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Fighting
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Editor:
Gerald Dick,
WAZA Executive Office
IUCN Conservation Centre
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© Gerald Dick, WAZA
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ISSN: 2073-6576
October 2012 | Melbourne
1
Fighting
Extinction
Proceedings of the 67th Annual Conference
7–11 October 2012
W
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Hosted by ZoosVictoria
2
Proceedings of 67th Annual Conference
Editorial
Dear WAZA Members and Friends!
I would like to start with a big thank
you to our host, Zoos Victoria! Additionally, I wish to congratulate at
the occasion of their 150th Anniversary – 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, ranging from conservation, education to
collection sustainability and population management. The keynote
presenters underlined the important
role of zoos and aquariums and the
responsibility of our community
in the interaction with about 700 million visitors to zoo and aquarium
facilities worldwide.
Many positive examples and success 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 associations, 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
Legend:
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Association reports.
INF
Documents presented
at the conference without
previous documentation,
made available after
the Conference
MEMPresentations
of new members
ADM
Administrative sessions
COM
Committee meetings
at the Conference
WS
Workshop results
RESResolution
Example
Number of
Annual
Conference
DOC 65.20
Type of
document
Number of
document
The contents of reports are within the
responsibility of the authors.
3
October 2012 | Melbourne
Table of Contents
Welcome Address by the Host...................................... 5
Welcome Address by the Minister
for Environment and Climate Change,
Victoria, Australia......................................................... 7
Welcome to Our Region...............................................9
Welcome Address
by the WAZA President...............................................11
Special Session on Population
Management and Ocean
Conservation..................................... 73
Keynote Addresses............................ 13
List of Participants............................. 83
The Environmental Crisis –
A Question of Leadership........................................... 14
A New Model for Conservation....................................17
WAZA Congress Papers Abstracts........ 19
Received Full WAZA
Congress Contributions...................... 29
Love your Locals........................................................ 30
Release to the Wild of Charismatic Mega Fauna:
the Risks and Successes............................................. 33
Current Conservation Efforts Supported by the
Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums............. 37
Breeding and reintroduction
of Ural owls (Strix uralensis)........................................ 39
The Big C – A Discussion on the Allocation of Scarce
Resources for Zoo and Aquarium Conservations......... 40
Conservation of Swedish Amphibians –
A Success Story?......................................................... 43
Zoos FIGHTING extinction
& Zoos FACILITATING extinction................................ 45
Facts and Figures from The Granby Zoo:
Increasing Revenues as a Major Player
in Social Economy...................................................... 47
Conservation Efforts for the
Endangered Ozark Hellbender................................... 52
Managing Toucans and Flamingos at the Parque
das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná State, Brazil............. 54
Panama’s Noah’s Ark.................................................. 56
Conservation Medicine: An Approach
to Fight the Extinction of All Species.......................... 58
Temaikèn’s Natural Reserve in Misiones,
Argentina: Join Us!..................................................... 62
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............................................... 64
Unraveling a Mystery!................................................66
Community Conservation –
A Peri‑Urban Case Study in Fighting Extinction...........68
Future Proofing Programs –
an Australasian approach............................................74
Mission of Mermaids (film screening) and
Introduction to Ocean Acidification............................ 79
58
Proceedings of 67th Annual Conference
Conservation Medicine: An Approach
to Fight the Extinction of All Species
Sharon L Deem, Saint Louis Zoo, Institute for Conservation Medicine
and Eric Miller, Saint Louis Zoo, Director WildCare Institute
Abstract
Introduction
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 ecosystems 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 wildlife, domestic animals and humans;
5) comparative medicine; and 6) the
exploration of the diversity of life.
In this paper we describe the significance 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.
It is estimated that since 1970 global
population sizes of wildlife species 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 endangered with extinction grows daily,
outside the conservation community,
little time, money, or energy has
been directed towards the conservation of biodiversity. However, within
the conservation community, accredited zoological institutions are now
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
fully recognized as organizations
conservation organizations is related
dedicated to the conservation of anito the veterinary care provided both
mal species. (In this paper, the word
animals in our collections, as well
accredited will refer to the 218 zoos
as field based health studies that
accredited by the Association of
improve conservation efforts and
Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since the
provide comparative health data
authors are most familiar with AZA.)
between free‑living and collection
Unlike many of the other conservapopulations. Today, with the push
tion organizations, zoos are the
for AZA‑accredited zoos to dedicate
“species people” and are dedicated to
3% of their revenue to conservathe long‑term conservation of wildlife tion (and other organizations making
species. For example, of the 68 spesimilar commitments) the time is
cies whose IUCN threat level was reright for these zoos to include conduced, 17 (25%) had captive breeding
servation medicine initiatives in their
at zoological institutions play a role in “toolbox” if we are to strive for the
the threat level reductions (Conde et
conservation of all species. al., 2011).
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 biodiversity, including Homo sapiens (Koch,
1996; Deem et al., 2000; Aguirre et al.,
2002). Although there are a number of definitions for conservation
medicine the heart of the approach is
59
October 2012 | Melbourne
the realization that the health of environments, and animals and people
within, are intimately related and will
require multiple disciplines to better
understand and manage the conservation 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 building new ones with other health and /
or conservation organizations as we
develop the Midwest Consortium of
Conservation Medicine. The mission of the ICM is to take a holistic
approach to research on wildlife,
public health, and sustainable ecosystems to ensure healthy animals
and healthy people. In this paper we
discuss the six conservation medicine roles identified by the ICM that
accredited zoos should perform and
that are essential for the conservation of the wildlife species, as well as
Homo sapiens which are dependent
on biodiversity for survival (Fig 1).
Studies on diseases
of conservation concern
Disease in wildlife species have now
been documented to impact species’ survival with both population
extirpations and even species extinctions (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 amphibians, 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. Disease‑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‑inflammatory in livestock (Oaks et al.,
2004). Whether infectious or non‑infectious, 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).
Six roles of zoos in conservation
medicine for the advancement of the
conservation of all species (Fig 1)
Figure 1: Role of Zoos in Conservation Medicine
Health care for the
sustainability
of biodiversity
Accomplishments by accredited
zoos that have resulted in bringing species back from the brink of
extinction were only possible through
advances in veterinary care, including preventive and therapeutic
medicine to minimize infectious and
non‑infectious diseases. Similar to
public health programs (e.g., vaccination and proper nutrition) that
were instrumental for the human
population to grow beyond 7 billion 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 reintroduction plans in conjunction with other
important components.
60
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 diseases. The native and non‑native species 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 Europe 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 surveillance 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 capabilities at these institutions along with
the careful pathologic evaluations of
deaths of zoo animals, the ability to
better understand trends in potential non‑infectious health concerns
shared by animals and humans (e.g.,
cancer and toxins) are also explored
at zoological institutions. The pathology staff at many of these zoos
have close ties with human medical
facilities and thus allow for the sharing of comparative findings between
the zoo animals and human patients
presenting to the hospital (see also
comparative medicine section).
Proceedings of 67th Annual Conference
Disease surveillance
at the interface of
wildlife, domestic animals
and humans
Exploration
of the diversity of life
In biodiversity conservation much
emphasis is given to the long term surIn 2001, it was estimated that bevival of vertebrate species with lesser
tween all the zoos accredited by AZA
emphasis on invertebrate conservaand World Association of Zoos and
tion, and even less on the conservation
Aquariums (WAZA) there were apof micro‑organisms. However, species
proximately 1,100 field based projects are metagenomic in that they are
in 80 countries, with a combined
composed of their own gene compleeffort that allows for a reach of wild
ments and those of all their associated
populations for disease surveillance
microbes. Each species, in fact each
around the globe (Dick and Gusset,
individual is known to have unique
2010). These zoo‑funded and zoo‑led “microbiomes”. For example in one
in situ conservation projects span the
study of the bacterial 16S ribosomal
globe, occurring in both biodiversity
RNA gene sequences from a variety
and pandemic pathogen hotpots
of zoological animals it was demon(Deem et al., 2011). The often long
strated that host diet and phylogeny
term commitments to field conboth influence bacterial diversity (Ley
servation and research from these
et al., 2008). Accredited zoos with their
programs allows zoo staff to perform
collections of diverse species and their
health surveillance studies on species outreach across the globe in which
of conservation interest and sympathey lead studies on free‑living wildlife
tric species. These studies invariably
populations can and must contribute
also have a human health component to the exploration of the diversity of
as many of the pathogens of interest
life at the microbial level. When we
are zoonotic and may spillover from
lose one vertebrate species to extincwild populations to domestic animals
tion we must also realize the great loss
and / or humans which share the
in microbial biodiversity.
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, physiology and pathophysiology of diseases
between humans and other species.
For example, advances in human
medicine are largely due to comparative 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 comparative medicine studies concurrent with
advances in veterinary services that
are provided to the diverse taxa of
animals during recent decades (Natterson‑Horowitz and Bowers, 2012).
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 accredited 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 conservation 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 interconnected 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 significant conservation medicine roles that
accredited zoos have performed for
decades and will continue to perform
for many years to come.
61
October 2012 | Melbourne
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