| The Calgary Zoo is increasingly playing a vital role in wildlife conservation and biodiversity management. "Decades ago, conservation practices in zoos were novel, but now it’s clearly an expectation," says Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager, head of the Centre for Conservation Research at the Calgary Zoo.
The global role of zoos has dramatically changed from their initial (and often barbaric) caging of wild animals for public entertainment. Zoos have since established in-house breeding practices to reduce the number of animals taken from the wild, while education and outreach programs have evolved into local and international initiatives in keeping with this contemporary mandate to serve as conservation entities.
The San Francisco Zoo, for instance, initiated the California bald eagle breeding program in 1985 to help with its recovery. Komodo dragons were introduced to the London Zoo in 2004 as part of the European Conservation Breeding Program, and scientists at the Australia Zoo are breeding Asian small-clawed otters for conservation awareness, while scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park are breeding pandas with the aim of doubling their current population living in zoos to 300 for genetic sustainability.
Dr. Moehrenschlager joined the Calgary Zoo in 1999, while completing his PhD at Oxford, England. He was part of the founding team of the Zoo’s Centre for Conservation Research in 2003. "Although conservation practices are well integrated within Canadian zoos, Calgary’s Centre for Conservation Research is quite unique because it is a distinct entity within its organization," he says. "Part of our mandate is to conduct innovative science that will produce applicable solutions to environmental problems. When selecting a new project, we look for a problem that can’t be resolved by common sense and requires science to unravel its mystery. This approach allows us to come up with real solutions that will help protect endangered species from completely disappearing."
When science and research were first introduced into the vocabulary of zoos, it was to address the welfare of animals living in captivity, as well as to enhance captive breeding practices to sustain zoo collections. Today, most zoos have a scientific mandate to act as guardians for wildlife conservation and biodiversity.
With facilities and experts able to handle a variety of animals, zoos are morphing into Noah’s modern vessel to safeguard the world’s species – half of which are destined to vanish by the end of this century. "Zoos are increasingly asked to care for endangered species with the idea of restoring their natural population once their habitat has been restored and actively protected," says Dr. Moehrenschlager. He adds that the Calgary Zoo is very much on this path, making a significant contribution to Canada’s western biodiversity.
The Centre for Conservation Research is currently focusing its research initiatives and reintroduction programs on six endangered species, the black-footed ferret, the burrowing owl, the northern leopard frog, the swift fox, the Vancouver Island marmot and the whooping crane.
"The Centre’s species diversity is broad, but the connecting issues are often very similar," says Dr. Moehrenschlager. He goes on to explain how the breadth of species experience gives his team a definite advantage, "it helps us think outside the box and have a broader perspective that researchers focusing only on one animal wouldn’t have."
The six species taking part in the captive-breeding and reintroduction initiatives at the Centre are currently at different stages in their programs. Swift foxes have been successfully reintroduced and are thriving in their natural habitat. Northern leopard frogs and burrowing owls are in the process of being released into the wild. Vancouver Island marmots and the whooping cranes are in an intensive breeding phase (last month signaled the onset of their breeding season). Lastly, black-footed ferrets have completely disappeared from the Canadian landscape, and their reintroduction program is still in the introductory planning phase.
Management and monitoring activities involved in captive-breeding and reintroduction programs require multiple teams and a wide range of expertise to successfully reintroduce a species back into the wild. Key to protecting the few animals that remain within endangered species populations are zoo veterinarians. "Because diseases pose a real challenge to the conservation of biodiversity, veterinary expertise has become integral to wildlife and environmental conservation," says Dr. Moehrenschlager. Further to tending to the animals’ welfare, Calgary zoo veterinarians are engaging in conservation medicine, an emerging field that strives to understand the relationships between animal, human and environmental health.
Bob Peel, who has been with the Calgary Zoo for 34 years, is now Curator of the Zoo’s Canadian Wilds and the Devonian Wildlife Conservation Centre, affectionately referred to as the Zoo Ranch. "The Zoo Ranch provides a home for zoo animals that are in transition between zoos as well as state-of-the-art breeding facilities for several species in our reintroduction programs," says Peel. According to Peel, no other zoo in Canada has a separate holding facility like the Zoo Ranch. "Most zoos involved in conservation practices do so within the confines of their facilities," he says. The Devonian Wildlife Conservation Centre spreads over 128 hectares of land and includes a large pond often used by migrating birds.
Breeding whooping cranes in captivity has proven to be quite challenging. The Zoo Ranch acquired its first whooping cranes in 1994, but only one of the pairs was successful in breeding through natural means. To improve propagation rates and genetic diversity, the Zoo Ranch introduced artificial insemination techniques three years ago. "Our most significant breeding year was in 2005, when we succeeded in raising four fledglings through artificial insemination," says Peel. For this, the Calgary Zoo won the Conservation Award from the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Last year’s artificial insemination program was even more successful, yielding six healthy fledglings that joined the Operation Migration flock (a group that promotes the conservation of migratory species and assists birds bred in captivity to take the journey following an ultra-light plane). However, in February of 2007, all six birds sadly perished in a severe storm in the state of Florida, along with 11 other whooping cranes. "The loss of those birds was devastating, especially when you think of all of the care that went into raising them. It also reminds us how vulnerable this species still is and the need for us to keep doing what we are doing," says Peel. "We are just thankful that we still have five of the 2006 offspring safe at our Zoo Ranch and other facilities."
With this kind of loss, producing as many viable eggs as possible is critical to re-establishing the whooping crane. To encourage whooping crane pairs to keep breeding and maximize propagation, the eggs are removed as soon as they are laid and either placed with sandhill cranes, that act as surrogate parents, or placed in incubators. The incubated eggs are gently relocated into sandhill crane nests just before they are ready to hatch.
The Zoo Ranch is also home to a significant portion of the Vancouver Island marmot population. "We have 12 per cent of the world’s population right here, a total of 25 marmots with eight breeding pairs. There are only about 200 Vancouver Island marmots left in the world and that includes marmots in captivity and the wild," says Peel. To reduce the risk of completely losing the species by a mishap, such as a fire or disease, three other facilities in North America are involved in breeding the marmot. Because of their vulnerable state they are not on display for public viewing at the Calgary Zoo.
The Zoo Ranch is also breeding the Asian wild horse (or Przewalski's wild horse) as part of a breeding program for zoos, not release. "Just two years ago we had a request to start breeding these horses again as their number within zoos are declining," says Peel. Originally from Mongolia, the horse became extinct in the wild in the late 1960s but is slowly being reintroduced into its historical habitat and beyond. There are now approximately 1500 Przewalski's wild horses living in zoos around the world.
The Calgary Zoo is also fostering far-reaching conservation initiatives in Africa, Asia and South America. Headed by Brian Keating, Conservation Outreach projects are supporting conservation initiatives in remote places of the world. One of its many success stories is the community-based Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary conservation initiative in Ghana, Africa. "Our goal was to empower the local people by providing them with a source of revenue and improved quality of life through the conservation initiative. As a result, we are not only conserving one of the only two remaining hippo populations within Ghana, but also safeguarding the livelihood of the local culture," says Keating.
"The conservation of endangered species has to take into account biological and sociological issues," says Dr. Moehrenschlager. "You can’t save a species without addressing the issues that led to its endangered status in the first place – which are, most often, a dire result of human activity." |
Copyright ©2007 FFWD. All rights reserved.