Zoos in the 21st Century Catalysts for Conservation?

About this book

Modern zoos and aquaria are playing an increasingly active and important role in protecting and managing global biodiversity. Many zoos include wildlife conservation in their mission and have started changing the focus of their institutions in order to increase even further the benefits of their activities for in situ wildlife conservation.

With these developments, the following searching questions are now being asked
- What is the true role of zoos in conservation
- How can they contribute more significantly to global conservation efforts
- What are the unique attributes of zoos that can be applied in the conservation landscape
- And should zoos be doing more

In parallel with this voluntary movement, legal requirements for zoos to support conservation in the wild are also becoming more stringent. Zoos in the 21st Century defines a new conservation vision for zoos and aquaria that will be of interest to those working in zoos, alongside practitioners and researchers in conservation.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword Achim Steiner

Part I. Zoos Entering the Twenty-First Century
1. Introduction: is there a conservation role for zoos in a natural world under fire? Chris D. West and Lesley A. Dickie
2. Entering the 21st century William Conway
3. How do national and international regulations and policies influence the role of zoos and aquaria in conservation? Bengt Holst and Lesley A. Dickie

Part II. The Challenge of Changing Behaviour
4. Conservation education in zoos: an emphasis on behavioral change Eleanor Sterling, Jimin Lee and Tom Wood
5. Inspiration for conservation: moving audiences to care John A. Gwynne
6. Attitudes and attitude change among zoo visitors Richard P. Reading and Brian J. Miller
7. The animal rights-conservation debate: can zoos and aquariums play a role? Michael Hutchins
8. Creating a culture of conservation: a case study of a backyard approach Beth Stevens, Jackie Ogden and Kim R. Sams
9. Message received? Quantifying the impact of informal conservation education on adults visiting UK zoos Andrew Balmford, Nigel Leader-Williams, Georgina M. Mace, Andrea Manica, Olivia Walter, Chris West and Alexandra Zimmermann

Part III. Establishing Connections Between Zoos and the Wild
10. Animal ambassadors: an analysis of the effectiveness and conservation impact of ex-situ breeding efforts Anne Baker
11. Re-introductions from zoos: a conservation guiding light or a shooting star? Mark R. Stanley Price and John E. Fa
12. Research by zoos Dan Wharton
13. Conservation medicine John C. M. Lewis
14. The Masoala rainforest: a model

partnership in support of in situ conservation in Madagascar Matthew Hatchwell and Alex Rubel
15. In situ and ex situ conservation: blurring the boundaries between zoos and the wild Lesley A. Dickie, Jeffrey P. Bonner and Chris D. West
16. Beyond the ark: conservation biologists' views of the achievements of zoos in conservation Nigel Leader-Williams, Andrew P. Balmford, Matthew Linke, Georgina M. Mace, Robert J. Smith, Miranda Stevenson, Olivia Walter, Chris D. West and Alexander Zimmermann

Part IV. Direct Involvement of Zoos in in situ Conservation
17. Zoo-based fundraising for in situ wildlife conservation Sarah Christie
18. The Madagascar Fauna Group: what zoo cooperation can do for conservation Lee Durrell, David E. Anderson, Andrea S. Katz, Dean Gibson, Charles R. Welch, Eva L. Sargent and Ingrid Porton
19. Zoo coalitions for conservation David A. Field and Lesley A. Dickie
20. The conservation mission in the wild: zoos as conservation NGOs Alexandra Zimmermann and Roger Wilkinson
21. Measuring conservation success: assessing zoos' contribution Georgina M. Mace, Andrew Balmford, Nigel Leader-Williams, Andrea Manica, Olivia Walter, Chris D. West and Alexandra Zimmermann
22. The future of zoos Matthew Hatchwell, Alex Rubel, Lesley A. Dickie, Chris D. West and Alexandra Zimmermann

Bibliographic resource: zoos and conservation Scott Wilson and Alexandra Zimmermann

Customer Reviews

Biography

Alexandra Zimmermann is Manager of Chester Zoo's Conservation Department (UK) and DPhil student at Oxford University. Her main research interest is in human-wildlife conflicts and she has founded and managed community-based conflict management programmes for jaguars in Brazil (with WCS) and Asian elephants in Assam, India.

Matthew Hatchwell has worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society since 1986, in New York, the Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and now in the United Kingdom as the WCS European Coordinator. In Madagascar, he was instrumental in the creation of Masoala National Park and in developing the relationship between the national park and Zoo Zurich.

Lesley Dickie is the Zoo Conservation Officer of the Zoological Society of London and is developing new auditing processes to fully collate the conservation activities of the Living Collections with respect to the mission of the ZSL. Her main research and conservation interests are in the biodiversity of Madagascar, with particular regard to the conservation role of European zoos on the island.

Chris West is CEO of the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia and Professor of Zoology, Adelaide University. Previously Zoological Director at ZSL, his interests range from good management practice for the conservation impact of zoos, sound ethical frameworks and welfare standards, as well as conservation medicine, and political leadership to link conservation with human and sustainable environmental development, the last being explored locally in Australia.