind of conservation efforts does JAZA have now?

Steve Taylor The Big C – Allocation of Scarce Resources for Zoo and Aquarium Conservation

Helmut Mägdefrau Breeding and Reintroduction of Ural owls (Strix uralensis)

Sumate Kamolnorranath Conservation Breeding and Reintroduction Programs for Saving “Extinct‑in‑the‑Wild” Species in Thailand

Lena Lindén Conservation of Swedish amphibians – a success story?

Susie Boardman Partnerships Needed to Fight Extinction – Forgotten Species, New Friends

Rick Hudson The New Turtle Survival Center: Ensuring the Turtle Survival Alliance’s (TSA) Commitment to Zero Turtle Extinctions

Bernard Harrison Fighting the Extinction of Zoos – Are Zoos Immune to Corporate Extinction?

Sally Walker Zoos Fighting Extinction v/v Zoos Facilitating Extinctions

Ace Torre Advocacy through Thematic Design

Joanne Lalumière Facts and Figures from the Granby Zoo: Increasing Revenues as a Major Player in Social Economy

Becca Hanson I Can’t Hear You! Rethinking the Zoo’s Acoustic Environment

Cameron Kerr Know and Understand your Visitor – A Strategy for Improving Experience, Learning and Engagement

Jeffrey Bonner Captive Propagation, Head-Start and Conservation Program for the Ozark Hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi at the Saint Louis Zoo

Roger Stonecipher Providing the Necessary Knowledge to Assure Long-term Management of Threatened and Vulnerable Species

Paul Boyle AZA Sustainability – Update & Progress

Ian Gunn & Ann Clarke Australia’s Wildlife Gene Bank

Yara Barros Managing Toucans at the Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná State, Brazil

Jason Watters Integrating Research and Husbandry to Enhance Animal Welfare at Chicago Zoological Society’s Center for the Science of Animal Welfare

Bob Chastain Panama’s Noah’s Ark

Dan Maloney & Pat Janikowski Beyond Sustainability; Field Lessons Improve Life within the Fence-line

Dalia Conde Threatened Species in the World’s Zoos: An Initial Assessment of the Complexity of Worldwide Metapopulation Management

Eric Miller Conservation Medicine: An Approach to Fight the Extinction of all Species

Damián Pellandini Temaikèn’s Natural Reserve in Misiones, Argentina: join us!

Alex Rübel Conserving Madagascar’s Biodiversity, Building Local Capacity and Raising Environmental Awareness of Youth: The Cooperative Work of Zoos for Madagascar – The Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group (MFG):

Jean Thomas Fighting extinction in Papua New Guinea

Lena Lindén Unravelling a Mystery!

Eric Stephens Cats of Belize

Shahrir Abdul Samad In-Situ Conservation in Sabah, Malaysia

Laura Mumaw Community Conservation – A Peri-urban Case Study in Fighting Extinction

James Musinguzi Ex situ conservation to In situ conservation


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Love your Locals – Saving Victorian Species

Jenny Gray

In 2011 Zoos Victoria committed that no Victorian, terrestrial, vertebrate species will go extinct on our watch. Our scientific team assessed the health and viability of Victorian spe-cies and found that 16 species were under threat of extinction within 5-10 years if nothing was done to save them. Zoos Victoria has commenced a program to ensure their survival. We have captive populations secured, recovery teams trained and commit-ted to breeding success, and a strong commitment to engage the Victorian community in saving these unknown, beautiful and interesting species. Visitors are powerful consumers thus their engagement with our local species is a first step to inspire and empower them to act to help us fight extinction.

Release to the Wild of Charismatic Megafauna: The Risks and Successes

Susan Hunt

In 2006 Perth Zoo joined the Frank-furt Zoological Society (FZS) in a partnership to support the ecosystem of Bukit Tigapuluh in Sumatra. A part of the partnership involved an ambi-tious Sumatran orangutan introduc-tion program (www.orangutan-life-boat.de/? id=14&language=en&invalidate=true).

In November 2006 Perth Zoo and FZS released the first Zoo‑born Suma-tran orangutan into the wild at Bukit Tigapuluh,‘ Temara’ born at Perth Zoo. Over 140 orangutans have now been released back into the wild at Bukit Tigapuluh.

Perth Zoo has continued the FZS collaboration, delivering staff training, ongoing project support and project funding. Perth Zoo has supported construction of infrastructure, wildlife protection programs, provided veterinary care, staff training, funded a human‑elephant conflict mitiga-tion program and a mobile education program for local villagers. Late in 2011 another Perth Zoo-born male orangutan,‘ Semeru’ was released to the wild at Bukit Tigapuluh.

What are the lessons learned from the Zoo born releases and interna-tional partnerships involving charis-matic species? Do the risks outweigh the benefits? We speak of‘ intensive conservation’ integrating Zoo breed-ing programs with on the ground conservation projects, but are we ready as a Zoo community to accept this approach? And how do Zoo pa-trons respond to farewelling their Zoo babies to the wilds of the jungle?

Species Extinct in the Wild: There and Back Again

Markus Gusset

Breeding animals in human care followed by reintroducing them back into the wild was one of the most frequently cited conservation actions that led to improvements in conser-vation status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Species previ-ously classified as Extinct in the Wild on the IUCN Red List that have im-proved in conservation status thanks to the reintroduction of captive-bred animals include the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), black‑footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), California condor (Gymnogyps californianus), European bison (Bison bonasus), Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) and red wolf (Canis rufus). Currently there are 33 animal species classified as Extinct in the Wild on the IUCN Red List. Thirty-one of these species are actively bred in zoos, aquariums and other animal propagation facilities, which prevent their outright extinc-tion; 17 species are managed in a studbook-based breeding pro-gramme. Zoological institutions are uniquely placed to contribute to the conservation of species that are no longer found in the wild, with rein-troduction efforts using captive‑bred animals already being implemented for six species classified as Extinct in the Wild.


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What kind of conservation efforts does JAZA have now?

Kanako Tomisawa

The SSCJ: Species Survival Commit-tee of Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) has been mak-ing effort for the population manage-ment of more than 150 species within entire JAZA member institutions. In this presentation, we would like to introduce you what we have been doing for wildlife conservation, espe-cially for the five prioritized species. And we also would like to talk about our granted projects/activities include studies on such endangered species.

The Big C – Allocation of Scarce Resources for Zoo and Aquarium Conservation

Steve Taylor

There can be no question that WAZA member zoos and aquariums are all about conservation. What exactly is zoo and aquarium conservation? 1. Is it about educating people about the plight of wildlife around the world? 2. Is it about creating the greenest institutions in the world with zero waste and a small carbon footprint? 3. Is it about breeding endangered species that in some case can aug-ment wild populations? 4. Is it about conservation research and increasing the world’s knowledge about rare and endangered species? Or 5. Is it about funding worthwhile conservation projects in the field? The author will attempt to offer some suggestions on the challenges zoos and aquariums face in allocating resources to all these functions.

Breeding and Reintroduction of Ural owls (Strix uralensis)

Helmut Mägdefrau

In Germany, Austria and Czech Republic the Ural owl was extinct since the early 20th century. In 1965 Nuremberg zoo has bred this species first time in the world. In the 70th a reintroduction program was estab-lished in the Bavarian Forest National Park and continued in the following decades on the Czech side. As recent genetic studies had shown, these lo-cations must have been an essential former corridor for genetic exchange between the Scandinavian and Slove-nian populations. A reintroduction in Austria was established at two sites as an additional step stone for migra-tion. Actual results will be given and the important role of the zoos will be shown. Since 2003 Nuremberg Zoo offered 17 owls for release and gave 5 for the breeding network. In addition the Zoo made substantial financial support for the genetic studies and the monitoring in Austria.

Conservation Breeding and Reintroduction Programs for Saving

“Extinct-in-the-Wild” Species in Thailand

Sumate Kamolnorranath

5 WAZA member zoos are imple-menting‘ UN Decade on Biodiversity’ Goal C (Improve the status of biodi-versity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity) to reduce extinction risks. Thai zoos contributions include; 1) maintaining genetic diversity of captive wildlife population of global importance; 2) strengthen research programs on reproductive science and establish genome bank; and 3) reintroduction programs for the‘ extinct-in-the-wild’ Thamin Eld’s deer and Eastern Sarus crane. Successful results demonstrate that released animal are adaptable to forest and wetland ecosystems and coexist with predators and people. Success stories are shared with visi-tors and public through education programs and media.


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Conservation of Swedish amphibians – a success story?

Lena Lindén

The Red List index shows that rare and threatened amphibian species in Sweden have had the most posi-tive population results compared to all other taxa of animals and plants. The reason is a very goal-oriented, practical conservation strategy with re-creation of optimal habitats within the historical range of each species, complemented by con-servation breeding and restocking or reintroduction in the wild when necessary. One previously nationally extinct species now has one of the best populations in northern Europe and has been removed from the Red List. Another two former threatened species have been removed from the Red List, and four others have been downgraded or maintained the same status. Sweden´s amphibian fauna includes 13 species with different habitat requirements, but all are favored by the small-scale managed landscape with sunny shallow waters and many small habitat elements. During the last 50-100 years a major landscape change in structure and man´s use of the landscape has led to a substantial loss of amphibians. Despite the fact that we have been very successful in changing the nega-tive impact on amphibian populations in Sweden, it must be kept in mind that the Red List criteria reflect pre-sent and future trends starting from usually very small populations. Any future positive development requires a continuous interest and economic support to amphibian conservation.

Partnerships Needed to Fight Extinction – Forgotten Species, New Friends

Susie Boardman

Significant global trends impact-ing upon our world include climate change; damage and loss of biodi-versity; changing dynamics of human population and changing patterns of health and disease. Despite advances in our understanding of the “Web of life” and the value of species and ecosystems to individuals and communities, there is an increasing disconnect between humans and na-ture. Man depends on nature for our survival, yet over 1,000 species are at risk of extinction. Stakeholders from all committed organisations must recognise the need to stand side by side and work together as partners to fight extinction and connect to nature.

The New Turtle Survival Center: Ensuring the Turtle Survival Alliance’s (TSA) Commitment to Zero Turtle Extinctions

Rick Hudson

The Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) developed in response to the Asian turtle crisis and has grown into a diverse and highly effective global partnership for turtle conservation. With a bold commitment to zero turtle extinctions, the TSA works in situ, with programs throughout Asia, and in Madagascar, Belize, Colombia and Africa, and ex situ to develop as-surance colonies for species that defy recovery efforts in the wild. Captive programs are a cornerstone of the TSA, and the proposed new Turtle Survival Center in South Carolina will help ensure the survival of 17 species ranked Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, including nine in the Top 25 Most Endangered list.

Fighting the Extinction of Zoos – Are Zoos Immune to Corporate Extinction?

Bernard Harrison

The future of zoos was the subject of a recent symposium and the possible demise of White Oak Conservation Centre have made a review of their corporate extinction not only topical but also imperative. Zoos are fun-damentally managed in three types of ways: Commercial, Society and Government /City. This paper reviews the three models with the view of offering a workable model for zoo survival in the 21st century.

Zoos Fighting Extinction v/v Zoos Facilitating Extinctions

Sally Walker

A small percentage of estimated 10,000 zoos worldwide actively fight extinction by engaging in difficult and costly programmes that contribute to species survival. Tragically, remaining

~90%+ of zoos (and their government agencies) facilitate suffering, deaths and (in the long term) extinctions due to ignorance, carelessness, and deliberate exploitation of interna-tional animal markets. The same agencies refuse to provide funds for training or infrastructure required to maintain animals well or to solve administrative and governance prob-lems that abet it. Responsible zoos need to counter this serious problem by lobbying such governments and engaging dysfunctional zoos with training on welfare, conservation and management.


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Advocacy through Thematic Design

Ace Torre

Impacts of extinction are hard to fathom for everyone, including zoo/aquaria guests. Exhibits that truly immerse the guest into realms of spe-cies, juxtaposed by man’s presence, help convey these impacts through experiential emotion, a foundation of advocacy for change. The main inter-pretive theme is environmental stew-ardship and urgency of conservation. Exhibits will be shown that promote this emotional experience through history/geographical locations on a visual/auditory/tactile journey, dem-onstrating that humankind is only but a thread of the web of life, all while enhancing family values, having fun by traveling to places around the world only a few ever get to see.

Facts and Figures from the Granby Zoo: Increasing Revenues as a Major Player in Social Economy

Joanne Lalumière

In Prague, there were requests for facts and figures on making money. Since 2004, Granby zoo has managed to obtain 38 M$ Cdn dollars in gov-ernment grants to improve animal ex-hibits and overall services. Revenues increased significantly enabling the zoo to increase the number of keep-ers and educators and support more conservation and research projects. The presentation will provide tips on securing grants and increasing rev-enues. Positioning the zoo as a major player in social economy was a key factor with many advantages.

I Can’t Hear You! Rethinking the Zoo’s Acoustic Environment

Becca Hanson

Standards for human acoustic envi-ronments get increasing attention as our awareness of potential health impacts grows. In zoos, however, we have come to accept the verbal exuberance of visitors as proof that they are having fun; the clang and rattle of doors and keys as proof that things are secure; and the reflected noise from hard surfaces as a matter of course. The goal of this paper is to expand the definition of animal and human well-being to focus on the nature and variables of zoos’ acoustic environments, and to learn what we can do with that knowledge.

Know and Understand your Visitor – A Strategy for Im-proving Experience, Lear-ning and Engagement

Cameron Kerr

Using a visitor tracking methodology developed by Vision XS, Taronga has developed a deeper understanding of how visitors interact with its sites. The tracking process has provided Taronga with a democratised data set that is being used to inform decision-making from a visitor ex-perience, learning and engagement perspective with the ultimate goals of increasing visitor dwell time and encouraging behaviour change. This paper outlines Taronga’s journey with its visitors, including quantitative improvements in visitor experience, learning and engagement since the tracking process commenced in 2010.

Captive Propagation, Head-Start and Conservation Program for the Ozark Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi) at the Saint Louis Zoo

Jeffrey Bonner

The Ozark hellbender, Cryptobran-chus alleganiensis bishopi is a large aquatic salamander endemic to the spring-fed rivers of the Ozark highlands in south-central Missouri and adjacent north-central Arkan-sas. Surveys over the past 40 years indicate that there has been at least a 70% decline in Ozark hellbender populations. The decline is attributed to a combination of factors including habitat degradation, illegal harvest for the pet trade, chemical contami-nation/water quality degradation and diseases. There has also been a shift in the age structure of the population to larger, older individuals. The limit-ed number of young animals suggests a lack of reproductive success and/or high juvenile mortality.

As a result of this precipitous decline the Saint Louis Zoo, in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Con-servation, Arkansas Fish & Game and United States Fish & Wildlife Service, started a captive propagation and head-start program for the Ozark hellbender in 2002. While recruitment is low, some egg clutches have been discovered annually in recent years. Portions of these clutches have been brought to the zoo for head-start and future release. The larger goal was to provide juveniles for release through captive reproduction, a feat that had never been achieved by any institu-tion before for either subspecies of hellbender.


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To help reach the goals of the program the Zoo constructed three environmentally-controlled rooms, two outdoor streams and has dedi-cated three full‑time keeper staff to this conservation propagation pro-gram. Through simulation of natural environmental cycles (i.e. – photo-period, water temperature, etc.) the hellbenders at the Zoo have cycled at exactly the same time as their wild counterparts and have laid eggs every year since 2007. However, it wasn’t until 2011 that fertilized eggs were achieved. In addition to adequate space, availability of suitable nesting sites and good sex ratios, adjust-ments to the ion concentration and conductivity of the water are believed to have played a role in this success-ful reproduction.

The goal of the captive propaga-tion and head‑starting efforts are to ensure the long-term survival and recovery of the Ozark hellbender by maintaining populations through augmentation and if necessary rein-troduction.

Providing the Necessary Knowledge to Assure Long-term Management of Threatened and Vulnerable Species

Roger Stonecipher

Since 1974, ISIS members have col-lected basic biologic information on more than 2.6 million animals of 10,000 species. The knowledgebase has been built through the collective efforts of individuals associated with more than 800 organizations in 83 countries. Through ISIS, our commu-nity has access to this comprehensive, integrated and current collection of animal, veterinary, husbandry, group and environmental knowledge. Al-ready, we have used this knowledge base to save several species from extinction. Let’s have a conversation about how we bring the rest of the world’s conservation community into our network and use this knowledge-base to affect the survival of more species.

AZA Sustainability – Update & Progress

Paul Boyle

The Association of Zoos and Aquari-ums (AZA) is focusing on increasing the sustainability of North America’s cooperatively-managed animal populations. AZA’s Sustainability Task Force implemented changes in 2011 intending that: all zoo populations should be managed on some level (institution, consortium, regional, or global); sustainability should be enhanced with incentives; popula-tion management processes should be simplified. While the changes to AZA’s Species Survival Programs (SSP’s) have operated for just over a year, we are encouraged by the de-gree to which the SSP’s and TAG’s are moving to build sustainability. We will provide a sustainability update with examples of progress.

Australia’s Wildlife Gene Bank

Ian Gunn & Ann Clarke

The Animal Gene Storage and Re-source Centre of Australia (AGSRCA) was established as a joint venture by Monash University and the Zoologi-cal Parks Board of NSW (Tarongra and Western Plains Zoo’s) in 1995 to utilizes developments in reproductive technology to assist in the breeding and conservation of Australian native and exotic endangered wildlife. A major Commonwealth grant ensured the development and operations of the Gene Bank and an active re-search program. It became a found-ing member of the international UK based Frozen Ark Project. The Centre at Monash had collected and stored genetic samples (semen, cells, DNA and tissues) from over 100 species when its funding support collapsed in 2006.it now sits in hibernation in a high security facility at Monash.

Managing Toucans at the Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná State, Brazil

Yara Barros

Parque das Aves manages eight spe-cies of Ramphastidae, and had breed-ing success with 5 of them. Pairs are formed using a flocking management and couples are kept on separated facilities, to prevent intra‑specific ag-gression. Natural trunks are preferred, although toucans accept almost any cavity. A camera monitoring system allows a noninvasive monitoring and record of the parents’ behaviour and nestlings’ development. We have had both hand and parent reared chicks.

Toucans need lots of stimuli and ac-cept many different environmental enrichment techniques. Regarding nutrition toucans can develop iron storage disease; therefore we devel-oped a special diet that minimizes the problem.


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Integrating Research and Husbandry to Enhance Animal Welfare at Chicago Zoological Society’s Center for the Science of Animal Welfare

Jason Watters

Blending the performance of re-search and research findings into husbandry practice enhances animal welfare. At Brookfield Zoo we have developed a program that places a cycle of research inquiry into animal husbandry and feeds findings into animal management practice. The program integrates several scientific disciplines – animal behavior, endo-crinology, nutrition, and veterinary medicine – into animal husbandry practice. The result is a multi-angled approach to advancing animal wel-fare. A parallel training program, de-signed to give animal managers the tools necessary to empirically address welfare questions and turn new find-ings into practice, drives us closer to the goal of advancing animal welfare.

Panama’s Noah’s Ark

Bob Chastain

In 2004, several zoos responded to the amphibian crisis in Panama by creating ex-situ assurance colonies of Panamanian amphibians in the USA and Panama. In 2008, chytridi-omycosis crossed the Panama Canal, prompting renewed calls from scientists to build in-country capacity to respond to the crisis. The aim is to build additional ex-situ capacity to collect and house assurance colonies of frogs from Panama, and develop a country-wide conservation action plan to prevent extinctions of 20 species of highly vulnerable amphib-ians. This session will explore why we should care about this crisis, what is being done and some of the early successes and challenges.

Beyond Sustainability; Field Lessons Improve Life within the Fence-line

Dan Maloney & Pat Janikowski

Field research reveals a predator’s hard-wired drive to patrol their home range. They reinforce their hunting grounds and protect their territory from intruders. Zoo life eleminates a hunter’s threats and challenges. Pacing cats are often classified as bored or worse. Staff distract them with novel items, but typically the animals resume their pacing. PJA Architects and Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens have designed a new ap-proach that applies field work to zoo habitats. Together, the architect and the zoo professional will describe how they areby providing cats with a unique opportunity to channeling a tiger’s natural tendancy to move and explore walk.

Threatened Species in the World’s Zoos: An Initial As-sessment of the Complexity of Worldwide Metapopula-tion Management

Dalia Conde

As species-level climate change impact evaluations become more common, the number of species requiring intensive management is likely to dramatically increase. The resultant demands on the zoo and aquarium community are certain to exceed its capacity, and therefore a creative management approach is essential. We assessed the propor-tion of threatened species within ISIS institutions, and examined the network’s complexity required for zoos to reach a metapopulation of above 50, 100 and 250 individuals. We paid particular attention number of institutions required, and their geo-graphical distribution. We propose further analyses to assess “optimal zoo aquarium‑networks” intensively managed populations of at risk-taxa.

Conservation Medicine: An Approach to Fight the Extinction of all Species

Eric Miller

In 2011 the Saint Louis Zoo launched the Institute for Conservation Medicine CICM) to further the Zoo’s mission to conserve animals and their habitats. The ICM takes a holistic approach to research on wildlife, public health, and sustainable eco-systems to ensure healthy animals and healthy people. This research includes 1) studies on diseases of conservation concern; 2) health care for the sustainability of biodiversity; 3) zoo animals as sentinels of disease in urban environments; 4) disease surveillance at the interface of wild-life, domestic animals and humans; 5) comparative medicine; and 6) explo-ration of the diversity of life.

Temaikèn’s Natural Reserve in Misiones, Argentina: join us!

Damián Pellandini

Osununú is a natural reserve located in San Ignacio, Misiones, Argentina. It preserves a particular ecosystem, the Interior Atlantic forest, which is con-sidered one of the most threatened biomes in the world. It has endemic and unique plant species. We have surveyed and identified 330 plants, 205 birds and 357 diurnal butterflies, but there is more research ahead to know the whole richness of the area. Because of the high touristic and edu-cational potential of the area, we are developing ecotourism, environmen-tal education programs and establish-ing a biological station as strategies for its conservation and sustainable management.


Conserving Madagascar’s Biodiversity, Building Local Capacity and Raising Environmental Awareness of Youth: The Cooperative Work of Zoos for Madagascar – The Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group (MFG):

Alex Rübel

Celebrating its 25 year anniversary, MFG integrates training with re-search that has led to documenting new species, identifying the signifi-cant threat posed by invasive plants and generating recommendations to conserve Betampona, itself an endangered lowland rainforest in Madagascar, where just 76 frog spe-cies have been found, 30% endemic to the site. MFGs innovative educa-tion program has led to collaborating with UNICEF’s program: connecting youth, schools and communities for the environment. MFG offers zoos the opportunity to take ownership of a specific project while rightfully taking credit for the entire program by funding the key to the MFG’s suc-cess – its staff and infrastructure.

Fighting Extinction in Papua New Guinea

Jean Thomas

Jim and Jean Thomas originally from Zoos Victoria have been working with the Tenkile Conservation Alliance in the north coast ranges of Papua New Guinea for ten years. Their aim is to protect the critically endangered Ten-kile (Dendrolagus scottae) and Wei-mang (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus) Tree Kangaroos. During this time the Tenkile population has increased from 100 to 300 animals. The project area has increased from 13 to 50 villages and resulted in a major shift in local people’s attitudes and behaviours towards nature conservation. This has come about through a variety of strategies including establishing a hunting a moratorium, introducing alternative protein sources, conserva-tion education programs and commu-nity development projects.

Unravelling a Mystery!

Lena Lindén

Even though it has always intrigued people around the globe the snow leopard is one of the worlds’ most secretive big cats. It is found in the rugged mountains of Central Asia where it is perfectly adapted to a life at high-altitude in the cold and barren climate. The snow leopard is listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List and there are only between 4000 and 6500 individuals left in the wild. Despite the hard work of several researchers, the elusiveness of this cat and the rough terrain it inhabits are part of the reason why there are still large gaps in our understanding of its natural history. The two or-ganizations’ Snow Leopard Trust and Panthera therefore started the first long-term ecological study of wild snow leopards in Mongolia in 2008. Nordens Ark became involved in the study in 2010 by funding the Swedish PhD student, Örjan Johansson, who is in charge of the field work in Mongo-lia. His primary task is to capture and fit snow leopards with GPS‑collars. The GPS-satellite collar will provide answers to the some of the basic questions about snow leopard ecol-ogy such as habitat use, home-range size, birth and mortality rates, prey preference and daily or seasonal movements. The study also aims to assess the impact of conservation programs and find methods of meas-uring population size. However to be able to put collars on the cats Örjan first had to learn how to capture them. So far he has managed to cap-ture and collared 18 snow leopards which means that he is now on the way to unravel some of the mystery surrounding this amazing cat.

DOC 67.3 rev


DOC 67.3 rev

Cats of Belize

Eric Stephens

This Project in Belize focuses on five Cat Species, one of the very few plac-es in the world where all five occur; Jaguar, Cougar, Ocelot, Margay and Jaguarundi. It is important to study these animals and their relationships to the people who live in the area (camera traps are placed on the prop-erty of willing farmers) as well as how the Cats manage to coexist with this many other predators. In partnership with the University of Florida, these studies highlight areas of habitats traveled, activity, prey species, and health issues. In addition, when track-ing these Cats, significant work on a variety of reptile species native to the area is also conducted including river turtles and Morelet’s Crocodile. The children of the immediate area are taught to stay away from the edge of close by freshwater pools as they can be dangerous so a visit to a local elementary school, was the first time these children had ever seen the na-tive Crocodile with which they share the countryside.

Project conducted and authored by Dr. Frank Ridgley and Mr. Dustin Smith.

In-Situ Conservation in Sabah, Malaysia

Shahrir Abdul Samad

Sabah is home to many of the char-ismatic mega species including the Bornean elephants, orang-utans and Sumatran rhino. Sadly many of these species are confronting extinction in the wild. Sabah is also the larg-est producer of palm oil in Malaysia. While palm oil has brought benefits to its rural population, the presence of wild life in its natural setting has also given Sabah its tourism industry. The challenge for Malaysia is how to pursue development while under-taking conservation. This challenge opens the opportunity for bodies with expertise to participate in in-situ conservation. One such multi-stake-holder conservation collaboration involving the Malaysian government, oil palm industry and various NGO’s is underway to conserve key ecological areas along the Kinabatangan River. The project will involve restoring the identified biodiversity corridor to ensure the conservation of these species.

Community Conservation – A Peri-urban Case Study in Fighting Extinction

Laura Mumaw

A case study (Yarra4Life) of fight-ing extinction in a peri-urban region adjoining Melbourne City will be presented. Yarra4Life is a col-laboration between local, State and regional agencies, landowners and interested community to protect and enhance local native habitat and its iconic wildlife. It includes a zoo based captive breeding, rearing and release program. The case study will describe the statutory environmental strategy for greater Melbourne’s environmen-tal assets. It will also highlight the use of an Australian‑first interactive catchment management website to support adaptive management and connect local agencies, organiza-tions (like zoos), and communities to achieve regional environmental goals.

POSTER PRESENTATION

James Musinguzi

Ex situ conservation to In situ con-servation: the role of Conservation Education in changing attitudes and behaviors of communities towards Rhino reintroduction in Murchison Falls National Park, Northern Uganda


Received Full WAZA Congress Contributions


Love your LocalsJenny Gray, Zoos Victoria

Abstract

In 2011 Zoos Victoria committed that no Victorian, terrestrial, vertebrate species will go extinct on our watch. Our scientific team assessed the health and viability of Victorian spe-cies and found that 16 species were under threat of extinction within 5-10 years if nothing was done to save them. Zoos Victoria has commenced a program to ensure their survival. We have captive populations secured, recovery teams trained and commit-ted to breeding success, and a strong commitment to engage the Victorian community in saving these unknown, beautiful and interesting species. Visitors are powerful consumers thus their engagement with our local species is a first step to inspire and empower them to act to help us fight extinction.

Background

Extinction at its current rate is not natural and it is not inevitable. Right now, in 2012, extinction is a man made phenomenon and as much as we can drive species into extinction we can also interrupt the process, slow it and reverse the trend. We can and should fight extinction; because once a species is gone, it is gone forever.

I propose that there are a number of reasons why we should be Fighting Extinction:

• The threat of extinction in 2012 is largely man made and a human driven process. We have made the mess that threatens to engulf other animals and it is thus our moral responsibility to clean it up.

• It is a fight that we can win. Extinc-tion is not inevitable and many ex-amples are available that show that when we put our minds to protect-ing and recovery species we can.

• We share our environment with the animals that are in trouble. It is not rocket science to understand that the threats to animals are also threats to humans. We need the environment to live and if we are destroying it for others we destroy it for ourselves.

• The animals at most risk are amaz-ing and beautiful and of enormous value in their own right. We should fight their extinction, because with-out them our planet will be duller and less amazing.

Zoos are well placed to fight extinc-tion and can contribute to conserva-tion outcomes in a number of ways. Zoos can support International Conservation Programs which protect wild areas, zoos can empower visitors and the wider community to take ac-tion and zoos can work with threat-ened species engaging in captive breeding recovery programs.

This paper will address the third aspect of zoo based conservation, the critical role that zoos should be play-ing in endangered species recovery programs.

In 2009 Zoos Victoria, Perth Zoo and Taronga Conservation Society, were involved in a program on Christmas Island to try and save the Christmas Island Pipistrelle. Scientists had observed the decline in these small insectivorous bats caused by an in-vasive pest species, the crazy yellow ant. They estimated that the popula-tion may have shrunk to as few as 20 individuals. They were wrong. The recovery team recorded a single male bat over three nights. For the next 5 weeks there was no recording of any bats, across the whole range. A re-cording on the 26 August 2009 marks the last time the Christmas Island Pip-istrelle ever flew. We arrived in time to record the extinction of a species. We never want to do this again.


Our Fighting Extinction Commitment

Based on the experience at Christ-mas Island Zoos Victoria developed a new approach to conservation. Zoos Victoria decided that it is unaccepta-ble to lose a local species and further committed that “No Victorian, terres‑trial, vertebrate species will go extinct on our watch”.

The commitment necessitated an investigation into the extent of the threat to Victorian, terrestrial ver-tebrates. The Conservation Science team at Zoos Victoria undertook an assessment of Victorian species against the question ‘What is the Like‑lihood of extinction over the coming 10 years’ using the following criteria:

• Small population size• Declining population trend• Restricted distribution• Key threatening processes

Populations that met the criteria but had good numbers in other states were excluded. The final list of species meeting the criteria was 16 Victoria species. Zoos Victoria was already involved in 4 captive breed-ing programs which did not meet the criteria but where the Zoos Victoria contribution was considered as im-portant to the ongoing success of the programs. From the combined lists emerged Zoos Victoria’s 20 priority species.

Each of these species is amazing; a hibernating marsupial, a migratory parrot and a lizard that pretends it is a snake. The Zoos Victoria science and life science teams are hard at work bringing these species into our care, at this stage we are working with 17 of the 20 species.

A five year plan has been developed for each species with success indi-cators for five and 10 years. In all cases success is defined as a secure wild population. In many cases the plans involve the management of the metapopulation plans such that genetics can be managed through transfer between the wild and captive population. Much progress has been made in working with the recovery teams, securing permits and develop-ing husbandry. As success is to secure wild populations, Zoos Victoria is engaging with land holders, support groups and conservation organisa-tions to address the threats to species in their habitat.

Wherever possible, Zoos Victoria will replace common species within our care with the 20 priority spe-cies, in education programs and on display. This philosophy means that the threatened species are part of the zoo collection not additional to the collection.

Research programs are being aligned such that they will assist with the unknown issues and improving our chances of success. We are setting the agenda with the Universities and they are absolutely supportive and engaged.

Love Your Locals – Engaging the Community

The greatest challenge facing the program is to secure the support of the community of Victoria. If people don’t know and don’t care about species it is unlikely that they will take the steps needed to save them. As zoos we have spent 150 years telling people how cool elephants and orang-utans are; now we need to them to fall in love with local species which are small, brown, cryptic and creepy. So we have embarked on an awareness campaign called ‘Love you Locals’.

The campaign aims to raise aware-ness of the threatened species and the actions that people can take to help protect them. At Zoos Victoria we are putting our full weight, skills and commitment into this campaign. We also recognised that the cam-paign needs to be fun, engaging and accessible to the target market, kids. So we called on a friend, a super hero with extra ordinary charisma, Zooper-man. Zooperman is joined by the 20 extinction fighters, cartoon repre-sentations of the 20 priority species. Zooperman and the Extinction Fight-ers are coming to life, to engage kids and to help them take actions that help animals. There is a cartoon in the member magazine, secret missions and retail products.


Exhibits are now designed to engage visitors with the priority species. In April Lunar’s secret forest was launched at Healesville Sanctuary. Lunar is a Lead Beaters Possum, she is fast and courageous, but not fast enough to out run extinction. This beautiful species lives in a small area heavily impacted by fires and is, plausibly, one fire away from extinc-tion. Underpinning the exhibit is real data and a recovery program, along with the promotion of FSC timber. A behaviour change project has been launched observing changes in consumer behaviour following a visit to the Lunar experience. While early days we can see difference in prefer-ence for the FSC product even though it is slightly more expensive than the non FSC by people who have been exposed to the experience in Lunar’s secret forest.

We are putting our threatened spe-cies work on display. Instead of hiding our work we are showing people what we do, it is just amazing how they re-spond. At Healesville we are running a Fighting Extinction Tour, which con-tributes to our financial sustainability as a not‑for‑profit organisation and shares our love for these incredible species, a passion that is contagious.

Marketing is aligned with ‘Love your Locals’ with a tram branded, post-ers in trams and public spaces. We have employed alternate options for spreading the message. We have a graffiti wall of the endangered spe-cies, AC/DC lane in the city. Not often you want your brand graffiti in an alley. As part of the 150th celebrations we hosted a comedy debate – who gets on the ark? A group of 6 comedi-ans each defended why their species should get a space on the Ark and I am glad to say the audience threw the humans overboard.

In addition to the awareness is the solid foundation of behaviour change that underpins this strategy. We have strong messaging on actions that the community can take to help wild life, like ‘Wipe for Wildlife,’ a campaign to have visitors switch to recycled toilette paper. Research shows that it is working, with 30 % of people visit-ing Healesville Sanctuary that do not use recycled toilette paper switching after one visit.

Retail shops are aligned to Fighting Extinction as the shop is often the last contact point in a zoo visit. The retail outlets are an important part of telling the story. In addition to the shop fit out and staff training we are developing a new line of products that support and encourage love for our locals.

Conclusion

Globally zoos are a powerful force. When we put our minds to a project we can achieve so much. Zoos can move elephants around the world; build rainforests in Europe and raise millions of dollars for new enclosures. Surely we can stem the tide of extinc-tion. Not just saving species but also saving ourselves.

Extinction is not inevitable.

So, which 20 species will you save from extinction?


Release to the Wild of Charismatic Mega Fauna: the Risks and SuccessesSusan Hunt, PSM, Chief Executive Officer, Perth Zoo

Abstract

In 2006 Perth Zoo joined the Frank-furt Zoological Society (FZS) in a partnership to support the ecosystem and landscape of Bukit Tigapuluh in Sumatra. A part of the partnership involved an ambitious Sumatran Orangutan introduction program (www.orangutan-lifeboat.de/? id=14&language=en&invalidate=true). In November 2006 Perth Zoo and FZS released of the first Zoo‑born Suma-tran Orangutan into the wild at Bukit Tigapuluh,‘ Temara’ born at Perth Zoo.

Perth Zoo has continued the FZS col-laboration, delivering staff training at Bukit Tigapuluh, ongoing project sup-port and project funding. Perth Zoo funds have been used to construct infrastructure, support wildlife pro-tection programs, research programs, a human‑elephant conflict mitigation program, a mobile education pro-gram for local villagers and a small community development program. Late in 2011 another Perth Zoo-born male orangutan was released to the wild.

Background

This intent of this paper is to reflect on Perth Zoo’s release of two Zoo born Sumatran Orangutans (Pongo abelii) into a Sumatran Orangutan release program run by the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS).

As a component of a wider project, the Sumatran Orangutan Conserva-tion Program, the FZS has worked with the Indonesian Government’s Department of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation PHKA, Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari YEL (Foundation for a Sustainable Ecosystem) and Pan Eco to build a sustainable new wild population in an area where orangu-tans are now extinct in Bukit Tigapu-luh, Jambi Province, Sumatra. With the support of Perth Zoo and other partners, the Bukit Tigapuluh based activities have now grown to incor-porate broader activities of habitat protection, including elephant human conflict mitigation, community de-velopment, research and community education programs. This work, now badged the Bukit Tigapuluh Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Program, is a WAZA branded program and has been since 2008.

The FZS introduction program is thorough and rigorous, developed consistent with IUCN guidelines and with Indonesian Government collabo-ration and approvals. After prepara-tion by experienced staff, orangutans confiscated by Indonesian authorities as illegal pets or rescued as a result of dispersal of animals through forest destruction are released into Bukit Tigapuluh, an area providing ideal lowland rainforest habitat.

Zoos and Release Programs

As the Zoo community we are increas-ingly speaking of‘ intensive conser-vation’ or more recently‘ One Plan’ approaches integrating Zoo breeding programs with on-the-ground conser-vation projects. This is such a program.

Local species’ release-to-the-wild programs are not new for zoos. Perth Zoo has run breed-for-release pro-grams for native Western Australian species for over 20 years. As it is for many zoos, these programs are now a part of our part of our core business. We have bred and released over 2,500 native WA specimens, working with reptiles, mammals, amphibians and more recently birds in conjunction with local wildlife authorities.

While there are risks involved with local breed-for-release programs and often a large investment of time and resources, the complexities and risks are now relatively well understood. This is primarily as a result of:

• the local and endemic species’ focus;

• species usually do not have regional or global partners and are not a part of management plans involving many partners;

• stakeholder management is usually local;

• disease risk is understood and bio-security issues are not complex; and

• species’ knowledge and expertise is usually not in dispute, and is often exclusive to the one zoo – your own.

On the whole, in most zoo based breed for release programs, the risks are well understood, controlled and accepted.


Sumatran Orang-utan

The conservation status for Suma-tran orangutan remains as critically endangered, with and estimated 6,600 animals left in the wild. While protected in Indonesia, the politi-cal environment in Aceh Province in Sumatra, which contains the only remaining wild populations is un-stable. Major threats for Sumatran orang-utan remain habitat destruc-tion, poaching, land‑use conflicts and encroachments into protected areas for plantations, mining and farming.

With the longest inter-birth interval of any mammal, the outlook for Su-matran orangutan appears very bleak, with estimates of wild extinctions within 10 years.

The population of Sumatran orang-utan in zoos as recorded through ISIS is presently 256, with 18 being held in the Australasian breeding program. The global zoo population of 256 animals are housed in 66 institutions across 5 regions. Of these, 7.13.0 are housed in Australia with 1.2.0 at Adelaide Zoo, 2.2.0 at Melbourne Zoo and 4.9.0 at Perth Zoo.

There is also no global program for this species and the opportunities to hold this charismatic species in suffi-cient numbers to establish a sustain-able captive population in zoos are limited.

Perth Zoo Sumatran Orangutan Program

Perth Zoo’s breeding record and ongoing breeding capacity for this critically endangered species is sound. There have been 30 Sumatran oran-gutans born at Perth Zoo over the last 20 years and the Zoo holds a constant population of 13 or 14 animals. The methodology of holding orangutan at Perth Zoo is in small groups in a series of enclosures, females housed with offspring and males held alone or with a breeding female. This system provides optimum visual contact and maintenance of a social system, providing individual territories and also reflecting Sumatran orangutans’ primary solitary nature.

Up until 2006 Perth Zoo’s conserva-tion emphasis had been on educa-tion and to raise awareness about orangutans and their threats. Follow-ing a new strategic direction for Perth Zoo set through master and strategic planning and aligned with the World Zoo Conservation Strategy, oppor-tunities for greater conservation involvement in international species was possible. While the Zoo was involved in direct conservation of lo-cal species, the decision was made to support international wildlife projects. A community fundraising project, Perth Zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Ac-tion, was founded.

Also at that time, despite Perth Zoo’s capacity to continue to successfully breed this critically endangered spe-cies, there was a‘ no breed’ recom-mendation from the regional Austral-asian Species Management Program. This was due to a lack of spaces in receiving zoos. As a result Perth Zoo’s breeding females were placed on contraception indefinitely.

The Decision for an Integrated Perth Zoo Orang-utan Program

In the context of an assessment of Perth Zoo’s orang-utan program and its future, and in the light of our strategic priorities and the status of this species in the wild, the partner-ship with the FZS was forged. The decision was made to release young female orang-utan‘ Temara’ into the wild as a pilot program to test the integration of our Zoo program with the FZS re-introduction program. This decision was based on:

• The conservation status of Suma-tran orang-utan was dire; and it was confirmed by FZS that even a few breeding animals would make a difference to the success of the FZS release program;

• FZS was an established conserva-tion organisation with a high reputa-tion;

• A release to the wild program for Sumatran orang-utan was an extension of our commitment and expertise with this species. It was the next step;

• Staff expertise and experience pro-vided confidence that this would be successful;

• Our community strongly supported the initiative and confirmed that this was consistent with its expecta-tion of Perth Zoo;

• A Zoo release would assist in raising awareness of the serious situation facing Sumatran orang-utan, of the FZS program and of the need to protect Sumatran forests, habitat and wildlife;

• To enable breeding of the Perth Zoo animals was a priority to ensure animal welfare and good health. To find an option for our animals which had a conservation benefit was a‘ win-win’;

• It was‘ authentic’ for us to link our zoo breeding to a wild population. We were‘ walking the talk’ and deliv-ering on our conservation message.


It was resolved to manage‘ Temara’ to the FZS program as much as possible as a regular‘ animal transaction’. The process included many of the same processes as sending an animal to another zoo: in terms of health checks, welfare and transport. However, there were significant additional tasks and more complex stakeholder management including:

• Site visits to Sumatra to ensure the bone fide and to assess the suitabil-ity of the on-the-ground program;

• Application and testing of the pro-ject and approach against relevant IUCN Guidelines, Bio-security & wildlife health conditions relating to releases to the wild;

• Engagement with in-country stake-holders including Government of Indonesia in Jakarta and with local government officials;

• Briefing and seeking approvals from the Western Australian Minister for Environment, the Australian Gov-ernment and also Zoo stakeholders – the Zoo Board, the Zoo’s Animal Ethics and Welfare Committee. Additionally bringing staff, volun-teers and Zoo visitors along with our vision was an extensive process;

• Preparing‘ Temara’for release including introducing her to Suma-tran fruits, termites and giving her access to climbing trees pre-release to maximise her chance of success in the wild.

Outcomes from the Partnership with FZS

In 2006 Perth Zoo sent‘ Temara’ to Sumatra where she was released into the Bukit Tigapuluh FZS program. She was tracked for almost three years in the soft release approach used by the FZS and now she lives independently in the Bukit Tigapu-luh forest. This was followed by‘ Semeru’ in late 2011.‘ Semeru’ who was released at a younger age has integrated into the program swiftly and is thriving. The FZS program has grown with the Zoo’s involvement. As at 2012, 140 Sumatran orangutans – confiscated pet trade and orphaned animals along with‘ Temara’ and‘ Se-meru’ have been released into Bukit Tigapuluh. FZS has reported that these numbers are at least half way towards a sustainable wild orangutan population for the size of the release area.

Over that period, Perth Zoo has become a major partner of FZS, providing ongoing financial support and resources through staff exchange, training and expertise in the areas of veterinary care and advice on animal husbandry, nutrition, animal enrich-ment and tracking and telemetry. Perth Zoo staff regularly visit Bukit Tigapuluh with a commitment to at least four staff visits annually and FZS staff visit Perth Zoo for training in veterinary care, animal husbandry, animal enrichment, training and even office management.

The direct contribution of zoo skills to wildlife conservation should not be under- emphasized. For this release program, Perth Zoo’s staff expertise have helped build local capacity in animal handling, animal welfare, enrichment techniques pre release. Other skills like delivery of zoo veterinary expertise in training local staff in implantation of transponders and assistance with telemetry have been important to the success of the program.

Perth Zoo and FZS have in 2012 signed a second 5-year agreement. Over the life of the agreement some US $1.2million will go from Perth Zoo to FZS. This is all community fund-raising from our Wildlife Conservation Action program. The majority of the funds go to employ local staff in for-est protection patrols, local education programs, elephant research, human elephant conflict mitigation and com-munity development programs.

Another benefit from the Zoo’s involvement has been the increased profile for the project. Our involve-ment brought credibility and profile to the project, locally and in Jakarta. As Perth Zoo, CEO I was brought into diplomatic discussions in Indonesia advocating for the protection of Bukit Tigapuluh and pressing for the extension of protected areas. We became a mechanism and voice for the program.

Another direct benefit was that the partnership strengthened Perth Zoo’s bona fide credentials in wild-life conservation. Our visitors are demanding; they expect that we take an active role in conserving species and not just talk about it. Through our work, we were proving our authentic-ity as a conservation organisation. We were directly contributing to conservation. This also had internal benefits, as staff could see the direct link between their work at the Zoo and the conservation achievements on the ground in Sumatra.


Other Lessons learned

It has now been six years since Perth Zoo released‘ Temara’ to the wild. In summary, what are the lessons learned?

• The profile for the project was greatly enhanced by the involve-ment of a zoo. The fact that a Zoo-born orang-utan were a part of the program gave an increased pro-file and as a result, the likelihood of the project’s success was increased. Zoos can be powerful advocates and can actively leverage conservation outcomes.

• The public interest and support of our release to the wild of‘ Temara’ and of‘ Semeru’ was predominantly that this type of work was expected of us as a modern zoo. Our commu-nity expects that we are conserva-tion agents and want us to make a difference for wildlife. That is why they support us.

• By sending a Zoo animal to the wild – particularly a charismatic orang-utan resulted in increased community involvement and interest in conservation. Our conservation fundraising for the FZS project grew. Our market research has shown that aware-ness of orang-utan conservation and of Bukit Tigapulu has grown enormously over the past six years. By telling the story of‘ Temara’ and‘ Semeru’, we have been able to con-nect Zoo visitors with the plight of orang-utans in the wild.

• Media interest is transitory. By the time of the second release in late 2011, there was little media interest. It was no longer a big story! Instead of looking for big splash stories, we used social media and blogs to tell the story of‘ Semeru’s’ release and to connect the public. This was more effective and meaningful.

• There was some reputational dam-age with zoo colleagues. While the general public and local stake-holders strongly supported us, in some zoo circles there was a mixed response. This was perhaps partially ill-informed in confusing the situa-tion of Sumatran orang-utans with Borneon orang-utans, but there was also a broad reticence about releasing a managed species like a Sumatran orang-utan to the wild. I am pleased that with the recent literature and growing acceptance of integrated conservation,‘ inten-sive management’ and a‘ One Plan’ approach and with more informa-tion about the FZS and Perth Zoo approach, this criticism is now not as prevalent.

• The financial cost was not high, generally equivalent to the cost of the transaction of a giraffe to a zoo within Australia. Although the pro-cess of release to the wild is com-plex, the financial cost is not high.

On reflection, our partnership and the release of‘ Temara’ and‘ Semeru’ have been extremely positive. I believe we have demonstrated that zoo popula-tions can be successfully integrated with wildlife conservation projects – even for complex charismatic species such as Sumatran orang-utan. It has certainly been worth the risks.

In addition to the many other issues learned in this approach, it has also highlights for me that as a zoo com-munity we need a greater investment in global management programs. Yet this does not exclude the need for us to link such programs to wildlife conservation. In disastrous situa-tions such as those facing Sumatran orang-utan, we must ensure that population management programs have strong wildlife conservation projects at their centre.

Finally, another short point on visitor engagement – In our social-me-dia-savvy world, zoo visitors and the general public have loved the story of‘ Temara’ and‘ Semeru’. You don’t lose visitors by sending animals away from your zoo. You gain a whole new audience – of conservationists.


Abstract

The SSCJ: Species Survival Com-mittee of Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) has been making efforts for the popula-tion management of more than 150 species within entire JAZA member institutions. This paper will introduce those activities focused on wildlife conservation. We also would like to talk about our granted projects/activi-ties including studies on such endan-gered species.

The Species Survival Committee of JAZA

Currently the JAZA membership comprises of 65 aquariums and 86 zoos, totaling 151 member institu-tions. Relative to the countries land area, the number of zoos and aquari-ums in Japan is not small. Japan has coexisted with wildlife for a long time and the Japanese lifestyle is deeply related to both of terrestrial and aquatic animals.

JAZA has been working with143 spe-cies as Species Survival Projects. Most of the activities for these species are related to ex‑situ conservation. How-ever, some of them are also working with in‑situ conservation. JAZA is trying to expand its efforts to link to in‑situ conservation more and more, especially for Japanese endemic spe-cies.

The conservation efforts for ex‑situ and in‑situ

Terrestrial

JAZA has several species that have both ex‑situ and in‑ situ components. A specific example is the Oriental white stork. The Oriental white stork is an endangered species in East Asia. In Japan, the local conservation project was started in 1955. However, unfortunately the last individual in the wild was lost in 1971. Following this, the Japanese government coop-erated together with local commu-nity for the reintroduction effort, and JAZA also joined in this project. JAZA members have kept several different species of stork and the husbandry knowledge and skill have been developed. Those experiences were then applied to the husbandry of the Oriental white stork. They experi-enced a lot of hardship for the captive breeding at first. They achieved success in their breeding finally and subsequently succeeded in the rein-troduction of the species to the wild in 2005. The people of Japan can once again see them in Japanese sky.

Aquatic

Activities are not only focused on terrestrial animals, but JAZA also sup-ports efforts for aquatic species. Last year, JAZA celebrated its 20th anniver-sary for freshwater fish conservation. In Japan, there are more than 15,000 main rivers and there are 400 endem-ic freshwater fishes. 144 species of them are endangered. The commit-tee for Breeding of Endangered Japa-nese Freshwater Fishes, JAZA takes the initiative to support biodiversity conservation.

Current Conservation Efforts Supported by the Japanese Association of Zoos and AquariumsShigeyuki Yamamoto, Kazutoshi Arai and Kanako Tomisawa, Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA)


Wild Animal Conservation Fund

JAZA also encourages research activities and supports a wild animal conservation fund. All of JAZA mem-ber institutions install donation boxes, and the donated funds and a part of the JAZA budget are used for the fund. Every year JAZA makes grants for a variety of research or related activities. The projects received the grant in 2012are listed as follows:

• Research on conservation and reproduction of Japanese Giant Salamander (Andrias japonicus)

• Research on captive reproduction of Svalbard Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta hyperborea)

• Research on environment for wild-life conservation at the dairy farm-ing villages around Fuurenkawa riverine system

• Activities for reproduction of Reticu-lated Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)

• Genetic analysis of Shinal dwarf gudgeon (Pseudorasbora pumila pumila) for effective genealogical preservation in captivity

• Research on the reproductive physi‑ology and egg shell characteristics of Penguins

• Research on the rubbing behavior to citrus tree found in Tufted Capuchin (Cebus paella) and consideration about display and explanation

• Development and practice of work-shop on the linking between zoos and wildlife habitats for wildlife conservation

• “Crawfish summit in Hokkaido” at Maruyama zoo

• Baseline survey for Hotoke Loach (Lefua echigonia) in Tanba region

• An examination for disinfestation of Red-eared Slider (Testudo scripta elegans)

• Building the model for international transmission of information

• Support of captive reproduction of Humboldt Penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) at Santiago Metropolitan Zoo in Chile, and the conservation activities for Humboldt penguin in the wild

Conclusion

JAZA has been making efforts for wildlife conservation. However, there are some genetic limitations for many of the species in captivity. More recently JAZA strongly promotes international affairs and to cooper-ate with regional associations around the world. JAZA keeps 122 regional studbooks and supports them work-ing with the international and other regional studbook keepers. JAZA is keen to cooperate with other regions to have more effective population management.

If other regional institutions are interested to cooperate with JAZA or know more about JAZA, please contact the JAZA office as follows. JAZA looks forward to working with partners in support of wildlife conser-vation.


In Germany, Austria and Czech Republic the Ural owl was extinct since the early 20th century. In 1965 Nuremberg zoo has bred this species first time in the world. A reintroduc-tion program was established in the 70th in the Bavarian Forest National Park and continued in the following decades on the Czech side. Some 300 Owls were released on both sides of the border. Observations in the Ba-varian National park could record 10 chicks, successfully raised in natural nesting sites in 2012.

As recent genetic studies had shown, these locations must have been an essential former corridor for genetic exchange between the Baltic and Slovenian populations, which show very similar genetic clusters. In 2009 a reintroduction project in Austria was established at two sites as an additional step stone for migration and genetic exchange, where 86 birds were released. According to the mass fructification of beech 9 breeding pairs have raised successfully 30 chicks in artificial nest boxes in 2012.

Since 2003 Nuremberg Zoo made available 17 owls for release and gave 5 additional birds for the breeding network. On the other hand the Zoo made substantial financial support (35.000 €) for the genetic studies and the monitoring of the owls in Austria. In total 9 WAZA zoos and additional breeding centers as Vienna breeding unit have sent birds for the projects.

Breeding and reintroduction of Ural owls (Strix uralensis)Helmut Mägdefrau, Nuremberg Zoo, Germany and Richard Zink, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Vienna, Austria

Ural owl.© Helmut Mägdefrau


The Big C – A Discussion on the Allocation of Scarce Resources for Zoo and Aquarium ConservationsSteve H. Taylor, Director, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

There is no question that zoos and aquariums around the world are all about conservation. But what exactly is meant by conservation in zoos and aquariums? Is it educating an endless number of adults and children about the plight of wildlife and encouraging them to do something about it? Is it breeding endangered species in their collections, some of which can be released back into the wild? After all if we do not create sustainable animal collections in zoos and aquariums around world, we won’t even have zoos and aquariums. Is it “walking the walk and talking the talk” by creating the greenest institutions in the world with zero waste and a small carbon footprint? Is it conservation research? The more we know about a species’ biology and behavior, the easier it will be to save them from extinction. Or is it about raising and spending millions of dollars for worthwhile field conservation programs outside our walls? Isn’t this the only thing that will directly save wildlife and wild places?

In 2005, the Worlds Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) produce a 70-page booklet with nine chap-ters entitled, The Zoo and aquarium Conservation Strategy – Building a Future for Wildlife (WZACS). This paper looks at five of those areas that most directly affect the conservation of wildlife and I believe that these five combine to describe a zoo or aquari-ums total conservation effort.

Conservation education programs at zoos and aquariums should be designed to turn students and other guests into conservation activists. Recent studies have verified that premises. In the publication, “Why Zoos and Aquariums Matter”, the au-thors state, “Visit to accredited zoos and aquariums prompt individuals to reconsider their role in environment problems and conservation action, and to see themselves and part of the solutions.” This is confirmed with data from various studies.

In talking about zoos and aquariums, Lees and Wilckens in 2009 stated “To fulfill the full suite of conservation roles required of them, these animal collections must be demographically robust, genetically representative of their wild counterparts and able to sustain these characteristics for the foreseeable future”. Unfortunately, they also realized that very few of the animals in zoo and aquarium collec-tions are sustainable for even 0ne hundred years. Zoos throughout the world have been building facilities to increase collection sustainability, such as the turtle facility in Allwet-terzoo in Munster, Germany and The National Elephant Center in Florida, USA. If our animal collections are not sustainable, zoos will just be the larg-est collection of artificial rocks in the universe!

At all recent meetings of WAZA, the role of zoos and aquariums in envi-ronmental sustainability has been a major topic. As Harvard professor E. O. Wilson stated, “At the current levels of consumption of natural resources humanity needs three earth‑sized planets to survive.”

While Wildlife Conservation Society (New York), The Zoological Society of London, Zoo Frankfurt have his-torically had large commitments to field conservation, it has only been relatively recently that all modern zoos and aquariums have dedicated funds towards these projects. WAZA database now shows 905 field con-servation projects and AZA zoos and aquariums spend $134 million a year on 4,000 field conservation projects in more than 100 countries. These numbers are growing every year. It has been estimated that zoos and aquariums worldwide fund $350 mil-lion in field conservation programs in the wild.

The WZACS states, zoos and aquari-ums should be seen “as serious, respected scientific institutions that make significant contributions and sound scientific decisions for wildlife worldwide”. As with field conserva-tion only a few of the largest zoos had research departments in the past, but now most larger zoos contribute greatly to scientific knowledge con-cerning wildlife.


The challenge a zoo and/or aquarium director has is to allocate funding for these activities while operating a business at the same time. Cleve-land Metroparks Zoo/Cleveland Zoological Society has an annual operating budget of approximately $25 million US. Of that amount $17.7 million (74%) is spent on administra-tion, fund-raising, marketing, utili-ties, guest services and basic animal care. That leaves $6.3 million (26%) for Conservation. This amount could be divided as such: $500,000 for field conservation, $2.1 million for education, $3.3 for collection sustain-ability (50% of animal care budget), $100,000 for green practices and $300,000 for conservation research.

What about conservation and the “mega zoo exhibits” that are popular in every region of the world. Examples would include Leipzig’s Gondwanaland, Zurich’s Madagascar exhibit, Hannover’s polar bear exhibit and Denver’s new Toyota Elephant Passage. Some would criticize this ex-pense saying that these funds would be better spent on field conserva-tion. However, in every case those funds were not available for field conservation, only for local develop-ment. In addition, one can make a good argument that these new large exhibits do much for conservation. The new $25 million African Elephant Crossing exhibit at Cleveland Metro-parks Zoo is contributing to the Zoo’s conservation efforts if one measures the expense in the following man-ner. Of the $25 million, $5 million is for conservation education, $200,000 was raised for field conservation, $6 million to increase the herd size of African elephants at the Zoo, thus increasing collection sustainability, $1.5 million spend on green practices (LEED building) and some money spent on associated conservation research programs for a total of 12.7 million (50%) on Conservation.

So how can zoos and aquariums do it all and fund all facets of a total Conservation program. First, it is important that all five areas of zoo and aquarium conservation are integrated. Again, in the case of the African Elephant Crossing, learning about conservation of African wildlife is a major focus of the Zoo’s guest experience. In fact, this exhibit won the top education award by AZA in 2012. This exhibit teaches guests about human/wildlife conflicts and the creation of wildlife corridors. This project is a LEED’s certified as a green building for its construction. Dur-ing the fund-raising campaign, the Cleveland Zoological Society raised over $200,000 to support African elephant projects in Tanzania and Botswana. The project increased the Zoo’s capability of breeding African elephant thus improving collection sustainability of African elephants in this region. In addition, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo gives financial sup-port to The National Elephant Center in Florida. And finally, the exhibit has increased opportunities for the Zoo’s researchers to do conservation research on this species. All these activities are documented in the Zoo’s Conservation Report which can be found on the Cleveland Zoological Society’s website (http://issuu.com/clevelandzoosociety). Many zoos do an even better job of integrating their total conservation efforts. The St. Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute is one such example.

To provide addition funding, there are opportunities to increase funds by letting many education programs pay for themselves and more. Many sleepover programs at zoos and aquariums do just that. Animal inter-action programs, such as giraffe and lorikeet feedings, are other examples of ways education can help pay for itself. At Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, we have been successful in increas-ing corporate support for the Zoo’s conservation education programs by explaining to local corporations that the Zoo’s programs are a fun way to teach inquiry-based science. These skills are important to corporations hoping to get well-trained young employees with skills necessary for their corporations.

Increasing sustainability of our animal collections is a major challenge to all zoos and aquariums around the world. Zoos and aquariums must, in certain cases, get help for the private sector, must expand the capacity (space), must expand planning expertise (staff and volunteers), must have more global cooperation (GSMPS) and need to consider increasing the use of management euthanasia. There are many examples of this occurring around the world. While I have men-tioned, The National Elephant Center, there are now plans by the Turtle Survival Alliance to create a facility in South Carolina (USA) to raise certain endangered Asian turtles and Mada-gascan tortoises. In addition, there are several large acreage facilities in North America, African and Australia that have increased capacity to breed large hoof animals and carnivores.


Environmental sustainability, in many cases, can pay for itself over time. Aside from that, it’s just the right thing to do. Most major zoos and aquariums are completely dedicated to recycling just about everything from paper to cell phones. Many institutions have programs that compost much of their waste and use it on their grounds or sell it to the public. The Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit in Denver, Colorado (USA) has a Biomass Gasification System that will turn trash and animal waste into energy (90% of the zoo’s waste make enough energy to power that new exhibit).

Zoos and aquariums around the world are finding new ways to fund field conservation programs when donor funds are not enough. Some zoos use carousel ride income to fund field conservation. Several zoos in the United States add a small fee to admissions and memberships to fund field conservation programs ( “Quar-ters for Conservation”).

And finally, the funding of conser-vation research is probably best achieved through innovative part-nerships. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo partners with The Ohio State Univer-sity in funding a full-time Epidemiolo-gist position. Leipzig Zoo partners with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology on chimp research at their zoo.

As an optimist, I believe zoos and aquariums are going in the right direction in creating a diverse ap-proach to the conservation of wildlife. While much of our funding does go to operations (keeping people coming and having a good time), much goes towards Conservation. But we must constantly look for revenue sources to continue zoo and aquarium conser-vation.

Author Kurt Vonnegut once said, “We could have saved the earth, but we were just too damned cheap”! Let’s not let that happen.

This paper was a result of a panel discussion at the September 2012 annual meeting of AZA. Participants included Steve Burns, Director, Zoo Boise, Doug Piekarz, VP of Plan-ning and Conservation Programs, Akron Zoo, Kathy Wagner, Consult-ant, Dr. Pam Dennis, Epidemiologist, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Bruce Bohmke, COO, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, Washington.


Three species of amphibians were on the edge to disappear from Sweden. They have though been saved due to contribution from a group of commit-ted people from authorities, NGO’s, universities and Nordens Ark

The amphibians in Sweden have had a far more positive development compared to other threatened spe-cies in Sweden. One reason for that is probably because we have focused on a range of conservation actions as captive breeding at the same time as we have restored suitable and healthy environment for each species. So far we also have been exempt from the fungus as a major problem in Sweden. Globally is though the situation still very troublesome.

The amphibians crises has been discussed for decades but it was not until the publishing of “The Global Amphibian Assessment” 2004 as scientists in general got aware of how serious the situation for amphibians had become.

As a result of this awareness “Am-phibian Conservation Summit “was arranged to find a way to understand, stop and turn the negative trend around.

The outcome from the Summit was the action plan which still is the lead-ing star for everybody involved in conservation of amphibians – ACAP – Amphibian Conservation Action Plan”. This extremely important document emphasize the work in situ, but also ex situ, to secure an assurance popu-lation of the most critical endangered species.

The very same year the AArk was launched to coordinate the ex – situ work done mainly by zoos to create assurance populations with high bios-ecurity wherever it was possible.

In Sweden the Swedish Species Infor-mation Centre has done a “red list in-dex” to find out the development and outcome from conservation activities. They have understood that amphib-ians in Sweden have done far better than any other threatened species.

Why and how come? Amphibians are not on the top of mind for media or people in general so we had to decide to work in partnership with authori-ties and other NGO’s and solve the crises.

First of all we had to find out the reason to the declining number of several species of amphibians. How the threat has developed. And the historical reason is of course the draining of lakes and wetlands to get more agriculture and forest land. So between 1950 and 1980 decreased all major populations of amphibians.

Amphibians prefer a mosaik of small wind sheltered biotops with sun and water.

Amphibians do not like large scale productive landscape, polluted and nutritious surface water and they literally hate roads.

So we had to act as a real scientific minded Ark by measuring and restore the environment and at the same time work with captive breeding to have a secure population when the environment was restored.

Where the frogs chose to cross the road – we had to build frog tunnels for them!

Conservation of Swedish Amphibians – A Success Story?Lena M Lindén, CEO and founder of Foundation Nordens Ark, Sweden


What have we achieved through all this effort?

One extinct species is now reintro-duced and removed from the red list. Two former critical endangered spe-cies now have viable populations es-tablished and are removed from the red‑list. And finally four endangered species have stronger populations.

The species that still are on the red list are connected to modern land use and surplus nutrition.

The winners in the tough competition of attention is the Fire- bellied toad. It was extinct in 1960 – today there are about 20 000 individuals in the wild. One reason is the restoring of breed-ing ponds in the South of Sweden. They have got several new ponds so the future for the fire‑ bellied toad looks quite good

And we have the same bright horizon for Spade Foot Toad. The population is quite strong with 7000 individuals. And the reason for that achievement is all new ponds dig in an area with a lot of sand.

The real success story is the devel-opment of the European Tree Frog with the fantastic number of 40 000 individuals from being very close to be extinct.

Nordens Ark is still struggling with breeding and reintroduction of the Green Toad. We have not been so successful yet but we are working hard and have hope we will be able to build up a sustainable population in their natural environment within a few years.

And we are preparing their arrival to former breeding area by digging several new ponds.

To get some attention to the am-phibian crises you have to play on the common peoples’ ground so we arrange “European song contest for frogs” every second year. It is launched a week before the real thing in television and we got a huge media interest and I am proud to say the song of the fire‑bellied toad in the south of Sweden have won the first prize two years in a row but this year the German frogs won the first prize.

Swedish amphibians-frog tunnel.© Claes Andrén


Zoos FIGHTING extinction & Zoos FACILITATING extinctionSally R. Walker, Founder/Director, Zoo Outreach Organisation & Chair, South Asian Zoo Association for Regional Cooperation SAZARC

What do we mean by zoos facilitating extinction?

Bad zoos and their ways actually con-tribute to the extinction or at least the wastage of wildlife. They do so through

• Poor animal welfare, inadequate veterinary care, inadequate and poor nutrition leads to high death rates

• Poor to zero population manage-ment leads to unscrupulous disposi-tion of surplus

• Uncontrolled visitor behavior – plas-tic bags, inappropriate food, teasing, throwing rocks, deliberately giving toxic items (cigarettes, plastic items), etc.

• Inappropriate and dangerous animal shows stressing animals and putting public at risk

• Wrong messages generating incor-rect image of zoos generally

• Dependence on animal dealers, trappers or others including wild catch

• Wild catch leads to depletion of wildlife and disturbed habitats

• Etc.

These actions not only hurt animals. Bad zoos with all their careless, cor-rupt and cunning ways give all zoos a bad name. Bad zoos give ALL zoos a bad name.

Although nobody really knows the exact number of zoos, estimates range from 8,000-15,000 or (more reasonably) 9,000 zoos globally. There are about 1000 recognized or otherwise respectable zoos and about 9,000 other zoos. Other zoos is a term which refers to substandard zoos that are not associated with any recognized zoo association. Within the 1000 recognized zoos there are a few hundred that would not pass the good zoo test. They are included in the good zoo list because they are linked with countries that have zoo associations, and therefore listed, but are not necessarily up to good zoo standards. Because they are linked with zoo associations, however, there are chances they will improve.

If we do not act on this problem … consider what is at stake

1. The welfare of the animals suf-fering and dying in dysfunctional zoos

2. the welfare of the animals that will be caught to replace those that die in dysfunctional zoos and the

3. obvious conservation issues accompanying the scenario of dysfunctional zoos holding threat-ened species\

WAZA, their members and other organisations have tried to improve bad zoos but the rate of improve-ment is too slow, too costly, too time-consuming and too unpredict-able. Zoos, whether public, private, governmental, or non-governmental, should be regulated by government. Government itself knows little about zoo management so good zoos should provide help to governments of countries without zoo legislation and with a significant number of dys-functional zoos.


Benefits of Zoo Legislation

• Zoo legislation can bring significant benefits to large numbers of power-less animals in dysfunctional zoo.

• Zoo legislation can be written to cover all the zoos in a country including the vague Animal facili-ties, rescue centers, roadside zoos, animal shows, as well as zoos can be covered.

• Working to establish zoo legislation in a country can result in improve-ments to all the zoos of that country for the same investment of time, money and energy as one or two.

• Promoting and assisting local au-thorities with zoo legislation should be seriously considered as a project by zoos that have a presence in developing countries.

Other considerations

We are targeting countries that

• need zoo legislation but do not have it… but there are other considera-tions, e.g.,

• countries that have it but do not implement it and

• countries that have useless zoo legislation…

Countries that have successful zoo legislation, such as Great Britain, Australia, India, etc., can provide their legislation and experience as models and people to advise.

Approaching government agencies

There are many ways to approach government agencies. Many will be grateful for your interest, as they might have been facing difficult criti-cism.

Zoo personnel conducting in situ projects in countries with needy zoos would be very effective. Visiting zoo personnel can approach the relevant government agencies and get a hear-ing … build a relationship.

Zoo specialists are not viewed as a threat … they are welcomed as col-leagues unlike fanatical animal rights or animal welfare advocates. A zoo specialist can introduce the idea of zoo legislation and provide successful examples. They can plant a seed.

Working with government is not that difficult

And remember what is at stake if you don’t act…

• welfare of animals suffering and dying in dysfunctional zoos

• welfare of animals that will be caught to replace those that die

• conservation issues with dysfunc-tional zoos holding threatened species


Facts and Figures from The Granby Zoo: Increasing Revenues as a Major Player in Social EconomyJoanne Lalumière, Executive Director, Granby Zoo, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

In Prague, there were requests for facts and figures on making money. Since 2004, Granby Zoo has managed to obtain $38 M CDN in government grants to improve ani-mal exhibits and overall services. Revenues increased significantly enabling the zoo to increase the number of keepers and educators and support conservation and re-search projects. The presentation will provide tips on securing grants and increasing revenues. Position-ing the zoo as a major player in social economy was a key factor with many advantages.

What Is Social Economy?

Main Characteristics

Social economy is considered one of the three main economic sectors, the private and public sectors being the two other ones. Organizations evolv-ing in social economy distinguish themselves by being mainly mission driven with missions usually based on human, social, environmental, educational or health related activi-ties. However such activities do carry economic components and can play a significant role in the economy of a region.

Key Arguments for Government Grants at the Granby Zoo and A New Master Plan

In Granby, the zoo plays an important role in the economy of the region with an estimated $27 M in direct and indirect economic spinoffs in 2004. This was a driving factor, along with its important conservation and edu-cational mission, in generating $31 M in government grants that allowed a complete new master plan for all of the zoo site and a significant portion of a large modernization project that was a must in order to keep up the economic, conservation and educa-tional roles of the zoo with a particu-lar objective to increase the economic spinoffs.

From 2004 to 2007, the zoo invested $42.9 M CDN to complete approxi-mately 60% of the master plan of which $11.9 M CDN came from the zoo’s own funds with the support of its financial partner. From 2009 to 2012, the successes in attendance and annual surpluses triggered new gov-ernment grants totalling $7.7 M CDN. Investments at the Zoo now total more than $61 M CDN. The economic spinoffs are now estimated at more than $50 M yearly in the region and it is estimated that the fiscal returns to the governments linked to this economic activity have enabled them to earn back their investment within a scope of 4 to 5 years.


Financial Results in Facts and Figures

Financial Evolution and 2011 Financial Results

The financial evolution of the Granby Zoo’s various economic parameters provided more than conclusive information on the real impact of the modernization. Here are a few figures that speak for themselves on the evolution between 2004 (beginning of the investments) to 2011:

• 83.8% increase in revenues• 74.9% increase in expenses• 129.4% increase in surpluses before

amortization• 174.5% increase in net surpluses

Based on such results it is easy to un-derstand the importance of the Zoo’s contribution to the region’s economy!

The year 2011 was a record breaking one with overall revenues of $22 M CDN and a $4.5 M CDN actual surplus before amortization. Such results now enable the Zoo to look at the future with more optimism and con-sider a medium to long term invest-ment plan that will ensure ongoing novelties for the visitor and continu-ous growth for the organization.

Attendance in 2011

As mentioned earlier, 2011 was also a record breaking year for both season-al and overall yearly attendance. The summer / fall season, which accounts for 118 days of operations welcomed 614,875 visitors, a 6,3% increase over 2010’s 578,326 visitors and a first above the 600 000 figure. By adding the attendance of the winter season and the school programs’ attendance, the yearly attendance missed the 665,000 figure by a few visitors only,

“du jamais vu” at the Zoo.

A brand new aquarium, a powerful marketing strategy and great weath-er are considered the main success factors of such a success.

Attendance Seasons 2002 to 2011 (summer/fall)

2.7% increase in 2011 over 2010 and 50 % since 2002

Average of last 5 years = 572,000 visitors Average of last 10 years = 545,000 visitors

Per capita Revenue


Conservation Consequences in Facts and Figures

The following tables will show the importance of sound financial results on our mission related activities. The Zoo was able to hire much more staff in all of its key areas linked to animal care, enrichment, education and con-servation as well as in‑situ conserva-tion and research activities. The Zoo was able to showcase the importance of all its mission related activities to the Board members, none of which had any background linked to the Zoo’s activities, to the point where the Board saw the importance of bringing such expertise within its rank. Since April 2012, a retired ac-credited zoo expert now sits on the Board and will be responsible of a new Board committee dedicated to Research and Conservation. This was more than welcomed by all the zoo staff and is seen as a very important step towards an increasing role of the Granby Zoo in both conservation and research. The educational outreach was also greatly improved with more staff, a new Zoomobile and new programs such as the addition of summer day camps.

More Staff For The MissionTITLES 2004 2011

Keepers 21 regular7 seasonal

32 regular8 seasonal

Veterinary techniciansVeterinary interns

1 vet. technicianNone

2 vet. technicians3 every year

Life support technicians None 2 life support technicians

Animal Care Management 3 persons 9 persons

Educators 5 full-time educators 8 full-time educators

Education students 14 education students 20 education students

Conservation and Education Management 1 management position 3 management positions

Total 52 persons 84 persons

More Resources For Research And ConservationTITLES 2004 2011 VARIATION

Support for in‑situ projects and organisations $4 500 $31 000 688%

Dedicated research person None 1 person 100%

Academic partners 1 university 5 universities 500%

Nb. of research projects 4 14 350%

Greater Educational OutreachTitle 2004 2011 Variation

Summer Day Camps None 9 weeks with 2 groups per week

$80,000

Night at the Zoo None 28 nights $79,000

Adopt an Animal Program $9,000Approx. 100 parents

$21,600 Approx. 100 parents

240%Parents

give more money


Some Best Practices

Among the best practices that un-derlie such results, there were a few strategies that paid off. The initial strategies were mostly to improve the financial results. The deep feeling is that with no money, there is no mission possible! Among the main strategies, there was high retention on the site in order to increase both the attendance and visitor spending on the site. With the investments in modernizing the site, it was then pos-sible to develop high quality products and improve both services and visitor experiences.

High Retention Strategy

The high retention strategy started in 1999 with the addition of a water park: the average yearly attendance jumped from 375,000 to over 500,000 visitors, a great boost for the zoo revenues but the site was aging and significant investments were still re-quired to improve animal enclosures and night and winter quarters as well as many guest services facilities. Un-derground infrastructures also had to be completely redone after 50 years of existence.

Since 2004, over 60 million dollars have been invested to modernize the zoo. This enabled the addition of a winter season in 2007 and an aquarium in 2011 bringing the yearly attendance over 660 000 visitors.

Now, a typical day at the Zoo for our visitors goes as follows:

• From 10 am to 2 pm: visit through the zoo

• From 2 pm to 4 pm: fun at the water park

• From 4 pm to 6 pm: back to the zoo • From 6 pm to 7 pm: finishing the

day at the rides

With the current diverse offer, the one-day visit can now move on to a 2-day experience by promoting 4 ac-tivities at 1 destination. Here again, the figures talk as the sale of 2‑day passes has increased since inception in 2005 from 7,000 to 30,000 passes.

Revenue Strategies

Revenue strategies were reviewed and modernized in many aspects and in all possible areas.

• Admission and amenities Pricing strategies were reviewed. More lockers and a wider variety of strollers were offered.

• Food Services Many aspects were reviewed such as the variety and the quality of the food. Some novelties were introduced such as a souvenir cup program. A greater attention was paid to facing and theming includ-ing active menu screens. Mobile food carts brought the offer closer to the visitors.

• Retail In the retail sector, aspects such as location, presentation and mer-chandising were reviewed. Novel-ties and a greater variety of prod-ucts were introduced such as candy, balloons, jewelry, etc. Demand brought the addition of branded items as well as licensed products. Portable kiosks were added for high attendance days. Results were as-tonishing with 30% sales increases in the last 2 years.

• Pricing Strategies Among the pricing strategies, an-nual passes were introduced with discounts on rides, retail and food. Family deals became more flexible to deal with the new reality of re-constituted families. As mentioned earlier, the 2-day pass was also add-ed. The daily ticket was cut by 50% after 4 pm or it could be upgraded for 2-day ticket. Finally, combos with other attractions were used in some of the marketing strategies.

• Paid Attractions or Experiences Additional paid attractions or expe-riences were also available for those who could afford to add a little extra to their visit. In this regard, we can mention the following:

• Mechanical rides and monorail • Skill games • Video arcades or coin operated machines

• Animal rides • Feeding the rays or animals at the mini-farm

• New technology based experiences (6 XD experience)

• Cabanas at the waterpark • Corporate sales and catering

• By modernizing the site, corporate sales and catering became possible providing interesting new revenue sources. Space rental and banquet services for parties and weddings, business meetings and professional team building activities as well as special events. These new activities have generated close to 1 million dollars in 2012.

• New Products A whole series of new products were also offered to our visitors and to the public in general. All the new buildings and facilities were planned with the intention of opening the zoo in peak periods of the winter season. Three additional week-ends were added in October with invest-ments in Halloween decorations. Spending the night at the zoo in small huts is becoming an increas-ingly popular feature during the summer. And a special Valentine’s Day experience was also offered in recent years. VIP visits with a guide also prove to be quite popular. The Zoo also acquired a neighbouring Bed and Breakfast and offers special family oriented accommodations with zoo themed rooms and suites which are about sold out in July and August.


It’s All AboutExperiences

Sponsorships

The popularity of the zoo and the quality of the visitor experience has drawn increasing interest from sponsors. In 2011, a record high was reached with over $720,000 in sponsorships a 24% increase over 2010 and 342% over 2003. This is only possible with a great product, an excellent service and a good return in visibility for the sponsor’s investment.

Less Pressure on Admission Revenues

Adding new revenue sources reduces the pressure on the admission rev-enues which are highly influenced by the weather factor over which control is difficult.

Good Advertizing

Good advertising is also fundamental in capturing visitors’ attention and bringing a visit at the zoo as a top of mind experience and family out-ing. Competition to attract families’ leisure money is more and more fero-cious and it is imperative to highlight the high quality experience of a visit at the zoo.

Conclusion: The Positive Spiral

In conclusion, one must acknowledge that: “Money attracts money”! This is what we could call the positive spiral where:

• Quality experiences draw people and media attention

• More people and more media atten-tion mean more revenues

• More revenues mean more capacity to deliver our mission of conserva-tion and education

• More conservation and education impact positively reputation and notoriety

• Good reputation attracts people and… money!


Conservation Efforts for the Endangered Ozark HellbenderJeff Ettling, Curator of Herpetology & Aquatics and Director, Ron Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation, Saint Louis Zoo | Presented by Jeffrey P. Bonner, Dana Brown President & CEO, Saint Louis Zoo

Hellbenders are large aquatic sala-manders that can reach lengths of 50.8 cm. There are two subspecies of hellbender: the Eastern hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis allegan‑iensis which has a distribution from southern New York state south to Georgia and west to Missouri and the Ozark hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi which only oc-curs in the Ozark highlands of south central Missouri and adjacent north central Arkansas. Missouri is the only place in the United States where both subspecies occur. The closest relatives of the hellbender are the Chinese giant salamander, Andrias davidianus and the Japanese giant salamander, Andrias japonicus (John-son 2000).

Hellbenders live in cool, clear fast-moving streams. They are perfectly adapted for a fully aquatic existence with a dorsal ventrally flat-tened body and rudder-like tail. The conspicuous folds of skin on the sides of body and legs are used to absorb dissolved oxygen from the water. While they do have lungs, they are small and primarily used to help with buoyancy. They are nocturnal and spend the daylight hours under large rocks on the river bottom. Crayfish make up about 90% of the diet, but they will also eat fish and aquatic invertebrates (Johnson 2000).

Hellbender populations in Missouri have dropped by more than 70% over the past 40 years with a prominent shift in the age structure with re-duced or absent younger age classes and a prevalence of larger adult speci-mens (Trauth et al. 1992, Wheeler et al. 2003). While it has been hard to pinpoint a single cause of the population decline, it appears to be a combination of factors including habitat degradation, disease, de-graded water quality, over-collection, and predation by introduced fish. As a result of this decline the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) listed both the Eastern and Ozark hellbenders as critically imperiled and state endangered in 2003. In 2011 the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) listed the Ozark hellbender as federally endangered (USFWS 2011).

While the carrying capacity of Ozark streams has been estimated at 11,000 specimens, current estimates of Ozark hellbenders remaining in Missouri is only 590 individuals. The results of a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) indicate that over the next 75 years Ozark hellbenders run a high risk of extinc-tion (>96%) unless populations can be bolstered (Briggler et al. 2007). To ensure the long-term survival and recovery of the Ozark hellbender the Ozark Hellbender Working Group (OHWG), which is composed of State and Federal agencies, universities, zoos, non-governmental agencies and interested individuals, developed a comprehensive conservation strat-egy for the subspecies in Arkansas and Missouri (Briggler et al. 2010). Included in this plan is an extensive section on captive propagation, aug-mentation and reintroduction. It was determined that captive propagation and head-starting were required to ensure the long-term recovery of the Ozark hellbender.


A captive propagation and head-start program for the Ozark hellbender was initiated by the Saint Louis Zoo (STLZ) and MDC in 2002 (Briggler et al. 2011). The program was designed to provide stock for increasing wild population sizes through augmen-tation and if necessary reintroduc-tion. While recruitment is low, some egg clutches have been discovered annually in recent years. Portions of these clutches have been brought to the zoo for head-start and fu-ture release. The larger goal was to provide juveniles for release through captive reproduction, a feat that had never been achieved by any institu-tion before. To help reach the goals of the program STLZ constructed three environmentally-controlled rooms, an indoor stream (9.7 x 1.7 x 0.6 m) two outdoor streams (11.3 x 1.5 x 1.4 m and 11.7 x 1.8 x 1.4 m) and dedicated three full-time keeper staff to this conservation propagation program.

To date STLZ has breeding stock from three Missouri Ozark rivers: the North Fork of the White River (n=8; 5 males; 3 females), Eleven Point River (n=8; 5 males; 3 females), and Current River (n=8; 4 males, 4 females). The breeding season for the Ozark hell-bender in Missouri is mid-September through mid-November (Nickerson and Mays 1973). Seasonal changes in photoperiod, water temperature, and precipitation patterns are thought to trigger breeding activity. Water quality was intensively monitored to ensure animal health and sperm production. Artificial nest boxes were placed in raceways to provide cover and nesting habitat which can be easily accessed for observation and egg collection (Briggler and Ackerson 2012).

Every year since 2007 the female hellbenders at the Zoo have laid eggs, but they weren’t being fertilized by the males. On October 18, 2011 the Zoo discovered two clutches of eggs from its Eleven Point River population, which was the world’s first captive reproduction of the species. The key change which is believed to have re-sulted in successful reproduction was the addition of nest boxes and adjust-ments to the ion concentration and conductivity of the water. Between September 22 and October 1, 2012 eight female Ozark Hellbenders laid eggs in artificial nest boxes provided in their simulated stream habitats. All three populations of Ozark Hellbend-ers maintained at the Zoo produced eggs: Current River – 3 clutches; North Fork of the White River – 3 clutches and Eleven Point River – 2 clutches. Approximately 2,809 fertile eggs resulted from all eight cluthces. The significance of this second reproductive event was that all three river populations of Ozark Hellbender reproduced including the North Fork of the White River population which has been maintained indoors for the past eight years.

The STLZ has been head-starting hellbenders for release back into their native habitat since 2002. The first release of captive raised hellbenders occurred in 2008 in the North Fork of the White River. Thirty six juvenile Ozark hellbenders that had been hatched from eggs collected in 2002 and raised at the STLZ were released at two locations with varying rock composition. Over the next year to year and a half these individuals were tracked using radio telemetry to de-termine the feasibility of head-start-ing juvenile hellbenders. The results of the study demonstrated that these captive-reared hellbenders had high survivorship (75% and 48%), had established home ranges, were grow-ing and demonstrating reproductive cycling at the same time as the wild population (Bodinof 2010). The suc-cess of this first release indicates that augmenting wild populations with captive, head-started animals can be successful and that they can survive in the wild (Briggler et al. 2011).

Literature Cited• Bodinof, C. M. 2010. Translocation and

conservation of hellbenders (Cryptobran‑

chus alleganiensis) in Missouri. M. S. Thesis,

University of Missouri, Columbia.pp. 169.

• Briggler, J. T. and J. R. Ackerson. 2012.

Construction and use of artificial shelters

to supplement habitat for hellbenders

(Cryptobranchus alleganiensis). Herpetologi-

cal Review.

• Briggler, J. T., T. Crabill, K. J. Irwin, C. David-

son, J. Utrup, and A. Salveter (editors). 2010.

Hellbender Conservation Strategy: An ac-

tion plan for the recovery of the Ozark and

Eastern Hellbender in the Ozark Highlands

of Missouri and Arkansas. Ozark Hellbender

Working Group, Jefferson City, Missouri.59

pp.

• Briggler, J., J. Utrup, C. Davidson, J. Hum-

phries, J. Groves, T. Johnson, J. Ettling,

M. Wanner, K. Traylor-Holzer, D. Reed, V.

Lindgren, O. Byers (eds.) 2007. Hellbender

Population and Viability Assessment: Final

Report. IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding

Specialist Group, Apple Valley, MN.

• Briggler, J., M. Wanner, and J. Civiello. 2011.

Hellbender propagation efforts. Missouri

Department of Conservation Science Notes.

6 (5).

• Johnson, T. R. 2000. The Amphibians and

Reptiles of Missouri. Missouri Department

of Conservation. Pgs. 40-43.

• Nickerson, M. A. and C. E. Mays. 1973. The

hellbenders: North American giant salaman-

ders. Milwaukee Public Museum Publica-

tions in Biology and Geology 1: 1−106.

• Trauth, S. E., J. D. Wilhide, and P. Daniel.

1992. Status of the Ozark hellbender,

Cryptobranchus bishopi, (Urodela: Crypto-

branchidae), in the Spring River, Fulton

County, Arkansas. Proceedings of the

Arkansas Academy of Science 46: 83−86.

• [USFWS] U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

2011. Endangered and threatened wildlife

and plants; endangered status for the Ozark

Hellbender Salamander. Federal Register

76: 61956.

• Wheeler, B. A., E. Prosen, A. Mathis, and R.

F. Wilkinson. 2003. Population declines of a

long−lived salamander: a 20+ year study of

hellbenders, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis.

Biological Conservation 109: 151−156.


Managing Toucans and Flamingos at the Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná State, BrazilYara Barros, Zoological Director, Parque das Aves

Parque das Aves manages eight spe-cies of Ramphastidae, and had breed-ing success with 5 of them. Pairs are formed using a flocking management and couples are kept on separated facilities, to prevent intra‑specific ag-gression. Natural trunks are preferred, although toucans accept almost any cavity. A camera monitoring system allows a noninvasive monitoring and record of the parents’ behaviour and nestlings’ development. We have had both hand and parent reared chicks.

Toucans need lots of stimuli and ac-cept many different environmental enrichment techniques. Regarding nutrition toucans can develop iron storage disease; therefore we devel-oped a special diet that minimizes the problem.

Flamingo management at Parque das Aves is directed towards parent rearing, even when the eggs are ar-tificially incubated. The facility holds Phoenicopterus ruber (43) and Phoe‑nicopterus chilensis (10). Nests are built with sand, along a mirror wall, to create the illusion of a bigger flock.

Broken eggs are replaced by wooden ones which are incubated by the fos-ter parents until they are exchanged for abandoned eggs from the incuba-tor that are about to hatch. This man-agement allows for an increase in the number of young that can be parent raised, which is better for nutrition, natural immunization and behaviour.

Introduction

Parque das Aves is a private zoo in southeast Brazil, specializing in birds. We hold around 1.000 animals from 140 species. We manage eight species of Ramphastidae, and so far we have had breeding sucess with five of them (toco toucan, red-breasted toucan, spot-billed aracari, chestnut-eared aracari, saffron toucanet). Currently we have 96 Ramphastidae from 9 species in the park.

Husbandry

To form pairs, the best strategy is to make a flock and let the birds choose their mates; once the pairs are estab-lished, they are kept in separate facili-ties to prevent intra‑specific aggres-sion. We also have toucans in mixed species aviaries, but in this case sexes must be kept separate.

The aviary must allow the birds to fly, which is important for courtship behaviour, and have different types of vegetation to provide a variety of shelter and perching options, as toucans also use vertical perches.

We use both natural trunks and artifi-cial boxes as nests, as toucans accept almost any cavity. For aracaris, nest-ing boxes are also used as roosting sites troughout the year.

The genus Ramphastos does not use nesting material, but we observed that when we put small wood pieces inside the cavity, the pair starts to remove this material and clean the cavity, which stimulates breeding activity. This resembles the behaviour in the wild, as they do not build their own nests and use cavities previously occupied by other species.

We prefer to allow the parents to incubate and raise the chicks, but in case it is not possible, we use artifi-cial incubation and hand-rearing. A camera monitoring system inside the nests allows non-invasive monitoring and a record of the parents‘ behavior and nestlings‘ development. This tool is fundamental to evaluate the need for intervention.


Generally, in the last 10 years, we have had the following results:Species Number

of eggs that

hatched

Number and (%) of chicks survival over

a year

Toco toucan

14 3 (21%)

Red-breasted toucan

2 2 (100%)

Spot-billed aracari

4 3 (75%)

Chestnut-eared aracari

11 7 (64%)

Saffron toucanet

2 2 (100%)

A higher breeding sucess was achieved with aracaris, as around 70% of the chicks survive the first year, mostly parent raised. We also had a significant sucess with Toco toucans, with 14 young produced from 2 cou-ples. Altough we have a high number of chicks produced, their survival still represents a challenge, as many (79%) die during the first 5 weeks of development. The main causes of death are impactation, cannibalism and yolk sac infections. The impac-tation can be caused by either food or plant material, as the response of the parents to the begging calls of the offspring is offering anything available that resembles food (this behaviour may be one of the causes of cannibalism as well). Therefore, be-sides the regular diet, it is important to provide them, as often as possible, plenty of live food (moths, crickets, mealworms), specially in the first hours in the morning. We use a incan-descent lamp in the aviary during the night to attract insects that can be captured by the parents, and also as an enrichment activity.

Nutrition

Toucans are omnivorous birds, being primarily frugivorous and opportun-istic faunivores. There is little infor-mation available about the composi-tion of their diet in the wild, but our observations suggest that the protein intake might be underestimated. Tak-ing this into account, we developed a homemade diet, which includes sev-eral sources of animal protein, such as chicken meat and `Ricotta´ cheese. Since toucans are prone to develop nutritional iron storage disease, care has to be taken that iron levels in the diet do not reach high values. Provid-ing high protein and low iron levels in the same diet is a challenge. Our tou-can food has 15% of protein, 3% of fat, 76% of carbohydrates, 4% of ash in a dry matter basis, with 27ppm of iron. This protein level has proven itself to be adequate for the succesfull breed-ing of several species. The addition of canthaxantin in the food provides the birds pigments necessary to keep a colourful beak and plumage. This might be important for their breed-ing behaviour, with regards to mate selection.

Enviromental Enrichment

Toucans are smart, active and curious birds. Their acrobatic skills and ex-plorative nature makes them specially receptive to environmental enrich-ment devices, such as fruit kebabs, ice lollipops, paper boxes with food inside, fake nests with quail eggs, and corncobs.


I think we could all agree these words are all very different especially when it comes to fighting extinction. And they certainly do not function in a straight line: knowledge – motivation – action

Today I am going to spend my time on motivation, so let’s get started. I stand here today representing the hard work of the partners who make up the Pan-amanian Amphibian Rescue. But since I can not speak to what motivated them, I will tell my story of going from knowledge to motivation to action.

I have a saying on my door from the movie The Edge, it says “What one man can do, another man can do”. Can you say that? My point to that is we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. The hardest part of the equation is deciding what we want to do; whether it is sending a man to the moon or saving frogs.

While it is hard to say exactly where my interest in saving amphibians really began, it could have been at an AZA conference where the director of the National Zoo got up and made an impassioned plea on behalf of frogs, or most likely it started on a trip with my staff somewhere in the middle of Wyoming.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo had been breeding and releasing an endan-gered species of Wyoming toad for years and I decided to go see an introduction back into the wild for myself. It was there that I could not escape the question; is this all we are going to do for frogs around the world in the global amphibian crisis? I heard the call from the amphibian ark a couple of years before that if each zoo around the world would save just one species more we could make a huge impact on this crisis. I had heard the stories about the crisis and seen the papers on the crisis, but as we be-gan to look for projects to save frogs, there did not seem to be many.

We have a saying at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo; you can accomplish anything if you don’t care who gets the credit. While that might be true, I want to take a moment and give credit where credit is due. I have to thank the leadership at the Houston Zoo for being one of the only projects we could find back then. I remember being impressed with their work and I still am to this day.

I continued to hear about how many species were being lost and how many were threatened, endangered and data deficient. I had heard how this was far worse than what was happening around the world with both bird and mammal species com-bined.

So here we are in the middle of Wyo-ming when the decision to do some-thing is made. When I returned to Colorado I picked up the phone and called the director of the National Zoo. I told him that I had heard him speak and asked if we are going to do anything to save amphibians or if we are just going to sit idly by. After talking, he told me about a project in Panama where they thought we could make a difference but we would be looking at starting a project from scratch with the help of the Smith-sonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City. They had been looking at a project and trying to raise the funds. Within a few days we were their first partner to bring a commit-ment of $50,000 a year for 3 years to the table, plus some money for expeditions. Now let me put this in perspective for you; our entire field conservation program only gave away $7,000 a year up to that point. So to go from $7000 a year to $57,000 a year was a big deal.

Here was the plan in a nut shell; the deadly Chytrid fungus was sweep-ing through Mexico to Costa Rica to Panama. The theory at the time was it may stop at the Panama Canal which is where we would start our work. Houston had started their work on the west side of the canal and we would focus on the east side of the canal, where whole ecosystems of frogs were still intact. At this same time we would work with research-ers to study the fungus and see if it could be stopped using naturally occurring bacteria to fight it. In short order we had several other partners including the Houston Zoo ready to start work in Panama. Zoo New England and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo would supply the vets, Summit Zoo in Panama would supply a site for the rescue pods, The Smithsonian and National Zoo would supply project leader salaries and equipment and several of us including Africam Safari would supply operating cash. We got together and hired the in-country expert on Panama’s amphibians, Dr. Roberto Ibanez. We scoured the species prioritization list and selected about 20 target species then geared up for a big job ahead. Before I knew it we were at the Smithsonian Tropi-cal Research Institute checking out a vehicle and heading into the jungle with all our gear on horseback. After a grueling eight hour walk in the high mountain cloud forest, we arrived at the small research shelter in the middle of the jungle. While it was not luxurious, we did have a roof over our heads; well, at least some of us did, some of us had a floor over our heads. Before long we were searching for frogs both during the day and night. And we were finding frogs too, beau-tiful frogs like the Atelopus limosus. Upon catching them, the frogs were

Panama’s Noah’s ArkBob Chastain, Director, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo


bagged and notes were taken about when and where we found them. After that, we began the tests to see if any of them had the Chytrid fungus; swabbing them per the developed protocol including the sides, legs and belly. As the days went on we gathered more information includ-ing measurements as well as labeling and categorizing all the amphibians we found. The work was long and cramped but rewarding.

Panama was the place where I learned and was told in no uncer-tain terms by Edgardo Griffith, the director of the El Valle project, that Houston had started a rule that a cooler or ice chest is a seat until it has frogs in it and then under no circum-stance is it a seat after the first frog gets packed.

Remember our simple plan was to catch Chytrid before it crossed the Panama Canal? Even though we thought we had 3 to 5 years before the fungus reached this location, I had a bad feeling that we were too late. As a reminder, when Chytrid comes into an area it comes in like a storm. Here is a study that shows healthy frogs being found in a stream in western Panama and then in comes the fungus and the whole population begins to rapidly collapse.

Here is the other way to look at that. Along this stream almost no dead frogs were found in 1998-2003 and then all of the sudden dead frogs are everywhere. It turns out that we did find that Chytrid was in the area a full 2 to 5 years before we expected it; it had indeed crossed the canal. We were the only project ready and on the ground to help protect frog spe-cies in protected breeding colonies as it swept through the area. We quickly turned around and mounted another expedition and then one more. You can see from these results that the average number of frogs from trip one to trip three went from 38 per day to 6.5 per day. We were literally watching species go extinct before our eyes.

Maybe no frog can illustrate this like the one I told you about before. For sake of ease, how about we don’t call it Atelopus limosus, the scientific name, but we call her yellow toes. Yellow toes could only be found in this localized area and they were cur-rently known only in this valley. They had proven to be disappearing so fast, at one point we only had one female in captivity in the whole world; her situation was bleak. Luckily, we had a few Mr. yellow toes to take care of the male side of the equation. While we were scrambling to get these species into an ark of sorts, our little project was gaining speed. We had fully united the western and eastern Panama projects into a Panamanian amphibian powerhouse. We had raised about $50,000 per partner plus $200,000 in other funding and lever-age; all that for a $2 million National Science Foundation Grant. We had begun to breed and had success with other species while we searched from more yellow toes. The western center in El Valle had begun to have their own luck too.

We began to build a strong online presence with 50,000 visits to our web page. We also built a world-class public relations program with 84 news stories and a feature documen-tary. The first cure experiments were being done where bacteria isolated from the skin of amphibians was being used to fight the fungus. Early results were showing promise where the bacteria was fighting off the fungus, but it did not prove to be long lasting enough and eventually the frogs that stayed in a Chytrid environ-ment eventually died. We had created a strong volunteer program with over 70 international and local participants. We outfitted four recue pods using old refrigerated shipping containers from the canal to breed these and future species of frogs. One of them is now outfitted to grow our own frog food in the form of crickets, meal worms and fruit flies.

So what is next for the project? We are moving the pods to the property owned by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, building lab and education space, securing the last of the Mrs. yellow toes, gearing up for more species, continuing the cure re-search and working toward the future release programs.

You can follow the progress on an-phibianrescue.org.

I could not, in good faith, complete this program without mentioning all the work that Dr. Brian Gratwicke has done to make this project run. As a project leader and employee of the National Zoo, he has done much of the leg work needed to make this project successful. Without his help at least one species, if not more, would be on the verge of extinction today.

As I close I think about if this project is more about the frog families or my family. I had a niece named Clair with a brain tumor. I vividly remember a dream I had one night. I dreamt she came and told me she had a brain tumor. In the dream I remember be-ing in shock. I remember her saying to me, Uncle Bob its okay. They found a cure and had isolated it from one of the frogs we had saved. She said to me, you have already done the work to save me. I still remember how relieved I felt, like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. While you all know this was just a dream and they have not found the cure for brain tumors, the day will come when they do or maybe diabetes, AIDS, or heart disease. Frogs play an important part in our world both for medicine and beauty. When our kids and our grandkids turn to us when we are old, they will either thank us for the work we have done or ask us why we did not do more.


Abstract

In 2011 the Saint Louis Zoo launched the Institute for Conservation Medicine (ICM) to further the Zoo’s mission to conserve animals and their habitats. The ICM takes a holistic approach to research on wildlife, public health, and sustainable eco-systems to ensure healthy animals and healthy people. This research includes 1) studies on diseases of conservation concern; 2) health care for the sustainability of biodiversity; 3) zoo animals as sentinels of disease in urban environments; 4) disease surveillance at the interface of wild-life, domestic animals and humans; 5) comparative medicine; and 6) the exploration of the diversity of life. In this paper we describe the sig-nificance of these roles and provide concrete examples of zoos working in conservation medicine to show how this approach helps to fight the extinction of all species.

Introduction

It is estimated that since 1970 global population sizes of wildlife spe-cies have decreased by 30% (World Wildlife Fund, 2010). If one looks at decline by animal taxa, the numbers threatened with extinction are 12% of birds, 21% of mammals, 32% of amphibians, and 27% of reef-building corals (Marton‑Lèfevre, 2010). Even though the number of species en-dangered with extinction grows daily, outside the conservation community, little time, money, or energy has been directed towards the conserva-tion of biodiversity. However, within the conservation community, accred-ited zoological institutions are now

fully recognized as organizations dedicated to the conservation of ani-mal species. (In this paper, the word accredited will refer to the 218 zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since the authors are most familiar with AZA.) Unlike many of the other conserva-tion organizations, zoos are the

“species people” and are dedicated to the long-term conservation of wildlife species. For example, of the 68 spe-cies whose IUCN threat level was re-duced, 17 (25%) had captive breeding at zoological institutions play a role in the threat level reductions (Conde et al., 2011).

As accredited zoos have become increasingly appreciated for their conservation initiatives, it has also become evident that the leadership role of zoos in species’ conservation was concurrent with advancements in health care that is important for population viability (e.g., fitness and reproductive success). Previously overlooked as instrumental in the role of zoos in the conservation of species, veterinary sciences are now seen as imperative for conservation efforts and the long‑term survival of populations both in zoo collections and for free-living populations (Miller, 1992; Deem, 2007). In fact, one of the key reasons that zoos are successful conservation organizations is related to the veterinary care provided both animals in our collections, as well as field based health studies that improve conservation efforts and provide comparative health data between free-living and collection populations. Today, with the push for AZA-accredited zoos to dedicate 3% of their revenue to conserva-tion (and other organizations making similar commitments) the time is right for these zoos to include con-servation medicine initiatives in their

“toolbox” if we are to strive for the conservation of all species.

So what is conservation medicine? This approach was first coined in the 1990s and may be defined as a trans‑disciplinary field that studies the relationship between human, animal, and ecosystem health to ensure the conservation of biodiver-sity, including Homo sapiens (Koch, 1996; Deem et al., 2000; Aguirre et al., 2002). Although there are a num-ber of definitions for conservation medicine the heart of the approach is

Conservation Medicine: An Approach to Fight the Extinction of All SpeciesSharon L Deem, Saint Louis Zoo, Institute for Conservation Medicine and Eric Miller, Saint Louis Zoo, Director WildCare Institute


the realization that the health of envi-ronments, and animals and people within, are intimately related and will require multiple disciplines to better understand and manage the conser-vation and disease challenges that impact each.

The Saint Louis Zoo launched the Institute for Conservation Medicine (ICM) in 2011 to further advance our role in conservation medicine. The establishment of this new Institute at the Saint Louis Zoo was a natural progression that built on the decades of conservation medicine performed by zoo personnel both at the zoo and globally through the WildCare Institute and other zoo funded and/or led global conservation and health projects. For example, the zoo has on-going projects that include research and biomedical surveys of lemurs in Madagascar, avian health studies in the Galapagos Islands, and studies of Humboldt penguins in Punta San Juan, Peru. Since the start of the ICM, we have strengthened long held partnerships while build-ing new ones with other health and / or conservation organizations as we develop the Midwest Consortium of Conservation Medicine. The mis-sion of the ICM is to take a holistic approach to research on wildlife, public health, and sustainable eco-systems to ensure healthy animals and healthy people. In this paper we discuss the six conservation medi-cine roles identified by the ICM that accredited zoos should perform and that are essential for the conserva-tion of the wildlife species, as well as Homo sapiens which are dependent on biodiversity for survival (Fig 1).

Six roles of zoos in conservation medicine for the advancement of the conservation of all species (Fig 1)

Studies on diseases of conservation concern

Disease in wildlife species have now been documented to impact spe-cies’ survival with both population extirpations and even species extinc-tions (Harvell et al., 1999; Daszak et al., 2000; Pedersen et al., 2007; Palacios et al., 2011). Many of the infectious diseases that threaten the long-term survival of wildlife species, including fibropapillomatosis in sea turtles, chytridiomycosis in amphib-ians, canine distemper in a number of carnivores, and Ebola virus in humans and animals (as reviewed in Daszak et al. 2000; Deem et al. 2001; Kuiken et al. 2005) are studied extensively by zoological health professionals. Dis-ease-related conservation challenges are not solely linked to infectious diseases as evident from the near extinction of three Gyps spp. in India associated with the use of an anti-in-flammatory in livestock (Oaks et al., 2004). Whether infectious or non‑in-fectious, these diseases can have impacts that occur on multiple scales, affecting individuals (fitness costs), populations (population size and connection), communities (changes in species composition), and ecosystems (structure, function, and resilience) (Deem et al. 2008). The epidemiology, pathology, and clinical implications of many of these significant disease challenges are studied extensively by zoo health professionals, both in situ and ex situ (for examples see Munson et al., 1999; Rideout et al., 2012).

Health care for the sustainability of biodiversity

Accomplishments by accredited zoos that have resulted in bring-ing species back from the brink of extinction were only possible through advances in veterinary care, includ-ing preventive and therapeutic medicine to minimize infectious and non-infectious diseases. Similar to public health programs (e.g., vac-cination and proper nutrition) that were instrumental for the human population to grow beyond 7 bil-lion individuals, these veterinary health care methods are essential for species propagation. Now as wild spaces become less so and free-living wildlife are often little more than species placed in “large zoos” these veterinary advancements, many of which are first developed with zoo collection animals, are being used for the long term survival of populations in the “wild” (Deem, 2007). Lastly, a number of reintroduction programs such as those for black-footed ferrets, red wolves and freshwater mussels have resulted in species propagated at AZA accredited institutions to be placed back in the wild (www.aza.org/reintroduction-programs/). These programs were successful only when health challenges were appropriately addressed within the reintroduc-tion plans in conjunction with other important components.

Figure 1: Role of Zoos in Conservation Medicine


Zoo animals as sentinels of disease in urban environments

Often located in urban settings, zoos with diverse species collections may serve as sentinels of emerging dis-eases. The native and non-native spe-cies housed at zoological collections vary in susceptibilities to pathogens. The most recent and well-known example of zoo animals serving as sentinels was the detection of West Nile Virus at a zoo in New York State, alerting human and animal health communities to the arrival of this vector-borne pathogen to the New World (Lanciotti, 1999; Ludwig et al., 2002). The network of accredited zoological parks in America and Eu-rope now have surveillance programs for zoonotic pathogens such as avian influenza, tuberculosis, and WNV, linking zoos and effectively covering continents (Travis et al., 2002; Chosy et al., 2007). Additionally, many zoos in North America have surveil-lance programs for urban wildlife on and near zoo grounds for zoonotic pathogens such as rabies virus and Bayliascaris procyonis. Lastly, with the sophisticated record keeping capabil-ities at these institutions along with the careful pathologic evaluations of deaths of zoo animals, the ability to better understand trends in poten-tial non-infectious health concerns shared by animals and humans (e.g., cancer and toxins) are also explored at zoological institutions. The pa-thology staff at many of these zoos have close ties with human medical facilities and thus allow for the shar-ing of comparative findings between the zoo animals and human patients presenting to the hospital (see also comparative medicine section).

Disease surveillance at the interface of wildlife, domestic animals and humans

In 2001, it was estimated that be-tween all the zoos accredited by AZA and World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) there were ap-proximately 1,100 field based projects in 80 countries, with a combined effort that allows for a reach of wild populations for disease surveillance around the globe (Dick and Gusset, 2010). These zoo‑funded and zoo‑led in situ conservation projects span the globe, occurring in both biodiversity and pandemic pathogen hotpots (Deem et al., 2011). The often long term commitments to field con-servation and research from these programs allows zoo staff to perform health surveillance studies on species of conservation interest and sympa-tric species. These studies invariably also have a human health component as many of the pathogens of interest are zoonotic and may spillover from wild populations to domestic animals and / or humans which share the habitat (Bronson et al., 2008; Deem et al., 2004; Junge et al., 2011).

Comparative medicine

Comparative medicine is a long established field within both the veterinary and medical professions which is based on comparison and contrasts of the anatomy, physiol-ogy and pathophysiology of diseases between humans and other species. For example, advances in human medicine are largely due to com-parative studies using animal models. Today there is growing application of human studies that help with our understanding of diseases of animals (e.g., cancers, arthritis) and the use of sentinel animals and humans for the health of the other (Rabinowitz and Conti, 2010). The role zoos play in the field of comparative medicine has been underutilized. However, zoos and the animals for which they care are now largely included in compara-tive medicine studies concurrent with advances in veterinary services that are provided to the diverse taxa of animals during recent decades (Nat-terson‑Horowitz and Bowers, 2012).

Exploration of the diversity of life

In biodiversity conservation much emphasis is given to the long term sur-vival of vertebrate species with lesser emphasis on invertebrate conserva-tion, and even less on the conservation of micro-organisms. However, species are metagenomic in that they are composed of their own gene comple-ments and those of all their associated microbes. Each species, in fact each individual is known to have unique

“microbiomes”. For example in one study of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences from a variety of zoological animals it was demon-strated that host diet and phylogeny both influence bacterial diversity (Ley et al., 2008). Accredited zoos with their collections of diverse species and their outreach across the globe in which they lead studies on free-living wildlife populations can and must contribute to the exploration of the diversity of life at the microbial level. When we lose one vertebrate species to extinc-tion we must also realize the great loss in microbial biodiversity.

Conclusions: importance of conservation medicine practiced by zoo staff to help with the conservation of all species

In this paper we presented the six roles identified by the ICM of what ac-credited zoos can and must perform in the area of conservation medicine as they continue to serve as leaders in the conservation of wildlife species. Throughout all these roles it must also be appreciated that our ability to serve as educators of conserva-tion issues is one of the key roles of accredited zoos in today’s society. Education of our visitors must move towards one that also embraces the conservation medicine approach and informs the public of the inter-connected nature of the health of animals and humans in the context of continually changing ecosystems. In conclusion, this short article provides evidence and examples of the signifi-cant conservation medicine roles that accredited zoos have performed for decades and will continue to perform for many years to come.


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Good morning everyone! Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined I was going to be giving a presentation to this audience.

I have a degree in Technology and later I did some training in business administration and management as well. So it is really amazing being in Australia and talking about field conservation.

But the reason why I am here is not to talk about my life but to present to you our Natural Resérve.

To begin with, Temaikèn Founda-tion (TMK) has a mission and it is “To protect Nature”. It is as simple to mention as difficult to run. It is easy to communicate, just three words and every person in our organization know it, but it is quite a challenge.

To achieve our mission we are based on 6 pillars.

Our zoo that is located in Escobar, 1hour drive from Buenos Aires. We receive nearly 900.000 visitors a year. How many of you have ever been to TMK?

We also have a breeding centre as you may see in this picture with won-derful premises.

A Natural reserve that is what brings me here today.

We have educational programs. Each year we receive 120.000 children.

We also work in conservation with projects of maned wolf, tapirs, the Parana pine ecosystem and research projects like stingrays or Magellanic penguins in Patagonia. I don’t want to extend on these but if you are interested to learn more about us I will be happy to meet with you during this week.

But what brings me here today is Osununú.

Osununú is a 170 ha reserve, located in a small town called San Ignacio, in the province of Misiones, in the north of Argentina, close to the Brazilian jungle better known as Atlantic forest.

In aborigine language, Osununu means noise of rivers and the story says that the noise was made from the logs falling from the cliff that you see in this picture and that is 80me-ters high. As you may imagine these logs where cut illegally and drop into the river.

Osununú was donated in 2005 by a private donor who had just inherited the land from his uncle together with the will to reserve it. When he knew that we were working on the pres-ervation of the area he contacted us trusting us this land. After a couple of years and lots of paper work and documentation the governor of Mis-iones declared it a private reserve.

But why Osununú? Difficult to pro-nounce, don’t you think? Even for us in Spanish.

This area has a high conservation value. It is located in a particular geological region, with fossil remains which persist to this day in sandy soils and only exist in this area.

Do you know that there are 19 exclu-sive flora species which can only be found in Argentina, 4 of which are endemic of Osununu?

These among others were the reasons why Osununú was declared a WAZA Conservation Project in 2009.

I’m sure many of you know this graph where Conservation International shows the hotspots all over the world, and as you can see, Misiones is one of them.

This was a short introduction but let me share with you what we do and which are our plans for the area.

In our reserve we work in three differ-ent lines:

1. One related to research2. A second one regarding education3. And the third one called sustain-

able development

Research

Regarding research we work or plan to work in different projects:

• A Survey detected two species of bats that gather and reproduce in one of our premises.

• Amphibians are also studied in our Resérve. We have found 15 species. There are also some interesting spe-cies of reptiles including (Oxyrhopus petola) that I believe its common name is false coralsnake, a rare spe-cies for this area.

• In Osununu we have 32 types of orchids. Due to its ornamental value they are highly exposed to illegal extraction. We work in a research project of this specie (Vanilla chamissonis)

• Endemic and unique flora. As I’ve previously said, this area hosts 19 species that in Argentina you can only find here, and 4 of them that are endemic.

• The grasslands are not well kept and they shelter unique and endemic species that are not being studied. We are running alliances with the owners of these lands in order to study and preserve them.

Temaikèn’s Natural Reserve in Misiones, Argentina: Join Us!Damian Pellandini, Fundación Temaikèn, Argentina


Learning and Training

• We perform courses on biodiversity and natural areas for college stu-dents, among others.

• We are looking for volunteers, lead-ers and stakeholders committed to scientific activities in the field to participate in our projects.

• We are promoting partnerships with local and national institutions for the development of the research lines before mentioned.

Infrastructure

• Here you can see the lodge we have for researchers. It has two bedrooms with private bathrooms and kitchen, very comfortable for hosting up to 8 people.

Environmental Education

Interpretative Visits

We have tested these visits with schools of the area and the experi-ence was incredible, both for stu-dents and teachers. We are designing some signs and improving paths and viewpoints to make the visit more attractive. We hope the students experience the contact with nature as part of their academic training.

Training for Teachers

Our plan is to focus the training in Osununu to help the teachers and local leaders become multipliers of the social and environmental plans in their community.

Projects for Community School

We are working with the community, especially with kids so they become the ones who help us protect and value this place. We want to create in these kids the sense of belonging being ambassadors of the region so they respect, love and defend this area.

Last month, we had an amazing experience when kids from these communities (and from other parts of the country where we work in conservation) participated in our annual science fair. They were able to tell other children and our zoo visitors about their experi-ences and showed the project they developed in their areas. In addi-tion, and because the fair lasted for two days, these kids slept in our aquarium, having a once in a lifetime experience.

It was incredible to see the kids sense of belonging to the project. Traveling to Buenos Aires (many of them visited the city for the first time) and sharing their experienc-es deepened each child’s commit-ment to the project.

Sustainable Development

We work with local and provincial governments for the development and update of the Action Plan of the Teyu Cuare state park and the elabo-ration of an environmental plan for Osununu´s buffer zone.

Participative Workshops

We have developed workshops which aim at participation of the commu-nity in planning and implementing actions related to the conservation of Osununu and its environment: de-velopment of tourism, environmental education programs and action plan of the area’s natural zones.

Alliances with Other Partners

We have different agreements with local tourism operators with the objective of developing activities with visitors which are compatible with the conservation of the area. We also have an alliance with San Ignacio’s town council to work together in the urban planning and training.

This year we signed an agreement with Club del Rio, an institution that had tourism activities in the area but without controls. Since the signing of the agreement, they have committed to carrying out responsible tourism. They have hired a park ranger and they will pResérve the natural areas, making good use of the areas with special conservation value. In addi-tion, they have great facilities where they receive tourists, field trips for children and a meeting room that can be used as a training center.

Ecoturism

Our goal is to get people to start changing their habits. We believe they have to appreciate the area´s natural beauty instead of extracting.

By doing this we will:

• Give the community an alternative of development

• Allow the expansion of protected areas

• Stop the degradation in the natural areas surrounding the State Park

To sum up all, you have been able to see what we are working on and what we can do. But we can’t achieve it alone. Our mission states: Protecting nature together. We invite you to join our project. We believe Osununú is a unique place, because of what it rep-resents and what we can accomplish.


The Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group (MFG) was founded as an inter-national consortium of zoos working in Madagascar to strengthen conser-vation influence and results. It was formed in 1988 after an international meeting attended by representatives of the Malagasy government, zoos, CBSG, the IUCN Primate Special-ist Group and field biologists. The MFG’s conservation objectives and its authorization are established through a Protocol of Collaboration between the Malagasy Government and the MFG, which has been renewed sev-eral times.

MFG is celebrating its 25 year an-niversary in 2013. In that time it has developed from working with little zoos with confiscated animals to an integrated conservation project.

The main parts of MFG today are the Ivoloina Zoo and Rescue Station, the Betampona National Reserve No 1, its wide environmental education and training program, its sustainable farming and reforestation training and implementation projects and conservation research.

Parc Zoologique Ivoloina was official-ly reopened in 1990 as Madagascar’s second zoological park. Beside caring for confiscated animals and its cap-tive animal management program, it provides a family entertainment and tourist attraction. It has initiated a broad educational interpretive pro-gram with an environmental focused school of several hundred children, does teacher courses and it also keeps a model station for sustainable farming and does training for farm-ers far around. It also serves as the headquarter of Betampona National Reserve.

Betampona National Reserve is an isolated small reserve 30km north of Tamatave with highest floral and fau-nal biodiversity of its lowland rainfor-est, which is one of the last spots of this ecosystem in Madagascar. MFG has established a research village at the edge of the reserve and achieved an impressive inventory of this best researched conservation spot in Madagascar. Due to the conservation and research agents presence, the illegal harvesting of animal and plant species has significantly reduced.

Today’s core of MFG activities are its education programs. We believe that training is the only effective way to help Madagascar get itself back on its feet again. 9000 school children visit the park every year. It runs a broad zoo and outreach environmental education programs. This led to the development of teacher’s guide for environmental education and teacher training workshops in the whole region. This again led to “Saturday classes” – basic curriculum tutoring classes for local primary grade school children and middle and high school environmental education “camps”.

Conserving Madagascar’s Biodiversity, Building Local Capacity and Raising Environmental Awareness of Youth: The cooperative work of zoos for Madagascar – The Madagascar Fauna and Flora GroupAlex Rübel, Zoo Zürich Switzerland and Eric Miller, St. Louis Zoo, USA


Following the educational activi-ties it was realized, that habitat can only be protected by demonstrating and teaching sustainable agricul-tural practices. At the park a Sustain-able Agriculture Model Station was established where improved rice paddy techniques, the cultivation of alternative fruits and vegetables are instructed as well as the identification of plants that can be used for erosion control and of appropriate plants for commercial use.

Training courses in new farming techniques were established for farm-ers and village majors. The program supports also the governments reforestation initiative. Deforestation followed by erosion is one of the big-gest problems of Madagascar. MFG has identified native trees and envi-ronmentally friendly reforestation options and built up many nurseries and agroforestry stations in the vil-lages, especially around Betampona. Together with the villagers a huge reforestation project has started around Betampona to strengthen the reserve and help villagers to raise construction wood.

Latest Success Stories

Recently, MFG could celebrate sev-eral successes in its activity fields:

1. The Saturday school project in Tamatave and around Betampona Reserve proofed to be very effec-tive. Due to its success, UNICEF has adopted the scheme for Mada-gascar and some African countries and is applying it in 4 places in Madagascar.

2. The researchers doing the Am-phibian Inventory in Betampona found 76 taxa, of which 34 are undescribed and 24 are only found at the reserve. Some of the best Malagasy frog specialist work in the reserve. They have registered the distribution of each species, collected photos and audios, a overwhelming survey.

3. The Primate Landscape Ecology Project covered 5 species, which were overlaid on vegetation maps to analyze their feeding habits and capacity of the reserve.

4. The strong presence of the conser-vation and research agents could avoid major illegal logging in the reserve. Looking at the mafia‑like logging further north involving 4’000 woodcutters, huge money ($230 Mio.) and as side effects lemur hunting for bush meat: The situation in Betampona is quite well. As a big achievement in deal-ing illegal wood was the Gibson case in the US where the company had to pay a fine of $300’000 due to a violation of the Lacey Act importing illegal cutted wood. This was made possible by investiga-tion results provided by members of MFG.

MFG has proven to be very effective, in large part due to maintaining an in country staff an office in Tamatave. To accomplish this, MFG was structured as a membership organization with annual dues. These provide and are essential for the seed money and to carry the project over the years. Grants helped to put up projects. This help from many zoos, botanical gar-dens and universities made the MFG conservation projects some of the most effective in Madagascar. New members are always welcome.


Unraveling a Mystery!Lena M Lindén, CEO and founder of Foundation Nordens Ark, Sweden and Örjan Johansson and Emma Nygren

Nordens Ark in Sweden is a non‑profit organization that started 23 years ago with a solve goal of saving en-dangered animals. Throughout the years we have mostly focused our efforts on endangered native species and are involved in reintroducing spe-cies such as the peregrine falcon, the white-backed woodpecker and the green toad.

Snow leopards have always been one of Nordens Arks flagship species, and we have been working with the spe-cies ex-situ since 1989. Our zoologist Leif Blomqvist is the holder of both the European and the International studbooks. Since it has been such an important species in Nordens Ark his-tory we felt that it was essential for us to also try to support in-situ conser-vation of the species. We therefore began to collaborate with Snow Leopard Trust and Panthera, to sup-port their long-term ecological study of wild snow leopards in Mongolia

Even though the snow leopards always have intrigued people around the globe little is actually known about this secretive big cat. It is found in the rugged mountains of Central Asia where it is perfectly adapted to a life at high-altitude in the cold and barren climate. The species is spread across two million km2 but despite this there is only between 4000 and 7000 individuals left in the wild and the snow leopard is listed as Endan-gered on the IUCN Red List.

Despite the hard work of several researchers, the elusiveness of this cat and the rough terrain it inhabits are part of the reason why there are still large gaps in our understanding of its natural history and the threats they are facing. Even the most basic information about snow leopard ecol-ogy is poorly understood and data on habitat use, predation, dispersal, mortality, cub rearing etcetera are at a minimal.

Very little data on basic snow leopard ecology existed in 2008. A lot of the existing data was gathered with older techniques such as VHF collars and scat analysis without DNA confirma-tion of species. Unfortunately these techniques have proved inaccurate for snow leopards.

In order to protect the snow leopard the gaps in the knowledge about the species needed to be filled. By find-ing out the answer some of the key questions, like habitat use and prey preference, conservation actions are more likely to succeed.

This is the reason why the two U. S. based organizations Snow Leop-ard Trust and Panthera started the world’s first long‑term study of snow leopards. The scientific study is called Long Term Ecological Study or LTES.

The study was launched in 2008 with the aim to collect scientific data of the highest quality. Previous studies have lasted for up to five years, the intention with this study is to go in depth to understand a snow leopard population. The research is aimed at improving our understanding of snow leopards so that we can improve our conservation efforts.

In 2010 a permanent research center was constructed. Here scientists, field staff and visitors can learn field techniques and stay while conducting research in the area.

The study is located in the Southern part of Mongolia. The area is called Tost Uul and is situated in the Gobi desert.

Nordens Ark became involved in the study in 2010 by, funding the Swedish PhD student Örjan Johansson, who is in charge of the field work and we also provided the project with two GPS-collars.

To study a species that one hardly ever sees and that can’t be tracked, little snow (that means no tracks on ground) and way too steep moun-tains, it is necessary to fit it with a tracking device. GPS collars with satellite uplink of data have proven to be a great tool.

The collars gather data for two years. When the battery is almost depleted the collar drops off. This means that we can find the dropped collar due to lack of movement and change battery and use the same collar again and the animal does not need to carry a non-functioning collar.


Örjans primary task is to capture and fit snow leopards with GPS‑collars but this is not an easy task. To be able to do this Örjan has to spend months at the Mongolian base camp setting snares in areas he knows snow leop-ards to be. Capture methods have been improved since 2008. To date 43 captures have taken place, multiple trappings of same individuals but 19 unique individuals have been trapped. And only a few Snow leopards have exhibited minor cuts and abrasions, similar to what they must experience during hunts. No serious injuries have occurred.

In 2010 they employed a system that constantly monitors the traps and alerts the researchers within minutes after an animal has been caught. With the system, the leopards will only have to wait 20-60 minutes before the researchers will arrive at the trap site.

A big effort the first years have been to develop new research methods and improve the existing ones. A staff member at Nordens Ark is testing how well the remote cameras work for identifying Snow Leopards as her master thesis.

A lot of data have been gathered in these years. 18 000 GPs locations is about 20 times more than all previous studies combined. The dots are loca-tions from GPS collars from 3 differ-ent males. It is clear they spend their time in the high mountains and there are sharp borders between the home ranges. It seems as if adult males are territorial, before 2008 snow leopards were considered not to be territorial.

The researchers visit all sites where the collared Snow leopard stops for more than a day. Usually they have killed a prey at these sites. Prey spe-cies, gender and age are determined to estimate what Snow Leopards feed on and how often they kill prey.

For the first time ever, the research-ers were able to located dens with cubs in June 2012. Two collared females had delivered cubs, one of them had two cubs and the other had only one. This is the first data of birth rates for wild snow leopards.

Thanks to the amazing work that is being done in Mongolia by Örjan and Snow Leopard Trust and Panthera, they are now well on their way to un-ravel some of the mystery surround-ing this amazing cat. Nordens Ark is proud to be a part of it. By engaging in collaboration with dedicated field organizations we in zoo community can contribute to global conserva-tion and be an active force in saving endangered animals.

I will end this paper by telling you that the costs for Nordens Ark to be part of this extremely valuable research is not that much. The donation and sup-port we get as a result of the profile gained from the involvement in this project is far more than if we simply used the same amount of money on advertisement to generate more visi-tors. My humble advice is – go for real conservation, work in partnership, tell the whole world about our work and the money will be there for you!

Snow Leopard with GPS locator.© Snow Leopard Trust


Community Conservation – A Peri-Urban Case Study in Fighting ExtinctionLaura Mumaw, Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority (previously of Zoos Victoria, Australia)

Abstract

Lessons from the fight to save the Helmeted Honeyeater from extinc-tion in greater Melbourne are pre-sented. Work has involved collabora-tion between local, State and regional agencies, landowners and interested community over years and includes a zoo based captive breeding and release program. The development of an integrated conservation strategy for greater Melbourne’s environmen-tal assets as an interactive website is described. The benefits of this approach, a first in Australia, include the promotion of adaptive manage-ment and continuous improvement, better prioritisation of programs and resources, and support for partner-ships of agencies, organizations (like zoos), and communities to achieve regional environmental goals.

Causes of vertebrate species extinction in Australia are similar to those worldwide

Key factors which have caused and continue to threaten the extinction of Australian vertebrate species are; widespread land clearing and altera-tion; changes to river and groundwa-ter hydrology; pollution; overfishing; and the introduction of exotic ani-mals and plants. The legacy of poor past practices leaves us with signifi-cant ongoing challenges (State of the Environment 2011 Committee, 2011). We will continue to battle future pres-sures from human population growth, economic development and climate change. Vertebrate species whose populations have dwindled will be even more vulnerable to change.

Fighting extinction in urban/peri-urban areas

Improving and protecting Australian environmental assets is a priority of all levels of Australian government. Keys to achieving this will be inte-grated and coordinated policy, plan-ning and management decisions and better environmental information systems and access to data. It will require cooperation and collabora-tion of all levels of government with stakeholders, most importantly the community (State of the Environ-ment 2011 Committee, 2011).

Amongst the challenges to halt the loss of biodiversity in cities are the many different government jurisdic-tions involved at national, state, and local level. Here in greater Melbourne (the Port Phillip and Westernport region) there are 38 different local government municipalities.

For local Councils the development of effective action plans is hampered by lack of information on species’ pres-ence and life histories, population changes over time, causes of loss and ways to mitigate them and further compounded by inadequate moni-toring and reporting feedback loops. This is made worse by the time scales required to monitor impacts and the dearth of interim indicator measures. There are always too few resources and filling knowledge gaps is given lower priority.

Over the last twenty years there has been a growing movement of part-nerships between community-based environmental care groups, govern-ment and nongovernment organisa-tions working collaboratively on habi-tat and species conservation. There is emerging evidence that some of these initiatives are halting a decline in individual species and or seeing a return of species to an area. A case study of one of these initiatives – sav-ing the Helmeted Honeyeater from extinction – is described below.


Saving the Helmeted Ho-neyeater from extinction – a case study

The Helmeted Honeyeater was first described in 1867. After several sci-entific name changes, it was reclas-sified in 1973 as a sub‑species of the Yellow-tufted Honeyeater. It is the brightest and largest of four subspe-cies and is listed as critically endan-gered on the IUCN Red List. It is the one native Australian bird found only in Victoria.

The first Helmeted Honeyeater speci-men was collected in 1866 in the Bass River area near Western Port Bay. In the 1880s and early 1900s Helmeted Honeyeaters were recorded at Olinda Creek, Cardinia Creek and Woori Yal-lock Creek. By the 1940s its original range had shrunk dramatically as the land was transformed through drainage of swamps and clearing for agricultural production.

Today the Helmeted Honeyeater lives in dense riverside vegetation at low altitudes with relatively high and con-sistent rainfall. Though it appears this was not always the case, all existing wild populations depend on remnant patches of Mountain Swamp Gum with an abundance of loose bark, trees and the presence of surface water for much of the year. These appear to be features of high-quality breeding habitat and they prefer to nest in partially submerged trees. The scarcity of good breeding habitat is hypothesized to be what is limiting its population (Barrett, Freudenberger & Nicholls, 2005). There are currently estimated to be 100 or so Helmeted Honeyeaters in three colonies in the wild – colonies which are only 60 km (or about 40 miles) from downtown Melbourne.

Commencement of the Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Program

In 1952 the Bird Observers Club of Australia began a 10 year investiga-tion of Helmeted Honeyeaters at Yellingbo. Alarmed by its decline, interested groups, chief among them the Bird Observers Club, began urg-ing the Victorian Government in 1960 to establish a Helmeted Honeyeater sanctuary and to make the Helmeted Honeyeater a Victorian state em-blem. In 1967 Yellingbo State Fauna Reserve was established. By this time there were estimated to be only 200 Helmeted Honeyeaters in the wild. In 1971 the Helmeted Honeyeater was proclaimed a faunal emblem.

In 1983 the Ash Wednesday bushfires destroyed two of the three known colonies of Helmeted Honeyeaters, leaving the Yellingbo population the sole remaining group. In 1989, 23 years ago, the population of birds hit an all‑time low of fifty individuals, in-cluding fifteen pairs of breeding birds (Craddock, 2012). At this time the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater, the official Helmeted Honeyeater Re-covery team, and the captive breed-ing program at Healesville Sanctuary were commenced. This was a nadir for the Helmeted Honeyeater popula-tion and numbers have not sunk this low since.

Lessons:

• The involvement of birdwatchers – most amateurs – over years started a significant conservation program

• Early detection of decline is critical • A charismatic animal draws atten-

tion

Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater

A community support group has been pivotal for almost a quarter of a century. The Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater formed at a public meet-ing to bring the Helmeted Honeyeat-er back from the brink, its inaugural chair a retired primary schoolteacher who promised his friend, the ranger,

“If there’s anything I can help you with, let me know,”. Twenty three years later he is still busy monitoring birds and working with fellow volunteers.

But as Mr Anderson says – “I’m not a birdo, I’m more a plant person”. Due to his influence, early on the Friends developed a native plant nursery for locally provenanced species and began revegetation on the reserve and private land close by. Today the 300 strong group produce between 50,000 to 80,000 plants a year for plantings, employ two paid positions and contribute over 5000 hours a year in volunteer labour including com-munity education, fauna surveys and supplementary feeding of Helmeted Honeyeaters (Friends of the Helmet-ed Honeyeater, 2012).

Lessons:

• Community involvement is essential (long term, committed, persistent with relevant expertise)

• Personal friendships and networks make a difference


Zoo involvement

The involvement of a zoo has been invaluable. Since 1989 Healesville Sanctuary has successfully bred 350 Helmeted Honeyeaters and has released over 200 birds into the wild since 1995. Today, wild birds number in the order of 100.

Critics say that a lot of funding and work has gone into a program for‘ just a subspecies’, with little pro-gress in terms of number of birds in the wild. But independent reviews suggest that in all likelihood the Helmeted Honeyeater would be extinct today without the efforts of the Recovery program (Barrett et al, 2005). The wild population has more than doubled since the start of the program. In January this year, a 17 year old male bird from the first release was sighted – a record for survival. The long term objective is to achieve a stable population of at least 1000 individuals in at least 10 sepa-rate but interconnected colonies.

The zoo’s work has set the foundation for understanding how to successfully breed, rear and reintroduce cap-tive honeyeaters, including the use of cross-fostering. There is a viable captive population as an insurance policy. Release techniques have evolved from hand release to the use of portable aviaries with a removable roof, allowing the birds to leave when and as they wish. Supplementary feeding stations are provided around release sites, which are placed in the vicinity of wild birds. Released birds are being radio tracked, banded and micro-chipped.

Current captive management challenges are to increase success in getting birds to pair, improve the strength of nests to avoid egg loss and improve the skills of cap-tive-reared birds in predator avoid-ance and feeding so that they are less reliant on supplementary feeding (B. Quinn, personal communication, September 6, 2012).

Lessons:

• An insurance population is critical• Captive management and rein-

troduction techniques need to be developed

• Research is needed

Landscape management is required

Initially the Recovery program focused on small population manage-ment – genetics, captive breeding, reintroduction and translocation, re-moval of competitors and predators, and habitat restoration and expan-sion in the conservation reserve. This was not enough.

Of the 40,000 hectares of Yarra Valley countryside surrounding and includ-ing Yellingbo Reserve, only 30% of the original native habitat remains, in patches and along narrow lineal creek frontages. The natural flows of some local rivers and creeks have been altered and the quality of water has declined due to nutrient, sediment and toxicant inputs from horticultural activities such as potato farming. This also causes the swampy areas to silt up, reducing natural flood events.

Increasingly the Recovery Program began to focus on broader landscape management in and around the re-serve, nearby parks, and surrounding agricultural land. Tens of thousands of local native plants have been planted to restore habitat, fences erected to protect habitat patches and willows killed and removed. Major engineer-ing works have been undertaken in one of the creeks to control erosion, raise the level of the stream bed, and divert water across the floodplain.

The landscape focus provides benefits to a range of other native plant and animal populations using this habitat. Yellingbo Reserve itself is home to the critically endangered Lead-beater’s Possum (another Victorian emblem species) and the vulnerable Mountain Swamp Gum. Tragically the gums continue to dieback due to past changes to the hydrology of the creeks within and upstream of the Reserve. This has been exacerbated by twelve years of drought in which patches of the gums were left with no water flow for long periods of time, followed by recent excessive flood-ing which itself seems to be causing some dieback.

Lessons

• Expand and improve land in re-serves

• Create habitat corridors/biolinks • Focus on landscape management

and help other species

Yarra4Life

In 2006 Yarra4Life was formed, build-ing on previous work, to improve the quality of land, water and native habi-tat in the Yarra Valley. Coordinated by the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority, participants include the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Zoos Victoria, Friends of the Hel-meted Honeyeater, Melbourne Water, Birdlife Australia, LaTrobe University, the Macclesfield Landcare group, Parks Victoria, Trust for Nature, Yarra Ranges Shire, traditional owners the Wurrundjeri Tribe, Food for Trees (a nongovernment organisation whose members consist of food and wine industry members and who donate a percentage of their profits to planting trees) and others.

Yarra4Life is designed to be a land-scape-scale, practical response to environmental pressures by creating new partnerships, finding resources, and delivering on ground improve-ments.


One of its key objectives is the es-tablishment of three major biolinks to connect Yellingbo Reserve with Bunyip State Park to the Southeast, the Yarra Ranges National Park to the north and the Dandenong Ranges National Park to the West. The cur-rent target is to increase habitat in the proposed biolinks by 1000 hectares by 2016 (Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Manage-ment Authority (PPWCMA), in press).

Success will be dependent on ef-ficient and professional systems and people to manage the creation of the biolinks and funding from the public, private and philanthropic sectors. Most critically, it will rely on public and private landholders contributing some of their land to form part of the biolinks and taking responsibility for maintaining a site when it has been restored and protected.

One of the challenges recruiting landholders is their suspicion of gov-ernment agencies. Letters on official letterhead explaining what is on offer are often‘ chucked in the bin’. Another challenge is the increasing parcel-ling of landholdings in the area into smaller units which are purchased by town residents. These new owners have weaker connections with the local community and land manage-ment practices. In response, commu-nication about the biolinks program is increasingly being done through local nurseries, farmers’ markets, local events and community volunteers.

Lessons

• Community leaders, passionate about making a difference long term, are essential

• Connect with community in their places and ways to build relation-ships and share knowledge

Support for nature conservation in peri-urban regions – Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority

In 1994 the State of Victoria set up 10 Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) to protect and improve the land, water, plant and animal resourc-es across their respective regions in an integrated and coordinated way, and to encourage and support participation of landholders and other members of the community in that work (State of Victoria Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994, Act No. 52/1994).

The Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Author-ity (PPWCMA) is responsible for the Greater Melbourne Region. Features of this region include:

• It is home to 75% of the State’s population and its largest city

• Of its 1.3 million hectares, 50% is rural farmland whose annual gross value of agricultural production is greater than $1 billion

• 39% of local indigenous vegetation remains (including several areas of significant grasslands) and 34% of this is in parks and reserves with a further 20% on public land, with the remaining 46% on private land

• There are 38 local municipalities and over 500 volunteer landcare and community groups.

The PPWCMA has 23 staff and an annual budget of about $8M, with most coming from State and Aus-tralian government (approximately 50% each) for carrying out on ground works. The agency’s work has to be strategic and focused and carried out through partnerships. We see ourselves as strategic guide and advisor, facilitator, and sometimes coordinator of environmental care in our region.

A primary task of a CMA is the preparation, with broad input, of a 5 year regional catchment strategy which sets out the natural resources in the region, identifies objectives and targets for improving its quality, and nominates who should undertake them. The CMA is responsible for sup-porting the implementation of the approved strategy and reporting on progress. This year for the first time anywhere in Australia our CMA will be preparing its catchment strategy as a website.

The draft Regional Catchment Strategy website

Preparing the strategy as a website has many advantages. One of its greatest strengths is its ability, unlike a paper version, to be updated as required. Different types of assets can be added, filling of knowledge gaps can be communicated as dis-coveries are made, and targets and action plans can be modified. This will support adaptive management and continuous improvement in a world which is changing at an ever increas-ing pace. Most importantly, the information will be easily accessible to any organisations and the com-munity interested in environmental management.

A website is currently being devel-oped. When you click on an asset, a pop-up box displays its current condi-tion, objectives and targets for im-proving it, who is playing a lead role, and where you can find out more.

Other tabs in the website provide de-tailed information on the methodol-ogy for measuring the current condi-tion of an asset and setting targets for its future condition, the pressures it is under, and known knowledge gaps.

The website can help agencies and groups add and review data at a scale useful to them. It can assist them to prioritise their programs and resourc-es, targeting improvements which link with those of others to get better‘ bang for buck’. The community can learn what is happening and join in.


Partnerships and a regional alliance

Our aim is to connect, support and assist in the initiation of collaborative partnerships between community groups, government and nongovern-ment organisations to protect and improve the environment and our natural heritage, like the Yarra4Life program described above.

In order for this approach to work the various agencies and groups account-able for environmental health need to flesh out the strategy and take responsibility for its implementation as an alliance. What you are hearing is breaking news – we will be hav-ing a workshop this Thursday with a group of potential Alliance members to discuss the design of the alliance, how it might work, their thoughts on the website, and next steps.

Application to zoos

In closing, what does this mean for zoos? We have heard a lot about the work zoos carry out, from connecting visitors with nature to captive man-agement, reintroduction, fieldwork and leading personal behavioural change. I would like to urge you, par-ticularly those with urban zoos, to continue to work at connecting peo-ple with nature, not only in your zoos but in their own backyards.

Introduce your visitors and commu-nity to activities like birdwatching, bird and butterfly surveys and other forms of citizen science. Encourage them to share discoveries with their neighbours, restore habitat in their local parks, plant native species in their gardens and ask their councils to be environmental leaders.

Help your environmental agencies in targeted projects – there is always a need for leadership by organisations and people who understand admin-istration, project management, and science. Zoos are usually not seen as government agencies and can be good facilitators. This work will build your credibility, relationships and recognition as players working real time outside your walls.

References• Barrett, G., Freudenberger, D. and

Nicholls, A. O. (2005). A template for threatened species management: learning from the Helmeted Honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix). CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra.

• Craddock, M. (2012). The Helmeted Hon‑

eyeater in time. Unpublished manuscript.• Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater

(2012). www.helmetedhoneyeater.org.au.• Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment

Management Authority (in press). Yar-ra4Life Business Plan.

• State of the Environment 2011 Commit-tee (2011). Australia state of the environ‑

ment 2011 – in brief. Independent report to the Australian Government Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Canberra: DSEWPaC.


Special Session on Population Management and Ocean Conservation


This paper aims to share the approach taken by the Zoo and Aquarium Association – Australasia (ZAA) for enhancing and delivering our regional species management programs and improving the accuracy of reporting and feedback to our members. We acknowledge that institution deci-sion-makers are keen to determine the level of resource commitment required to participate in a species management program, and the likeli-hood of success, available opportuni-ties as well as assessment of any risks and their potential mitigation.

Consequently our species manage-ment documents have evolved beyond reporting on genetic and demographic parameters. They now also communicate evidence-based details that will inform a Director’s or CEO’s decision on the value, commit-ment required and any challenges in participating in a specific program.

Introduction

The Zoo and Aquarium Association has evolved rapidly since its forma-tion as a regional association in 1990 when 10 organisations founded the Association – all large govern-ment sector zoos. Now in 2012, the Association hosts 87 members with a significant shift toward smaller private sector businesses. In Australia the industry attracts 17.7 million visi-tors per annum.

When the Australasian Species Man-agement Program (ASMP) started, program capacity was limited in line with membership size. These con-straints prompted a rapidly evolving suite of programs for the manage-ment of exotic species. The driving factor was the need to ensure that there was effective management of the genetics of these populations.

The challenge was to apply sound principle of small population to a scenario that had many limitations. This included the need for maintain-ing many species in non-breeding situations for prolonged periods in order to avoid production of sur-plus. Currently the ASMP supports 116 professionally managed species programs.

The region has been fortunate to have a number of forward thinking people shape our regional programs, with acknowledgement going to Caroline Lees and Jonathan Wilcken for their contribution.

Both Australia and New Zealand have stringent legislation and regulations around import of wildlife. These restrictions have shaped our regional

animal collections. Primary produc-tion is a significant revenue earner and forms a major part of the regions export market. The region is also free of most major livestock and poultry diseases and as such there is a strong lobby to maintain very stringent requirements on animal movements and as such birds and pigs are not eli-gible for import and bovids are highly restricted.

During the 1990s, it was hoped that our regional collections could include various species nominated as priori-ties by IUCN/SSC Global Captive Ac-tion Plans, however stringent import requirements, particularly in regard to many of the range state countries and in several cases the limited avail-ability of specimens – even within the zoo community did not see many of these realised upon.

Most exotic species managed under ASMP programs are managed to en-sure that the species will be available for exhibition by zoos in this region, with conservation outcomes often being achieved by advocacy roles, although we do have a number of re-gional populations which are relevant and have value to global captive population; and our programs strive to consider both local and global requirements.

Zoos in this region have a signifi-cant opportunity for involvement in Recovery Programs for New Zealand native and Australian native species. Thus our regional ASMP programs tend to have one of either of the two following objectives – sustain popula-tions for conservation education in zoos or a contribution to Recovery programs.

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Future Proofing Programs – an Australasian approachZoo and Aquarium Association Australasia

Karen Fifield, Susan Hunt, Chris Hibbard, Carolyn Hogg, Amanda Embury


What Is Species Management?

Over the years we have considered the term species management. When we talk about species management, what do we mean? Are we talking about provision of animal welfare, the way in which we manage species in our collections or are we talking about principles of small populations management?

For our ASMP programs we consider that all of these factors contribute to species management, however dif-ferent stakeholders will have differing needs and focus.

A Directors Perspective

Zoos present a complex business-fo-cussed operating environment work-ing for conservation outcomes. Direc-tors seek accessible, clear material to inform decisions and brief stakehold-ers. Evidence based information is a business priority, unfortunately is some cases‘ Zoomours’ or zoo based rumours can be considered as fact and compromise the integrity of evi-dence based decision making.

The Associations recently developed executive summaries for all managed species clearly illustrate a series of strategic, operational and small pop-ulation biology trends that support sound and holistic decision making.

A summary of these executive sum-maries is published and provided to directors for the complete suite of managed programs and this further enhance business reporting on the overall investment made by members of the Association in the ASMP and its supported programs.

In many organizations this has lead to changing profile of financial stake-holders and there is an increased re-quirement for confidence in accuracy and resilience. In addition with the in-creased links to species recovery and in‑situ conservation efforts facts and accuracy are pivotal to maintaining credibility and relevance in a highly competitive market – especially in relation to external funding. These types of conversations were signifi-cant issues for many of our Associa-tions members and these conversa-tion were ultimately the catalyst for the development of the Associations

“Future Directions Project”.

Future Directions Project

In 2008 the Australasian Species management Program (ASMP), (the species management arm of ZAA) Committee formally raised concerns over the quality of delivery of its spe-cies management programs. This was the impetus for a significant change to the approach taken in delivering these programs and was titled the

“ASMP Future Directions Project”.

The process implemented by the ZAA follows a process that came from Motorola in the late 1980’s. It’s a quality management methodology commonly known as the “Six Sigma” approach. It’s based on a cycle of con-stant quality improvement, review and refinement

The small size of the Australasian region makes some of the regions animals programs at risk where the number of participants is limited and zoo spaces are at a premium. Genetic and demographic stability can be challenged from a number of events whether the impacts of our own actions, those applied externally (Government legislation) or purely stochastic.

The Associations animal management portfolio comprised of 129 managed programs which were meeting their annual reporting requirements (and therefore providing some facts on program status) at a rate of 60%.

The project required that the suite of regionally prioritised species be re defined and this resulted in a critical analysis of the existing species pro-grams. The initial approach to species selection had followed a typical and well considered TAG approach where the conservation value of the species were sought to be optimised. Whilst this was working in some cases, there were a number of species selected for management where the availability of specimens and/or supporting leg-islation was not allowing the regional collection plans to be implemented effectively and or opportunities were being lost where species subject to phase out were not being superseded at the same rate as those planned to phase in.

The Future Directions Project opted to look at the current operating envi-ronment both internal and external along with the status of the species populations at a broad population level in order to determine the likeli-hood of success.

This sorted the species into what was likely to be viable in terms of invest-ing in a more detailed critical analysis process. Out of this process a number of existing animal programs were removed from the regional species management portfolio. These were species that typically were housed in low numbers, had poor commitment to future capacity, were genetically limited, and did not have supporting legislation in regard to importation.

The door for flexibility in the man-aged suite of programs was left open, however under a new application process whereby the Associations ASMP Committee would approve all applications to formally manage spe-cies from the TAGs. This requires that a number of key criteria around sus-tainability, such as access to founders, potential for inter regional collabora-tion, commitment to facilities and ability to import are all demonstrated before such approval is given.

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Building The Facts Around Performance

There was a lot of guessing on the performance of the species programs, but only limited facts, and those facts were largely skewed to genetic analy-sis and in turn were only available where a program had a viable stud-book and that studbook was being used to generate formal reporting.

Whilst several programs were per-forming admirably – there was not the level of consistency to present the facts across the whole suite of Association supported programs in order to inform the members of the Association in a manner that was evidence driven.

The Associations ASMP Committee had raised that the performance of a number of programs was not meeting expectation and solutions to issues were not readily apparent, however at the outset of the discussion the reasons for the lack of performance were largely anecdotal. There was a perception that outside (legislative) influences were a significant issue in regard to exotic species in particular.

On the basis of anecdote we may well have put significant resources into legislative issues, however not only were the facts not available to sup-port this consideration later analysis of those facts would prove to be very revealing when working within the current legislative framework. The import of large animals into Australia is a costly exercise and any supported efforts need to be strategically useful.

The Association had undertaken a compliance report over a number of years to measure the rate at which individual members were implement-ing recommendations in regard to animal movements and breeding recommendations where formally provided and although the level of compliance was deemed to be high, this was largely based on‘ attempted’ rather than actual.

Although successful in developing a better awareness within organisa-tions it was still only measuring indi-vidual participants and not the overall program success and achievements.

Benchmarking

In order to determine the drivers behind the overall success or other-wise of the Associations programs we opted for an‘ all of business’ assess-ment model named as the ASMP Health Check Report

This saw us assess programs in rela-tion to three key areas; the program administration and training that the Association provides, the small population biology and implementa-tion success of transfer and breeding recommendations supported through the membership participation and the level of support provided by external factors such as govern-ment legislation and ability to access founders. A final aggregated score flaged points of focus in determining the appropriate deployment of As-sociation resources.

Managing The Change & Stakeholder Engagement

Our Zoo communities have a diversity of views although sometimes we are not as good at celebrating people diversity as much as biodiversity. Not everyone loves the facts! Like all organisations the Association has evolved in its membership over time.

The initial members of the Associa-tion tended to be the larger Govern-ment based organisations who had provided all of the establishment funding, drive and staff on which the Association was founded and as such services tended to suit the business model represented by the Govern-ment organisations.

As time has passed and the mem-bership has grown a majority of the‘ growth’ has been in the private sector, including small fauna parks through to large international companies with interests in some of the country’s leading tourist attractions.

As the Association has developed there has been an increased reliance on a multitude of business models in-teracting with each other in order to make the best use of limited spaces and resources. As such the question of‘ what does our typical member or customer look like and how does the Association best cater for their needs’ becomes all the more important.

This also raises the important case of any one species serving a multitude of outcomes for an equally diverse range of stakeholders. The focus of the Associations approach has been on providing advice and facilitating opportunities that support the sus-tainability of the collections that the members desire to hold.

Previously a completely centralised model for the delivery of species management was considered, how-ever the level of staffing predicted suggested that this was not cost ef-fective and was not pursued. An effec-tive model was required to resource the goal of program management supported from the membership with quality control oversight from the As-sociation, Strategy led by the ASMP Committee and technical advice and problem solving supported through the TAG process.

This saw a new resourcing model established which aimed at devel-oping clear lines of responsibility and inter relationships between the Association office, TAGs and member institutions.

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Policy & Procedure

The approach is based on an “invita-tion to participate”. As part of the stakeholder engagement process the Association sought to redevelop a series of policies and procedures that took a complex topic and promote an intent driven framework that in-formed members and invited partici-pation.

The approach is based on one of constant improvement and uses any developing‘ real life’ situations to shape changes and amendments. This has resulted in a policy and procedure framework that is short and accessible.

Government Affairs

The Association has significantly increased its interface with Federal Government and through the mutual understanding of each other needs this has reduced permit processing times as well as invitations to sit on joint committee’s relative to verte-brate pest species and import risk assessment process for new species being considered for import.

Globalization

Program globalisation should not be seen as a cure for program challenges at the regional level. We need to take the responsibility for what we can facilitate as a region before default-ing to a global position. The vari-ous analysis undertaken by several regions all point to similar sorts of challenges facing their managed pro-grams – essentially we are all on the same slope but some of us are further down the slope than others.

The Association is proud of its par-ticipation on the WAZA CPM and as a contributor to the ISB and GSMP process. Part of the work is around communicating the benefit of ISBs and GSMPs and as such the ASMP has chosen to promote the WAZA ISB and GSMP label on all relevant regional documentation.

Global management across the diversity of partners requires all of us to value the connection, promote the process and acknowledge that changes to the way we do things will need to occur in order to maximise the potential.

Facing the Facts

The health check report commenced tracking program statistics in 2008 and each year thereafter. In 2012 we conducted a review of the process to determine a measure of im-provement. In 2008 there were 129 managed programs and by 2012 113 programs. The analysis indicated that significant improvement were observed in the Administration of programs for birds, herpetofauna, NZ fauna and ungulates. The Sci-ence area had improved for birds and legislative improvements for ungulate programs. This analysis was published in Zoo Biology, Hogg et al. (2012) Zoo Biol: DOI 10.1002/zoo.21039

The current Health Check Report allows for easy assessment across a multitude of criteria and as a result of the observed trends will weight the scores in the science area more heav-ily as this is where the major trends on shortfall are showing. This was largely driven through the observed shortfalls in recommended speci-men transfers and targeted breeding recommendations. In this regard we sought to better understand some of the drivers behind such information and what might be supported by the Association to address these. One such initiative was the assessment of observed breeding seasonality across programs and the resetting of deadlines for annual reporting where transfer and breeding recommenda-tions were provided.

At a more specific level the Asso-ciation has also sought to introduce more detailed analysis of studbook data to challenge thinking into quan-tifiable and evidence based dialogue. Some of the improved functionality within the species management soft-ware packages have been instrumen-tal in supporting this.

In order to reach the institutional leaders in a manner that provides both science and business context the Association has sought to publish the entire years programs as a series of Executive Summaries. These show trend analysis and identify key achievements and challenges that allow Directors and CEO’s to quickly determine the status of a particular program, the likelihood of success and inform decision making on whether joining the program has the required level of sustainability and/or meeds business confidence needs.

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Supporting Training

The Association has identified the need to target training with two cur-rent initiatives. The first is to under-stand the rationale and background to the outputs from the software packages. It has been found that whilst species coordinators are able to extract various outputs from the software, comparatively fewer full understand the rationale to such data and are able to critically review this. The Mx values are a good example where the understanding of the Risk (Mx) scores is required to ensure expectations around success are not overly ambitious.

Another development in supporting a broadly distributed membership has been the development of self help training videos on a dedicated You Tube channel. This provides support to our members in the use of the various software packages and in turn how to extract specific outputs that are required as part of the Associa-tion’s Annual Reporting requirements for each of the managed programs. A trial run of these self help tools saw some with no or limited experience in the use of PMx for example to be able to complete annual reporting require-ments with a very minimal level of additional training support.

Resourcing Model

It’s accepted practice for zoos to have targets for admissions, budgets, ca-tering and retail. Targets are set, and performance is monitored. As appro-priate, adjustments will be made to ensure favourable outcomes. When zoos progress capital developments, there are stringent expectations around scope of the program, budget allocations and time for delivery. The program is constantly reviewed and assessed, with variations approved in responses to any changes required.

It would make good sense then for a similar philosophy to be applied to management of our species. There should be rigour in developing programs to ensure that targets are identified, and clarity of roles (includ-ing resource commitments). Perfor-mance should be monitored, and if programs are not on track to deliver targets, investigation should occur to determine contributing factors, and appropriate risk mitigation occur.

The Association has supported a model of shared responsibility for the delivery of its species manage-ment portfolio. Key changes included shifting the responsibility for pro-gram reporting performance to the institution rather than the nominated species coordinator and reposition-ing the TAGs in a more husbandry focused support role to address the identified shortfalls in program per-formance through the ASMP Health Check report.

The first step in assessing programs is gaining reports. Encouraging ASMP position holders to complete reports has been a priority, with percentage return increasing. For 2011, reports were completed and submitted for 93% of ASMP Programs.

Previously we’ve known that some programs are in dire straits – but we’ve not really understood the fac-tors contributing to lack of success. It was suggested that it might be due to inexperienced species co-ordinators, or to the fact that we were unable to recruit new founders.

We have developed some simple techniques, to assess program per-formance, and to pin-point factors that are compromising program delivery. This has resulted in an evidence-based approach to assess-ment of our programs.

In summary we are continuing to

• Promote the high level of reporting on our nominated programs

• We’re no longer guessing because we now have the facts

• With the facts we can now analyse the probable causes of program shortfalls and successes

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INF 67.5

Mission of Mermaids (film screening) and Introduction to Ocean AcidificationPresented by Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb*

Introduction

Climate change is now widely recog-nized as the most significant environ-mental challenge of our time. This does not just mean that the environ-ment or‘ nature’ is in danger. We too will suffer the consequences. We are inherently inseparable from the en-vironment around us and are reliant upon the services it provides, from the air we breathe and the climates we inhabit, to the fertilized crops we consume. We are exquisitely adapted to the Earth as we know it. Unfortu-nately, our activities are now altering the balance of gases in the atmos-phere – the very gases that help regu-late the temperature and climate. Our ever-growing greenhouse gas emis-sions, predominantly carbon dioxide, are trapping more heat in the atmos-phere, causing the temperature of the Earth’s surface to rise. The result? Melting ice caps, sea level rise, hotter average temperatures, shifting wild-life populations, changing disease patterns, and more severe droughts and storms. The disrupted climate system will dramatically change the way people live on this planet. We can expect to see more heat-related sickness and death, and food supplies and food prices disrupted by more severe droughts. There will likely be widespread hunger in some countries and perhaps even famine. Rising sea levels will flood huge swaths of coast-line. Within the coming centuries some of the world’s largest and most important cities – including New York City, Bangkok and London – will be at risk of flooding and even total immer-sion. Entire countries such as Bang-

ladesh and most small island nations will lose significant land area forcing millions of climate refugees to flee the rising seas.

Along with a disrupted climate system, our emissions of carbon dioxide are having a severe, but more insidious, impact on the oceans. The oceans absorb roughly 30 percent of global carbon emissions and 80 percent of the heat generated by increased levels of greenhouse gases, thereby mitigating some of the climate change that would otherwise occur.1,2 However, this relief comes at a great cost. Not only are the oceans warming and rising, but they are also becoming more acidic.

The increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the oceans results in reac-tions that are changing the chemistry of the oceans, through a process known as ocean acidification. This threatens marine organisms like hard corals, clams and crabs that create calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. The acid created by excess carbon dioxide in the oceans takes the materials these organisms would otherwise use to create shells and skeletons, and makes it unavailable. This makes it increasingly difficult for corals and other marine animals to strengthen existing structures and build new ones. If ocean acidification continues, the very water that these organisms live in could become so corrosive that it would dissolve their shells and skeletons directly.

While the chemical processes mak-ing the oceans more acidic are well understood and accepted, we are just beginning to understand the wide‑ranging effects acidification is likely to have on marine wildlife. Increased acidity may not directly kill non-calcifying organisms, but many are likely to be harmed in ways that reduce their overall fitness

and ability to survive. These impacts could include decreased growth rate, reduced reproduction, disrupted res-piratory and nervous system function and increased susceptibility to preda-tors and disease, all of which could produce ripple effects through food webs and ecosystems. Ultimately, ocean acidification could transform the oceans, leaving them far less diverse and productive and making the lives and livelihoods of those who depend on them far more uncertain.

According to Stanford University oceanographer Ken Caldeira and his colleagues:

“[The] chemical effects of CO2 on the marine environment may be as great a cause for concern as the radiative effects of CO2 on Earth’s climate.” 3

* first published by Oceana 2009 as Acid Test: Can We Save Our Oceans From Co2?

By Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb & Jacqueline Savitz


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Reaching the Limits

Current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are already above safe levels. As a result, significant changes are already taking place throughout the oceans, from decreas-ing growth rates of corals on the Great Barrier Reef to massive coral bleach-ing events across the tropics. Coral reefs provide important habitat to a quarter of all marine species and are critical to the lives and livelihoods of many humans. Allowing coral reefs to disappear would result in intolerable changes throughout the oceans and to the lives of hundreds of millions of humans. What happens to coral reefs will foreshadow other catastrophic changes that are likely to take place around the world due to ocean acidifi-cation and climate change.

To prevent the loss of coral reefs, and ultimately avert a climate crisis, we must reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels below 350 parts per million (ppm).4 Unfortunately, car-bon dioxide in the atmosphere has already reached 385 part per million and is still climbing.5 This current level is also much higher than it has been at any time over the course of human civilization.6

In today’s society carbon dioxide emis-sions are directly tied to our continu-ally growing need for energy. Recent figures released by the U. S. Energy and Information Administration (EIA) suggest that staying on the current business‑as‑usual (BAU) path, where

current laws and policies remain unchanged, will result in world energy consumption in 2030 that is 50 percent above 2005 levels.7 This would result in an atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration of over 570 ppm.8

If we continue along our current emissions path reefs will continue to degrade and could be pushed passed a tipping point, which is likely to oc-cur at an atmospheric carbon dioxide level of around 450 ppm. At this point, reefs as we know them would be threatened with extinction. Once we surpass this tipping point coral reefs will shrink rapidly,9 and at least half of coral-associated wildlife will become rare or extinct. Shortly after that, coral reef ecosystems will likely be reduced to crumbling frameworks with few calcareous corals remain-ing.10 Since coral reefs take decades or even centuries to form, once such damage is done, the impacts will be irreversible for generations.

To save coral reefs from ocean acidifi-cation, we must stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide at or below a concen-tration of 350 ppm. By doing so, we will also prevent other climate-relat-ed catastrophes. Current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels already exceed this amount, and with a projected increase over the coming decades it is vital to get on the right trajec-tory within the next few years and to make sure that carbon emissions peak and begin to decline within a decade.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change (IPCC) concluded that in order to stabilize carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 350 ppm, global carbon dioxide emissions would need to be cut 85 percent below 2000 lev-els by 2050,11 and in order to achieve this Annex I countries (industrial-ized countries and countries with economies in transition, such as the Russian Federation) would need to reduce their carbon emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 to 95 percent by 2050. Because these are not easy goals to achieve, countries and the interna-tional community must take action now to meet them. Our ability to set and meet short-term goals over the coming years will determine how suc-cessful we will be at safely stabilizing the climate. The longer we wait to act the more difficult averting catastro-phe becomes.

Findings

This report highlights the following recent findings demonstrating that ocean acidification is already oc-curring and threatening the oceans. It also identifies the likely conse-quences of continued carbon dioxide emissions for oceans and marine ecosystems.

• Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than it has been for 800,000 years and probably for much longer.12

• The acidity of the ocean surface has increased 30 percent since before the Industrial Revolution.13 If current trends continue, it could rise by another 100 percent by the end of this century14, exceeding the levels of the past 20 million years.15

• The increased amount of carbon dioxide the oceans are absorbing alters the movement of nutrients and chemicals in the oceans and has wide ranging effects on ecosystems and marine life.16

• The higher acidity will also affect growth, reproduction, disease resistance and other biological and physiological processes in many species.21


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• Many species will be unable to adapt to the rapid changes in ocean acidity and carbonate concentra-tions, especially those that build cal-cium carbonate shells and skeletons. This may lead to population crashes in many species, including oysters, mussels, crabs and lobsters.17,18,19, 20

• Impacts on carbonate-dependent species like corals and pteropods could cause major ripple effects throughout ecosystems and food webs ultimately affecting even the largest animals in the oceans, as well as many commercial fisheries.22

• Nearly 30 percent of the world’s tropical corals have vanished since 1980, mainly due to warming events. At the current rate of emis-sion growth, tropical corals could be gone by the middle to the end of this century.23,24

• If current emission trends continue, cold-water corals will be severely stressed by 2040, and two-thirds of them could be in a corrosive envi-ronment by the century’s end.25

• The disappearance of coral reefs would cost society billions of dollars annually due to losses in fishing, tourism and coastal protection services.26

• Over 100 million people depend on coral reefs economically,27 and subsistence communities may experience health consequences and lack of food security due to the loss of protein associated with coral reefs.28

• Many commercial fisheries depend on reefs which provide food and shelter for fish.29,30 The loss of reefs may further destabilize already depressed commercial fish popula-tions.

• To protect coral reefs and the eco-systems that depend on them, we must stabilize carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at or below 350 ppm. To achieve this, global emissions must be reduced to 85 percent below 2000 levels by 2050, which will require industrialized nations to reduce their emissions 25 to 40 per-cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 to 95 percent by 2050.31,32,33

Solutions

A variety of solutions will be needed to reduce levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 ppm. These include: (1) a shift away from our car-bon-based energy economy, which can been done by building an infra-structure for energy alternatives such as solar, wind and hydrogen, and scal-ing back the use of coal unless carbon capture is effectively employed; (2) increasing energy efficiency in cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships, as well as in homes, office buildings, power generation and the industrial sector; and (3) reducing deforesta-tion while also planting more forest land to help “draw down” carbon dioxide levels. If we want to save our coral reefs and shellfish fisheries, the ecosystems that depend on them and the values that we derive from them, we need to start now. With a 25-to-40 percent reduction needed by the industrialized countries of the world by 2020, there is no time to waste.

Recommendations

Adopt a Policy of Stabilizing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide at 350 ppm

Governments must commit to stabi-lizing the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 350 ppm or below. To achieve this, serious strides need to be taken within the next five years to set society on a path to zero net carbon emissions within the coming decades.

Promote Energy Efficiency and Low Carbon Fuels

Energy should be conserved at every opportunity, including through improved fuel efficiency of cars, trucks, airplanes and ships, provi-sion of cleaner fuels, investment in efficient mass transit, and individual, institutional and corporate actions to reduce energy use.

Shift to Alternative Energy Sources

New or expanded coal‑fired power plants and other expanded uses of coal should be prohibited until global warming pollution can be trapped and safely stored. In their place, governments and the private sec-tor should implement programs to stimulate the development and use of renewable energy options such as wind and solar, and invest in upgrad-ing the national power transmission grid so that energy produced from alternative sources can be cost-ef-fectively moved to markets. Govern-ments should immediately eliminate any and all subsidies that encourage the use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels currently in the ground in sensitive ecosystems such as the Arctic and offshore should stay in the ground.

Regulate Carbon Releases

Governments should immediately begin regulating carbon releases using a system that internalizes emis-sions costs and prevents continued releases that harm the oceans. Under-regulated sources of carbon dioxide emissions, such as those from shipping and aircraft should be included in a post-Kyoto Agreement and regulated by the appropriate international bodies, such as the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Preserve Natural Resilience

The natural resilience of marine ecosystem should be maintained by curtailing other human caused threats, such as overfishing and pollu-tion. Ocean acidification and climate change are not isolated threats, but act in concert with other impacts on ecosystems and species. Ocean ecosystems will have the best chance of surviving the pressures of ocean acidification if they are not simultane-ously struggling to survive in the face of other threats.


References

1. Sabine, C. L. et al. (2004) The Oce-anic Sink for Anthropogenic CO2, Science 305: 367–371

2. IPCC (2007) Summary for Policy-makers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Con‑tribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

3. Caldeira, Ken and Michael E. Wick-ett (2005) Ocean Model Predic-tions of Chemistry Changes from Carbon Dioxide Emissions to the Atmosphere and Ocean, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110

4. Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove et al. (2007) Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification, Science, 318: 1737–1742

5. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Global Climate Change, NASA’s Eyes on the Earth, http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov/

6. Luthi, Dieter et al. (2005) Highres-olution in carbon dioxide concen-tration record 650,000–800,000 years before present, Nature, 453: 379–382

7. Energy Information Administra-tion (EIA) (2008) International Energy Outlook 2008, Highlights, www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/high-lights.html

8. Energy Information Administra-tion (EIA) (2008) International Energy Outlook 2008, Highlights, www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/high-lights.html


10. 10 Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove et al. (2007) Coral Reefs Under Rapid Cli-mate Change and Ocean Acidifica-tion, Science, 318: 1737–1742

11. IPCC (2007) Summary for Poli-cymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

12. Luthi, Dieter et al.. (2005) Highres-olution in carbon dioxide concen-tration record 650,000–800,000 years before present, Nature, 453: 379–382

13. Orr, James C. et al. (2005) Anthro-pogenic Ocean Acidification Over the Twenty‑first Century and its Impact on Calcifying Organisms, Nature, 437: 681–686

14. Caldeira, K. and Wickett, M. E. (2005) Ocean model predictions of chemistry changes from carbon di-oxide emissions to the atmosphere and ocean, Journal of Geophysical Research, 10: C09S04

15. Turley, C. M., J. M. Roberts and J. M. Guinotte (2007) Corals in deepwater: Will the unseen hand of ocean acidification destroy cold-water ecosystems? Coral Reefs, 26: 445–448

16. Fabry, Victoria J. et al. (2008) Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Fauna and Ecosystem Processes, ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 414–432

17. Hoegh‑Guldberg, Ove (2005) Low Coral Cover in a High-CO2 World, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110: C09S06

18. Fabry, Victoria J. et al.. (2008) Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Fauna and Ecosystem Processes, ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 414–432

19. Feely, Richard, et al. (2004) Impacts of Anthropogenic CO2 on the CaCO3 System in the Oceans. Science, 305: 362–366

20. Gazeau, Frederic et al. (2007) Im-pact of Elevated CO2 on Shellfish Calcification, Geophysical Re-search Letters, 34

21. For example: Bibby, R. et al. (2008) Effects of Ocean Acidification on the Immune Response of the Blue Mussel Mytilus edulis, Aquatic Biology, 2: 67–74, Portner, Hans O., Martina Langenbuch and Anke Reipschlager (2004) Biological Impact of Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentrations: Lessons from animal physiology and Earth History, Journal of Oceanography, 60: 705–718, Kurihara, Haruko, Shinji Shimode and Yoshihisa Shirayama (2004) Sub‑Lethal Ef-fects of Elevated Concentration of CO2 on Planktonic Copepods and Sea Urchins, Journal of Oceanog-raphy, 60: 743–750, Castro, K. et al. (2006) The Conceptual Approach to Lobster Shell Disease Revisited, Journal of Crustacean Biology, 26(4): 646‑660

22. Fabry, Victoria J. et al. (2008) Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Fauna and Ecosystem Processes, ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 414–432

23. Caldeira, Ken. (2007) What Corals are Dying to Tell Us: About CO2 and Ocean Acidification, Roger Revelle Commemorative Lecture, Oceanography, 20 (2): 188–195


25. Guinotte, J. M. et al. (2006) Will human-induced changes in seawa-ter chemistry alter the distribution of deep-sea corals? Frontiers Ecol. Env. 4: 141–146



28. FAO (Food and Agriculture Or-ganisation) (2004) The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004, FAO, Rome

29. Ishimatsu, Atsushi et al. (2004) Ef-fects of CO2 on Marine Fish: Larvae and Adults, Journal of Oceanogra-phy, 60: 731–741

30. Roberts, S. and Hirshfield, M. (2004) Deep Sea Corals: Out of Sight, But no Longer out of Mind, Front. Ecol. Environ., 3: 123–130

31. IPCC (2007) Summary for Poli-cymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

32. Hansen, J. et al. (2008) Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?


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List of Participants


First Name Surname Organisation City Country email

Amitabh Agnihotri National Zoological Park New Delhi

Delhi India [email protected]

Muna Al Dhaheri Al Ain Wildlife Park Resort Al Ain United Arab Emirates

[email protected]

Ghanim Al Hajeri Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort Al Ain United Arab Emirates

[email protected]

Ahmed Al Jneibi Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort Al Ain United Arab Emirates

[email protected]

Henrik Lehmann

Andersen Odense Zoo Odense Denmark [email protected]

Trine Gisselmann

Andersen Odense Zoo Odense Denmark [email protected]

Brad Andrews Sea World Orlando Orlando USA [email protected]

Kazutoshi Arai Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Tokyo Japan [email protected]

Etty Ararat Haifa Educational Zoo Haifa Israel [email protected]

Jeffrey Archer Oceanis Australia Group Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Visit Arsaithamkul Zoological Park Organisation Bangkok Thailand [email protected]

Zdenka Ban Fischinger Zoo Ljubljana Ljubljana Slovenia [email protected]

Yehuda Bar Zoological Centre Tel-Aviv Ramat-Gan

Ramat-Gan Israel [email protected]

Rick Barongi Houston Zoo Houston USA [email protected]

Yara Barros Parque das Aves Foz do Iguacu Brazil [email protected]

Katrin Baumgartner Zoo Nuremberg Nuremberg Germany [email protected]

Kevin Bell Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago USA [email protected]

Elaine Bensted Adelaide Zoo Adelaide Australia [email protected]

April Bergsma Melbourne Aquarium Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Bonal Bishan Singh Central Zoo Authority India Delhi India [email protected]

Suzanne Boardman Twycross Zoo Atherstone UK [email protected]

Miroslav Bobek Zoo Praha (Prague zoo) Praha Czech Republic [email protected]

Jeffrey Bonner St Louis Zoo St Louis USA [email protected]

Michael Boos Seaworld USA Orlando USA [email protected]

Paul Boyle Association of Zoos & Aquariums

Silver Spring USA [email protected]

Chuck Brady Memphis Zoo Memphis USA [email protected]

John Brattmyhr Skansen Foundation Stockholm Sweden [email protected]

Onnie Byers CBSG Apple Valley USA [email protected]

Bryan Carroll Bristol Zoo Gardens Bristol UK [email protected]

Bob Chastain Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Colorado Springs USA [email protected]

Jason Chin Taipei Zoo Taipei Taiwan [email protected]

Susan Chin Wildlife Conservation Society New York USA [email protected]

Giles Clarke Australia Zoo Sunshine Coast Australia [email protected]

Ann Clarke The Frozen Ark Nottingham UK [email protected]

Todd Coates Dreamworld Gold Coast Australia [email protected]

Petr Colas Zoo Ostrava Ostrava Czech Republic [email protected]

Anna Croukamp Parque das Aves Foz do Iguacu Brazil [email protected]

Meyer Etienne

de Kock Al Bustan Zoological Centre Sharjah United Arab Emirates

[email protected]

Anura De Silva’s National Zoological Gardens Dehiwala Sri Lanka [email protected]

Gerald Dick World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Gland Switzerland [email protected]

Lesley Dickie EAZA Amsterdam Netherlands [email protected]

Wolfgang Dressen Zoo Krefeld Krefeld Germany [email protected]

Lee Ehmke Minnesota Zoological Garden Apple Valley USA [email protected]

David Field Zoological Society of London London UK [email protected]

Karen Fifield Wellington Zoo Wellington New Zealand [email protected]

Jonathan Fisher Currumban Wildlife Sanctuary Gold Coast Australia jfisher@cws,org.au

Jim Fleshman Cameron Park Zoo Waco USA [email protected]

Kirstie Fraser Chester Zoo Chester UK [email protected]

Phil Frost Baton Rouge Zoo Baton Rouge USA [email protected]

Yutaka Fukuda Ueno Zoological Gardens Tokoyo Japan [email protected]

Monica Gamp World Association of Zoos and Aquarium




Suzanne Gendron Ocean Park Hong Kong China [email protected]

Nancy Gibson Lao Zoo Bangkok Thailand [email protected]

Louise Gordon Johannesburg Zoo Johannesburg South Africa louise@@jhbzoo.org.za

Jenny Gray Zoos Victoria Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Lewis Greene Columbus Zoo & Aquarium Powell USA [email protected]

Ian Gunn The Frozen Ark Tarwin Lower Australia [email protected]

Markus Gusset World Association of Zoos and Aquariums


Robin Hale Toronto Zoo Toronto Canada [email protected]

Natalie Hansby Auckland Zoo Auckland New Zealand [email protected]

Becca Hanson Studio Hanson Roberts Bainbridge Island USA [email protected]

Julia Hanuliakova Foz Tropicana Parque das Aves Washington USA [email protected]

Bernard Harrison Bernard Harrison & Friends Singapore Singapore [email protected]

Hisashi Hashikawa Nagoya Higashiyama Zoo Nagoya Japan [email protected]

Gisela Hegel Zoologischer Garten Karlstuhe Karlstuhe Germany [email protected]

Chris Hibbard Zoo & Aquarium Association Sydney Australia [email protected]

Robert Hilsenroth American Association of Zoo Veterinarians

Yulee USA [email protected]

Heribert Hofer Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife

Berlin Germany [email protected]

Mats Hoggren Kolmårdens Djurpark Kolmården Sweden [email protected]

Glen Holland Zoos Victoria Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Susan Hunt Perth Zoo Perth Australia [email protected]

Bunyat Insuwan Zoological Park Organisation Nakhon Ratchaisima Thailand [email protected]

Mervyn Jacobson Ibream Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Patrick Janikowski PJA Architects ad Landscapes Seattle USA patj@pjarchitects

David Jones North Carolina Zoo Ashebord USA [email protected]

Jörg Junhold Leipzig Zoo Leipzig Germany [email protected]

Thomas Kauffels Opel Zoo Kronberg Im Taunus Germany thomas.kauffels@opel‑zoo.de

Dennis Kelly Smithsonian National Zoo Washington USA [email protected]

Cameron Kerr Taronga Conservation Society Australia

Clovelly Australia [email protected]

Somvang Kiasrithana-korn

Lao Zoo Bangkok Thailand [email protected]

Eddie Kiasrithana-korn

Lao Zoo Bangkok Thailand [email protected]

Bo Kjellson Boras Zoo Boras Sweden [email protected]

Wichit Kongkham Zoological Park Organisation Nakhon Ratchaisima Thailand [email protected]

Pavel Krasemsly Podkrušnohorský zoopark Chomutov

Prague Czech Republic [email protected]

Andrzej Kruszewicz Warsaw Zoo Warsaw Poland [email protected]

Eliska Kubikova Zoologická zahrada Jihlava Jihlava Czech Republic [email protected]

Willie Labuschagne Mgmt. Nat. Cons. President’s Affairs

Al Ain United Arab Emirates

[email protected]

Joanne Lalumiere Zoo de Granby Granby Canada [email protected]

Meng Tat Lee Wildlife Reserves Singapore Singapore Singapore [email protected]

Susanne Leitinger Loro Parque Tenerife Spain [email protected]

Dominik Lermen The Frozen Ark Saarbruecken Germany [email protected]

Sally Lewis Zoos Victoria Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Lena M Linden Nordens Ark Bohuslän Sweden [email protected]

Daisy Ling Wildlife Reserves Singapore Singapore Singapore [email protected]

Rachel Lowry Zoos Victoria Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Helmut Mägdefrau Nuremberg Zoo Nuremberg Germany [email protected]

Dan Maloney Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens Jacksonville USA [email protected]

Jansen Manansang Taman Safari Indonesia West Java Indonesia [email protected]

David Manansang Taman Safari Indonesia West Java Indonesia [email protected]

Niekisch Manfred Zoo Frankfurt Frankfurt Germany [email protected]

Judy Mann uShaka Sea World Durban South Africa [email protected]

Gumay Marsawitri Ragunan Zoological Parks Jakarta Indonesia [email protected]

Keith McClintock Portico Group Seattle USA [email protected]



Tom Mehrmann Ocean Park Corporation Hong Kong China [email protected]

R. Eric Miller Saint Louis Zoo St Louis USA [email protected]

David Morgan Global Zooethics and Welfare Initiative

Atherstone UK [email protected]

Laura Mumaw Honorary Life Member Melbourne Australia [email protected]

James Musinguzi Uganda Wildlife and Education Centre

Entebbe Uganda [email protected]

Binod Narasimhan Al Ain Wildlife Park Resort Al Ain United Arab Emirates

[email protected]

Louis Ng ACRES Singapore Singapore [email protected]

Leroux Nicolas Zoo d’Amnéville Amnéville France [email protected]

Frank Oberwemmer Leipzig Zoo Leipzig Germany [email protected]

Jackie Ogden Walt Disney Parks & Resort Burena Vista USA [email protected]

Olivier Pagan Zoo Basel Basel Switzerland [email protected]

Theo Pagel Kölner Zoo Köln Germany [email protected]

Katie Pahlow Zoos Victoria Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Dennis Pate Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium

Omaha USA [email protected]

Paul Pearce-Kelly Zoological Society of London London UK [email protected]

Damian Pellandini Fundacion Temaiken Buenos Aires Argentina [email protected]

Mark Penning Walt Disney Parks & Resort Burena Vista USA [email protected]

Tanya Peterson San Francisco Zoological Society

San Francisco USA [email protected]

Mark Pilgrim Chester Zoo Chester UK [email protected]

Rochelle Plasse Disney’s Animal Kingdom Burena Vista USA [email protected]

Vladimir Pokorny Zoological Garden Ohrad Ohrada Czech Republic [email protected]

Iveta Rabasova Podkrušnohorský zoopark Chomutov

Prague Czech Republic [email protected]

Radoslaw Ratajszczak Wroclaw Zoo Wroblewskiego Poland [email protected]

Mark Reed Sedgwick County Zoo Wichita USA [email protected]

Alex Ruebel Zoo Zürich Zürich Switzerland [email protected]

Trent Russell National Zoo Canberra Australia [email protected]

Suriya Saengpong Zoological Park Organisation Bangkok Thailand [email protected]

Jukka Salo Helsinki Zoo Helsinki Finland [email protected]

Christian Schmidt Honorary Life Member Küsnacht Switzerland [email protected]

Kim Smith Oregon Zoo Portland USA [email protected]

Roger Stonecipner I.S.I.S Eagan USA [email protected]

Masayuki Takahashi Osaka Municipal Tennoji Zoological Gardens

Osaka Japan [email protected]

Kevin Tanner Zoos Victoria Melbourne Australia [email protected]

Steve Taylor Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Cleveland USA [email protected]

Craig Thorburn Sealife Auckland New Zealand [email protected]

Kanako Tomisawa Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums


Simon Tonge Paignton Zoo Paignton UK [email protected]

Ace Torre Torre Design Consortium Ltd New Orleans USA [email protected]

Bambang Triana Ragunan Zological Parks Jakarta Indonesia [email protected]

Eric Tsao Taipei Zoo Taipei Taiwan [email protected]

Stephen van der Spuy African Association of Zoo and Aquaria

Pretoria South Africa [email protected]

Kristin Vehrs Association of Zoos & Aquariums

Silver Spring USA [email protected]

Simone Christiane

Viethen Al Ain Wildlife Park Resort Al Ain United Arab Emirates

[email protected]

Thanarat Wadeesirisak Zoological Park Organisation Bangkok Thailand [email protected]

Jonas Wahlstrom Skansen-Akvariet AB Stockholm Sweden [email protected]



Ana Wahlstrom Skansen-Akvariet AB Stockholm Sweden [email protected]

Sally Raulston

Walker Zoo Outreach / SAZARC Goldsboro/Coimbatore USA/India [email protected]

Ursula Walters Sydney Australia [email protected]

Christopher Warner Aquatic Environment Systems Brisbane Australia [email protected]

Jason Watters Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo

Chicago USA [email protected]

Sandra Wedel G.K. Airfreight Service Munich Germany [email protected]

Elizabeth Whealy Great Plains Zoo Sioux Falls USA [email protected]

Wisid Wichasilpa Zoological Park Organisation Bangkok Thailand [email protected]

Bob Wiese Zoological Society of San Diego San Diego USA [email protected]

Jonathan Wilcken Auckland Zoo Auckland New Zealand [email protected]

Randy Wisthoff Kansas City Zoo Kansas City USA [email protected]

Stephen Wylie Honorary Life Member Edmond USA [email protected]

Shigeyuki Yamamoto Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums


Zhanat Yestayev Almaty Zoo Almaty Kazakhstan [email protected]

William Zeigler Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfield Zoo

Chicago USA [email protected]



October 2012 | Melbourne III© ZOOS Victoria

Melbourne conference participants.

www.waza.org

ISSN: 2073-6576

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