Giant Eland Left in North America

I know the Giant Eland currently in North America are under IAE's control and that there is a great deal of government red tape with regards to importing ruminates but I just don't see why organizations such as the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Saint Louis Zoo, or the North Carolina Zoo import rarer ungulates Eastern Giant Eland or Giant Sable Antelope. Surely, they have the oomph to cut through the red tape. Imagine if there was an actual breeding program for Giant Eland and Giant Sable Antelope.
 
Cody Raney said:
I know the Giant Eland currently in North America are under IAE's control and that there is a great deal of government red tape with regards to importing ruminates but I just don't see why organizations such as the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Saint Louis Zoo, or the North Carolina Zoo import rarer ungulates Eastern Giant Eland or Giant Sable Antelope. Surely, they have the oomph to cut through the red tape. Imagine if there was an actual breeding program for Giant Eland and Giant Sable Antelope.
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I am not sure about Eastern giant eland, but I assume it is getting increasingly hard to import animals from Northeastern and Central Africa because of ongoing conflicts (and lack of infrastructure) in the region. Combine this with strict exporting laws in countries like Ethiopia and you understand why there are no dibatag (and so few giant eland), mongalla gazelle, tiang or white-eared kob outside Africa.

As for giant sable antelope, they are far too rare within their own range to begin with. As a symbol of Angolan national pride, I highly doubt they would be legal to be exported into the US.
 
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Enzo said:
I am not sure about Eastern giant eland, but I assume it is getting increasingly hard to import animals from Northeastern and Central Africa because of ongoing conflicts (and lack of infrastructure) in the region. Combine this with strict exporting laws in countries like Ethiopia and you understand why there are no dibatag (and so few giant eland), mongalla gazelle, tiang or white-eared kob outside Africa.

As for giant sable antelope, they are far too rare within their own range to begin with. As a symbol of Angolan national pride, I highly doubt they would be legal to be exported into the US.
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In addition to all of this, there are rather strict laws in the USA about import ruminant ungulates and those have been in place for a long time now. Zoos did not simply stop importing ungulates because they stopped wanting to. Unfortunately, for larger species, the red tape has proven virtually impossible to work through. Even if Angola allowed for the export of 20-30 Giant Sable Antelope (the number you'd need to have any hope of establishing a viable, genetically-diverse population), or Senegal the export of Western Giant Eland, or Kenya the export of Hirola, odds are near-100% that the USDA and USFWS would not allow the animals to be brought into the country.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
In addition to all of this, there are rather strict laws in the USA about import ruminant ungulates and those have been in place for a long time now. Zoos did not simply stop importing ungulates because they stopped wanting to. Unfortunately, for larger species, the red tape has proven virtually impossible to work through. Even if Angola allowed for the export of 20-30 Giant Sable Antelope (the number you'd need to have any hope of establishing a viable, genetically-diverse population), or Senegal the export of Western Giant Eland, or Kenya the export of Hirola, odds are near-100% that the USDA and USFWS would not allow the animals to be brought into the country.

~Thylo
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Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but you don't know until you try. What's true now could change in two years. And with the Giant Sable Antelope, the American Bison once numbered as few the Giant Sable Antelope does now, and as 2017 there are 500,000 Bison. Of course, of those how many are pure bloods is a different question altogether.
 
I know sometime around 2018/19ish, Micanopy attempted to import a herd of African Forest Buffalo from Europe and they were denied. Of course then San Diego famously imported both Mishmi and Golden Takin from Europe. Meanwhile, I've heard that zoos aren't even allowed to import giraffe sperm from outside the country! I think it is a very case-by-case basis, but it is a very expensive and labor-intensive process only to find out you've been denied..

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I know sometime around 2018/19ish, Micanopy attempted to import a herd of African Forest Buffalo from Europe and they were denied. Of course then San Diego famously imported both Mishmi and Golden Takin from Europe. Meanwhile, I've heard that zoos aren't even allowed to import giraffe sperm from outside the country! I think it is a very case-by-case basis, but it is a very expensive and labor-intensive process only to find out you've been denied..

~Thylo
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Not sarcasm but asking genuinely -- does institution reputation play a role? Would an institution like San Diego with a global reputation have an easier time with these kinds of imports than Micanopy?
 
JVM said:
Not sarcasm but asking genuinely -- does institution reputation play a role? Would an institution like San Diego with a global reputation have an easier time with these kinds of imports than Micanopy?
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I dare say maybe it can given trust of sufficent quarantine/due diligence occurring, but everyone still has to go through the same permitting process and success varies depending on what species is involved and where from. As a general rule it's pretty rare to get hoofstock imported from anywhere now; trying to import wild bovids from Africa - as suggested in the rekindled discussion here - would almost certainly be denied.
 
Great Argus said:
I dare say maybe it can given trust of sufficent quarantine/due diligence occurring, but everyone still has to go through the same permitting process and success varies depending on what species is involved and where from. As a general rule it's pretty rare to get hoofstock imported from anywhere now; trying to import wild bovids from Africa - as suggested in the rekindled discussion here - would almost certainly be denied.
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Thank you for clarifying. I figured as such but appreciate it.
 
Kudu21 said:
The last giant eland left several years ago now. There have been common eland in their place with the Grevy’s zebra and assorted bachelor antelope since then. The last male at the SDZ is now the breeding bull at Miami.
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Wow, the app is way out of date in that case. It explicitly says "eastern giant eland' with the zebra.
 
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