Australasian Bongo Population

[Kifaru Bwana]

The remaining Bongos are likely to just be allowed to pass away and not included in further plans.
Imports from the EEP are likely to bring their own set of problems where they are still controlled by the EEP and unlikely to be owned by our own zoos here. This has been a stumbling block with the EEP with Tapirs where the young if bred are not owned by the holding zoo here but by European zoos which would be counter productive for our regions zoos.
One Asian zoo only a few years ago imported 10 Bongo from the USA in one shipment, this perhaps could be a better option for us here with fewer problems, lets see how this pans out!

Tapirs as in South American lowland .... (Is it not true that species management requires a local strong commitment to the species involved and sufficiënt zoos come on board)?

Which Asian zoo imported 10 bongos from the US quite recently?

 

[Zoofan15]

Imports from the EEP are likely to bring their own set of problems where they are still controlled by the EEP and unlikely to be owned by our own zoos here. This has been a stumbling block with the EEP with Tapirs where the young if bred are not owned by the holding zoo here but by European zoos which would be counter productive for our regions zoos.

I don’t anticipate this would be an issue. We have several regional breeding programmes functioning as an extension to the EEP and have been able to establish thriving populations - Sri Lankan leopard being the most recent example.

It’s commonsense that Europe would transfer out stock that’s surplus to their population as the receiving zoo typically pays the import costs. They’re not gonna ship out stock only to pay to bring it back within a short space of time.

In any case, having an avenue to export offspring would be advantageous to our region. We can only place so many offspring and would no doubt receive breeding recommendations to fill any gaps.

 

[Zorro]

Tapirs as in South American lowland .... (Is it not true that species management requires a local strong commitment to the species involved and sufficiënt zoos come on board)?

Which Asian zoo imported 10 bongos from the US quite recently?

Correct the South American species. I believe there are "some" zoos interested to regain them again so I believe its wait and see what happens now.
Off the top of my head the Phu Quoc Safari zoo in Vietnam have imported bulk animals from around the world including at least a handful of antelope species, I seem to recall they imported 10 Bongo from the USA. It was about a handful of years ago I don't remember which year.

 

[Tiger91]

Joining a managed population like AZA or EAZA wouldn't be a bad idea. It would better enable movement of animals, which is why we probably are in this mess. If we went the EAZA route and the female was non breeding western plains could have applied to gain another female and more then likely got one. Instead of trying to acquire bongo that are outside the programs.

Tapir would be the same. There isnt going to be enough zoos that want to house them for a self sustaining population. So joining the european program would be preferable, they are easily imported which lowers costs. And it would give our zoos access to animals from populations outside our own. Meaning we dont have to rely on breeding to house the species here.
Ideally its something we should be looking at with more species that are easy to import.