whilst in trhe news we have all heard that all 'valuable' horses are being vaccinatited, the new shipment of vaccines already has 34 shots set- aside for the western plains zoo's valuable horses, all zebs, onagers, and p horses will be administrated a does within the next week! great news, and a good idea, considering dubbo is the only zoo that allows cars to come into the grouds, close to animals. Zebras to get flu vaccine | PerthNow
The Persian onager are next to the Somali wild asses the most endangered equid around. Only a population of 300-400 in Iran and a captive population of around 100. The European EEP has just been reconstituted to breed and breed. The US population is basically down to a breeding group at the Wilds and one in a private equid facility (do not know how big this group is). What is the plan with the Persian onagers at WPZ. Are they now allowed to breed again?
phase-out of course!! no, we had this conversation, theres a whole thread devoted to the onagers at WPZ. genetically they are represented overseas and we just don't have enough interest in them from the other zoos to continue. the only equids will be plains zebra and mongolian wild horses, both of which fortunately are doing very well here.
i'm not sure but i do know that werribee for example has imported a new stallion from overseas not that long ago. i'm pretty sure they are genetically healthy. remeber, there are not the same restrictions on odd-toed ungulates. unfortunately, there seems to be two seperate subspecies happening here though.. not sure if ones being phased out or both are being hybridised... i'll check.... (now if only they would import some bloody brazilian tapir already!!)
yep the above info is correct, the biggest issue being that the population is quite aged and thus we can expect a overall crash in numbers unless zoos start breeding up their animals. supprisingly only werribee has a herd of substantial size (20+ animals) and all other zoos just hold very small groups. almost all of werribee's animals are the eastern race, though it seems they may currently hybridising with a southern stallion (might be the imported animal) as they have this animal and a hybrid or two as well.
Both erribee amd Dubbo are bybridizing their sub species of zabra, which is a shame. Dubbo had a birth a couple of years ago. There is a group of zebras in NZ which are of a totally different subspecies , but they are all aged animals and closely related.
Dubbo is possibly also the one most at risk of having animals affeted. in the weekends paper it showed the quarantine area around dubbo being increased as 34 more horses in that area have been hit or are suspected of having the flu
a zebra stallion was imported to WPZ a few years ago from weribee, and i think he may have fathered the two most recent foals, including shani, who has now been sent to taronga. weribee maintains what? chapmans zebra, whilst traditionally WPZ has kept Grants as has Perth, with Monarto focusing on chapmans too?
If that's the case - yet they are yet critically endangered - why does WPZ not sent them out to either the US or Europe where any zoo and certainly the species coordinators would commit a crime to breed them ........?
i dunno..... werribee zoo is directly opposite the national equestrian centre!!! read my post again jelle. in regards to teh onagers at WPZ i said they are genetically represented overseas. now i am actually not sure about this in hindsight, but i'm pretty sure its the case. read back over the onager thread, i'm sure this came up someplace. its the same with many of our (australia's) phase-out species, the animals originally came from "surplus" EEP or SSP stock and thus are of not much use to their programs. especially when you consider the import/export hassles and costs. its usually ARAZPA policy to offer the animals back to other regions that engage in a program, they just often are not wanted. examples are auckland zoo's bornean orangutans, WPZ's white-fronted lemurs or melbourne zoos persian leopards. all these animals have been offered to overseas programs. adelaide are looking at offering their black-headed lion tamarins i believe as well...
Werribee Didn't know that patrick... do you know if werribee is vaccinating, of the three states mainly affected I know victoria is getting the most at something like 8,000 out of 20,000 vaccines.
Thanx pat, Seems strange all the same though. I will get in touch with Hamburg on this. Time for global species management methinks - as is being planned for elephants and gorillas (at least EEP and SSP wise). Anyhow, back to the thread: so it is plains zebra Equus burchelli and Przewalski horses Equus caballus przewalski. Australia seems to have Damaras, Grant's and a single Chapman's zebra. What is the status there? You mentioned hybrids here and there. Is that a wise policy? Can the Damaras and Grant's not be made to be self-relient (with occasional imports of stallions from overseas)?
in respect to hybridisation of zebras, i'de have a guess and say its a decision (whether you agree with it or not) based on two things... a) plains zebras as a species, are lower risk in the wild b) high importation costs, by hybridising it saves money reducing the need for new stock. personally, i'm anti-hybridisation unless their is a reasonable excuse such as; global zoo population is so small it is a necessity. this is especially tue if the species is endangered in the wild. import restrictions. a good example is giraffes in australia. we were phasing out all non baringo giraffes, then got slapped with an import ban, so we are hybridising to mainatain giraffes for display. its either than or nothing. there is open dabate still about the number of subspecies that exist, or there is already a majority hybrid population globally. personally i would have liked to see australia maintain purebred zebras and guereza colobus among other things.....
Thanx pat, I agree whole-heartedly with you. Anyhow, why oh why .. (I know we have discussed this before) does ARAZPA not get in with the federal vet authorities and get some decent Baringo giraffe imports via the Cocos Island station or Dubbo's quarantaine facilities. If they imported say 8-10 young Baringos from the US or Europe they could be breeding in a short while a pure population in Oz. For goodness sake they are an endangered species in Kenya-Tanzania and damn the cost involved (this investment will be hard won back in zonkers years)!!! Just to get even here .. in Europe we have been trying to limit the keeping of hybrids for years. Mostly, new zoos starting with giraffes get some of the hybrids from those parks that already have a longer history of maintaining them. The hybrid maintaining zoos are then gradually switching to acquiring pure-breds and breed. Eventually, it is all replace hybrids with pure-breds.
Last I heard, New Zealand was still able to import giraffes ( at great expense) and we are able to import giraffes from NZ. I have mentioned before that it should be possible for a consortium to get together and bring in agroup of giraffe. Have them breed in NZ zoos, then import young into Australia. If as you say, 8-10 animals were brought in then, along with the baringos already here, we should have a good nucleus for a breeding group.
realistically though... firstly, jelle you ask "why, oh why" and i think the answer lies with biosecurity australia NOT the zoos. no doubt they would happily have continued the purebred rothschild population if thy could, there was 3 zoos who had switched exclusively to this subspecies) but the authorities are, as far as i can tell not particuarly quick to process anything... also, in the big scheme of things, giraffes are though hybridisation one SPECIES of artiodactyl WE CAN MAINTAIN. there are numerous others who are not in the same predicament. remember importing costs lots of money. say the bans were lifted, and this is just a hypothetical question with no right or wrong answer, whats better to spend money on.... having purebred giraffes or having hybrid giraffes and securing another species such as bongo? no doubt zoos can't afford to import everything that needs it right now, nor are their always stock available...
Thanks Pat, that saved me a long-winded reply. And add to that the fact that it is so unlikely that captive-bred giraffe from this region would ever be released back to the wild, that we are really only concerend in this region with breeding giraffe for display purposes. The costs associated with this, as you mentioned, will be far better directed to other species where we can make a difference. In Europe Jelle, you have enough giraffe to have the luxury of trying to limit the breeding of subspecies hybrids. We simply don't have that luxury here, and are highly unlikely to in the future. You can't assume that zoos in this region have the same resources as the US or Europe (and I don't just mean financial resources).
besdies that, giraffe are a relatively long lived species with large generation gaps and a big population already present in Australia. phasing out hybrid giraffe and replacing them with pure breds would be a logistical nightmare. unfortunately, despite our dry climate and wide open spaces, the erratic nature of our biosecurity regualtions, and recent examples of diseases like horse flu make Australasian zoos pretty much non-consequential when it comes to international programs for artiodactyl species. unfortunately, but even our addax and oryx herds need to operate on pretty much a closed 'flock' basis. Even if Australian zoos were able to import founders of existing or new species, say bongo and philipine spotted deer, we are dealt a short straw in so far that every time we export stock they might not neccearily be able to be replaced and also represent demographic and genetic loss. better off to just stick with what weve got atm
pat, ZooPro, glyn, I am aware of the situation in Australia with the difficulty of imports and few zoological collections to actually maintain species longterm. I was not on the Biosecurity though. Hell, I really hate bureaucracy and .. some are losing the ball so to speak. Australia's zoos must be in the business of assisting in saving endangered species and Biosecurity should accomodate tools for ARAZPA's zoos to do so in the interest of maintaining species that are part of designated collection plans and masterplans. Where a designated species genetic or longterm future is comprimised, ARAZPA should work Biosecurity to allow for a larger and more relaxed import/export scheme for exotic and local wildlife. This is in the interest of local and global species management (while observing local veterinary protocols). The reason I am also such a strong believer in this is that currently WAZA (the global zoo org) is setting up its first global captive management programmes. This should assist in frequent genetic exchanges between different regions involved in captive-breeding of any endangered taxon. It applies even more to small populations where close population management is called for (particularly relevant to the ARAZPA region). Finally, I do think that more and more zoos across the regions will need to work together to enhance self-relient species management. In the ARAZPA example that would allow for e.g. the EEP and SSP to release sufficient pure-bred Baringo stock to ARAZPA for breeding purposes as well as a continuous supply of hybrid giraffe for exhibition purposes only. Somehow, we all need to get our heads around these kind of issues .. and all for the greater good of species conservation and bigger and better zoos. What more can we strive for?
