Greater Kudu » Werribee Open Range Zoo

Greater Kudu
14-06-2008

ISIS shows Werribee as having 7 Greater Kudu (1 buck; 6 does.)

Can anyone tell me about them? Are they breeding age or ancient?
Have werribee bred any?
Are there plans to continue with them, or are they too slated for phase-out?

14-06-2008

He is gelded, so no breeding. They are average age.

14-06-2008

The gentleman who presided over the Werribee Zebra PR disaster on SBS television and who has been very vocal recently in bagging Melbourne Zoo's elephant program, ordered the castration of the sole remaining male Kudu in Australia.

14-06-2008

Just Unreal

14-06-2008

jeez louise! Again- just write a book steve!

14-06-2008

Well mate,

Can you elaborate for us non-Aussie readers and who are interested to learn on the issues you brought up. I suppose none of us have any warming minds as to what the Werribee Zebra PR disaster is. So, how this relates to the greater kudu crisis needs some explaining away.

Cheers for the effort!


Still I am boggled in the mind about some of the animal management decisions in Australia regarding phase in, out and continue of species. I suppose that with some effort it would be possible to align an import of greater kudus from S.Africa (in tandem with the current efforts in springbok, impala and oryx).

On a similar note: while I am fully aware about the space constraints and Biosecurity laws that preside these imports, but when you decide to phase out a species that has still some genetic potential, than the respons should nog be just to castrate the male but to relocate the entire population out to a region that has a vested interest in the given species.

Jelle

14-06-2008

I suppose that if there was only one male around then there really was no point in vreeding calves as they would all be brothers and sisters. Perhaps also the male is related to all or most of the females? Still Jelles suggestion that they should be moved to another region has merit.

14-06-2008

we dont really know if there is any rationale behind this decision, and it may have been based on any number of reasons.
having said that though ARAZPA has made many frustrating decisions over the future of exotic species in this region, and the current emphasis on keeping hybridised species is particularly annoying. zebras, lions, colobus, porcupines, giraffes. two sub-species populations for hunting dogs, meerkats etc makes no sense, yet our zoos maintain both then mash together others.

i know with many species this is unavoidable but some of the decisions really erk me.

14-06-2008

I could not agree more

14-06-2008

when it comes to artiodactyls like giraffe which are near impossible to import than I agree with the hybridisation issue, and also for incorporatng pure rothschilds into the program to widen the genetic diversity of the population, as realistically, and Ive argued this before Australian zoos will never be able to play a valid role in the international program for this species.
chimpanzees too. they are long lived, found in many Aussie zoos and any decision to phase out hybrids in favour of pure sub-species would be impractical and recquire massive resources and major changes to what are stable groups. Funds which would be better spent in Africa.
Lions on the other hand, could have been bred pure, with imports in recent years and what was, up until earlier this millinium a very small, inbred and ageing population. a decision to phase out hybrids back then and breed only from animals of known provenance would have resulted in a pure or near pure population by now.
recent decisions like the one in NZ to breed seperate sub-species of porcupine are just plain stupid to me. same with mixing golden cats, or the colobus. With the world's wildlife populations changing so much all the time genetic purity in zoo populations needs to be maintained and except for in cases, like with giraffes which are maintained purely for advocacy roles it should be a core focus and imperative for many PMP.
if zoos are to laud their commitment to conservation they cannot crow and blow their own trumpets every time they produce a baby with essentially no conservation value, just the same as the 'were saving the species' by breeding inbred condors or peccary becomes a tiring and shallow bit of rhetoric.
my final stab at ARAZPA and zoos in general is the frustrating way in which they chop and change many of their decisions. would be nice if for once, and for member zoos too i imagine, if consensus was reached and decisions adhered to within the realms of practicality.

14-06-2008

i dont think you get my point mate. inbred condors fine, but the 'were saving the species by breeding brother and sister condors' is a little tiresome.
ARAZPA doesnt get up my goat much of the time, only some times and this is mainly due to member zoos chopping and changing their decisions.
as for ASMP they have been 'happening' now in some shape or form for several decades, though the number of them has increased dramatically. it would be good to see, as I said before, decisions reached which were stuck to and perhaps a bit more realistic.
At the end of the day ARAZPA isnt a leglislative body but in principle it is an amazing idea. member zoos all need to cooperate more at times in order to acheive valid and set targets.

18-06-2008

I see in today's newspaper that a team of veterinarians at National zoo, Washington have successfully reversed a vasectomy of a Przewalski horse, allowing it to reproduce naturally again.

Maybe some of the castration-happy curators in this region's zoos should recommend vasectomy instead of castration for male ungulates if they must limit herd numbers.