EAZA News 57-12 - European Association of Zoos and Aquaria

eaza news 57
2007
04
from the eaza office
Executive Committee meets in Jersey
The EAZA Executive Committee met in the inspiring quarters of
the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey on 13 January
2007. The committee looked into the idea of organising a
programme of professional training and development courses for
EAZA zoo and aquarium staff. The long-established International
Training Centre at Durrell provides a good example and a
possible location for such a training programme. Furthermore,
it was decided to start a ‘future search’ exercise to look at
the future of the organisation and the tasks to be fulfilled by
the EAZA Executive Office. Participants of the Spring Council
meeting in Kristiansand (Norway) in May 2007 will hear a lot
more about this.
Cooperation with EZNC terminated
For a number of years EAZA has cooperated with the European Zoo
Nutrition Centre (EZNC). During these years the EZNC worked together
with the EAZA Nutrition Group on gathering and sharing knowledge
on zoo animal nutrition. Also, the EZNC was provided with office space
and logistic support by the EAZA Executive Office in Amsterdam, free
of charge. However, cooperation between EAZA and the EZNC has now
been terminated, and no relationships exist. Any questions regarding
zoo animal nutrition can be directed to the EAZA Nutrition Group.
EAZA Zoo Educators (EZE)
European Zoo Educators (EZE) has been the European regional branch
of International Zoo Educators (IZE) for many years. In the European
zoo educator community EZE is well known thanks to its biennial
conferences and the ERNIZE list serve. Additionally, EZE has worked
closely with the EAZA Education and Exhibit Design Committee, and
in fact, the European board members of IZE were members of this
committee. Because of this close relationship, IZE and EAZA decided
to put the European zoo educators under the regional umbrella of
EAZA. Henceforth EZE stands for EAZA Zoo Educators.
This does not imply that zoo, aquaria and nature reserve educators
employed by EAZA member institutions automatically are IZE members,
nor that Europeans that are not EAZA members can not become IZE
members.
The next EZE Conference will kindly be hosted by Budapest Zoo,
Hungary from 28 to 31 March 2007. A challenging programme covering
four days has been prepared, starting with the registration and an
ice breaker. This will be followed by three days of presentations and
workshops; the first day will focus on sustainability and the second
day will highlight the Amphibian Crisis and ‘2008; the year of the
frogs’. The last day will be reserved to communicate problems and
successes of the eastern European zoos.
For more information, please visit www.zoobudapest.com/eze2007
Supporting Tirana Zoo
Tirana Zoo was once a favourite day out for Tirana's citizens and many
other Albanians. However, due to many years of neglect, the zoo is
now in a truly deplorable state. Through the Technical Assistance
and Animal Welfare (TA&AW) Committee, EAZA has actively been
supporting Albania's only official zoo since 2004. After several meetings
and recommendations by the Committee to increase the animal welfare,
it is now time to take things a step further.
Albania is one of Europe's poorest countries, but things are improving.
The City of Tirana is very much willing to redevelop the Tirana Zoo and
the surrounding park as this is one of the few remaining green spaces
in the city. From 6 to 8 December 2006 a workshop was organised to
discuss a new future for the zoo. Dominique Tropeano, chair of the
TA&AW Committee, led the workshop that was attended by over twenty
people representing various city departments, the zoo staff and various
NGOs. Together, the participants created a short-term action plan
including the most urgent actions needed to improve animal welfare
and visitor safety. This action plan was sent to the Tirana City Council
for approval and to obtain the necessary funds. This year a more detailed
master plan for the total reconstruction of the zoo will be developed,
based on the first ideas created during the workshop. With the support
of the City Council, this workshop will hopefully be the first step
towards a better future for Tirana Zoo. Further visits by the TA&AW
Committee are planned for this year.
Welcome to Warsaw
The 24th EAZA Annual Conference will be hosted
by Warsaw Zoo, Poland, and will take place
from 11 to 15 September 2007. Preparations are
currently underway and all EAZA members
should have received conference registration
information. As always, information is also available
on the ‘Conference’ section of the EAZA website.
photo eaza executive office