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Proceedings of 67th Annual Conference
Love your Locals Jenny Gray, Zoos Victoria
Abstract
Background
In 2011 Zoos Victoria committed that Extinction at its current rate is not no Victorian, terrestrial, vertebrate natural and it is not inevitable. Right species will go extinct on our watch. now, in 2012, extinction is a man Our scientific team assessed the made phenomenon and as much as health and viability of Victorian spewe can drive species into extinction cies and found that 16 species were we can also interrupt the process, under threat of extinction within 5-10 slow it and reverse the trend. We can years if nothing was done to save and should fight extinction; because them. Zoos Victoria has commenced once a species is gone, it is gone a program to ensure their survival. forever. We have captive populations secured, recovery teams trained and commitI propose that there are a number of ted to breeding success, and a strong reasons why we should be Fighting commitment to engage the Victorian Extinction: community in saving these unknown, beautiful and interesting species. • The threat of extinction in 2012 is Visitors are powerful consumers thus largely man made and a human their engagement with our local driven process. We have made the species is a first step to inspire and mess that threatens to engulf other empower them to act to help us fight animals and it is thus our moral extinction. responsibility to clean it up. • It is a fight that we can win. Extinction is not inevitable and many examples are available that show that when we put our minds to protecting and recovery species we can. • We share our environment with the animals that are in trouble. It is not rocket science to understand that the threats to animals are also threats to humans. We need the environment to live and if we are destroying it for others we destroy it for ourselves. • The animals at most risk are amazing and beautiful and of enormous value in their own right. We should fight their extinction, because without them our planet will be duller and less amazing.
Zoos are well placed to fight extinction and can contribute to conservation outcomes in a number of ways. Zoos can support International Conservation Programs which protect wild areas, zoos can empower visitors and the wider community to take action and zoos can work with threatened species engaging in captive breeding recovery programs. This paper will address the third aspect of zoo based conservation, the critical role that zoos should be playing in endangered species recovery programs. In 2009 Zoos Victoria, Perth Zoo and Taronga Conservation Society, were involved in a program on Christmas Island to try and save the Christmas Island Pipistrelle. Scientists had observed the decline in these small insectivorous bats caused by an invasive pest species, the crazy yellow ant. They estimated that the population may have shrunk to as few as 20 individuals. They were wrong. The recovery team recorded a single male bat over three nights. For the next 5 weeks there was no recording of any bats, across the whole range. A recording on the 26 August 2009 marks the last time the Christmas Island Pipistrelle ever flew. We arrived in time to record the extinction of a species. We never want to do this again.