Towards Sustainable Population Management - Waza

WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011
In 2008, the Australasian Species
Management Program (ASMP),
the species management arm of
ZAA, commissioned a review of the
delivery of species management outcomes
within the Australasian region.
The initial discussion related largely
to exotic taxa and was prefaced by
a report prepared on the status of all
exotic taxa under formal management
within the Australasian region.
The report suggested that an alarming
proportion of exotic taxa were
unlikely to be sustainable in the long
term, including some which were
facing imminent local extinctions in
Australasian zoos (Barlow & Hibbard
2005). The scope of this discussion
quickly expanded to include all Australasian
programmes (both native
and exotic) where a level of formal
management had been applied.
The ASMP Committee, through the
ZAA Board of Directors, launched
a full review of species management
services under the banner of the
Future Directions Project. The ASMP
Committee recognised the sound
foundations already in place and focused
on addressing issues that had
arisen as a result of the programme
maturing and operating environments
evolving. In broad terms, the
project was to examine resourcing,
policies, processes and species to be
managed. In order to apply specific
and measured resolutions, the
project was tasked with determining
the specific causes for the shortfall in
overall population “health” of species
in managed programmes and establishing
actions to resolve these.
The aim of the project was to improve
the effectiveness of species management
programmes through accountability,
disciplined processes and
inclusiveness, in order for the ASMP
to remain current and relevant as
a member service to the ZAA membership.
Methodology
The ASMP Future Directions Project
commenced in 2008 and was earmarked
for completion in 2010. There
were various components to the project
beginning with a rigorous review
of the species selected for management
and the level to which they could
or should be managed. This article will
not attempt to document the species
review process, other than to recognise
that many excellent models have
been developed and that the Australasian
model was not radically different
from others in current use; that is, it
addresses key goals identified in the
World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation
Strategy (WAZA 2005). For exotic
taxa, the Australasian model rated
highly the ongoing ability to acquire
the species both in terms of import
legislation and access to new genetic
material (either by inter-regional or
range state sources). This was of specific
importance given the small size
of our regional populations and the
need to rely on periodic importation to
sustain most populations.
The next step in the process was the
development of a benchmarking
tool with the current working title of
the ASMP Health Check Report. The
Health Check Report is by no means
a completed piece of work and continues
to evolve to reflect a changing
zoo environment and respond to
any issues that might be identified in
the future. In the past, ZAA has used
a compliance report to measure institutional
adherence to specific recommendations
on specimen transfers
and breeding based on studbook
analysis. The development of the
Health Check Report has expanded
the scope substantially and shifts the
focus of assessment onto the delivery
of a suite of measurable programme
goals rather than the performance of
individual contributors. The Health
Check Report measures the overall
health of the programme as well as
giving insight into the “health” of
specific areas.
ZAA Sustainability
It was acknowledged that in many
cases sound scientific principles of
small population biology had been
applied; however, the results in
programme performance were not
all meeting expectations. A number
of claims were put forward, many
of which were consistent with those
identified by Lees & Wilcken (2009),
and included:
• A lack of spaces being offered for
managed species, fuelled by a trend
away from multiple, small, speciesspecific
facilities to larger multi-taxa
“experiences”, including a move
away from extensive off-display
holding facilities.
• Government legislation over the
import of exotic taxa was having
a negative impact on founder recruitment
for populations.
• Species biology in some instances
was not necessarily aligned with the
mean kinship and genetic management
employed.
• The concept that genetic management
was better understood and
more rigorously applied by species
coordinators than demographic
management and in some instances
contributed to demographic instability.
• Species management expertise and
innovation required further development.
• Implementation of specific programme
recommendations although
usually attempted often was
not necessarily achieved, or resulted
in the desired outcome.
The Health Check Report was developed
to measure fact-based criteria,
by breaking down species management
practices into measurable components.
This enables a programme’s
performance to be quickly assessed
and any remedial measures applied in
a timely manner where programmes
are seen to be falling short of expectation.
In addition, it allows for the acknowledgement
of positive progress
and feedback to the many species
coordinators hosted by member zoos.
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