Best zoo for in-situ conservation?

Which zoo is the best for in-situ conservation?

  • Total voters
    24
amur leopard

amur leopard

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Following an interesting point made by @TeaLovingDave in thread about Tasmanian devil breeding, I started to wonder which zoo in your opinions is the best for in-situ conservation efforts? Many zoos have extensive programs but inside and out of their locational country, so which one is best?

Of course, this is not just determined by money spent; it is also about how much the various species concerned need the help, where the money is going and the diversity of species affected by the funding.

I have made a small poll, but it would be great if there was some discussion as I think even if you think the winner is clear, it is useful to think of which zoos would be in the running for the places behind it. You can place 3 votes and that hopefully should give a good overview of the 'ranking'.

Here are a few links to get started:
Saving Wildlife - Bronx Zoo
We help them to surviveWe help them to survive
The association | Beauval Nature
Species Conservation
Toronto Zoo | Fighting Extinction
Our Science
What We Do | Conservation and Science | Chester Zoo
Conservation
Conservation | Our Approach - Durrell Wildlife
 
I agree with Mitaki. ZSL has various in situ conservation programmes worldwide, including Kenya, Nepal and Assam.
 
You are missing a great number of zoos that contribute a lot to conservation from Zürich to Frankfurt to Kerzers, Apenheul, Burgers' Zoo, St. Louis and many others, so it is practically impossible to vote....
 
lintworm said:
You are missing a great number of zoos that contribute a lot to conservation from Zürich to Frankfurt to Kerzers, Apenheul, Burgers' Zoo, St. Louis and many others, so it is practically impossible to vote....
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Fair enough.
I do now realise that I did miss a few that were rather obvious. Do you feel any of those are the best though?
 
amur leopard said:
Fair enough.
I do now realise that I did miss a few that were rather obvious. Do you feel any of those are the best though?
Click to expand...

I don't think I can name a best, because I hardly know enough about the efforts and involvements of half of them, but for example Frankfurt does far more than Prague, Berlin and Beauval (probably combined), with an annual conservation budget of 20 million euros (of which 14 million flows into the actual projects).

I also think it is somewhat unfair to directly compare large conservation organizations like WCS, Durrell, ZSL and Frankfurt that "also" own a zoo with zoos that contribute to conservation completely out of the revenue that the zoo gives them, like Zurich, Apenheul or Burgers' Zoo.
 
I don’t think conservation is something that can be ranked, or something which has an objectively “best” zoo. It’s hard to compare say San Diego and Toronto in terms of conservation, they have completely different amounts of money to play with (this would probably apply to other zoos in this poll as well).

In an an attempt to answer the question, I think in overall conversation Bronx (more accurately WCS) is #1 in terms of spending and does fantastic work across the globe. Although a lot of that is ex-situ, they still do a lot of really good in-situation work with some endangered species, so get my vote.

Also, why are both Berlin Zoos and ZSL combined into 1 entity, while Bronx and San Diego aren’t?
 
lintworm said:
I don't think I can name a best, because I hardly know enough about the efforts and involvements of half of them, but for example Frankfurt does far more than Prague, Berlin and Beauval (probably combined), with an annual conservation budget of 20 million euros (of which 14 million flows into the actual projects).

I also think it is somewhat unfair to directly compare large conservation organizations like WCS, Durrell, ZSL and Frankfurt that "also" own a zoo with zoos that contribute to conservation completely out of the revenue that the zoo gives them, like Zurich, Apenheul or Burgers' Zoo.
Click to expand...

TZDugong said:
I don’t think conservation is something that can be ranked, or something which has an objectively “best” zoo. It’s hard to compare say San Diego and Toronto in terms of conservation, they have completely different amounts of money to play with (this would probably apply to other zoos in this poll as well).

In an an attempt to answer the question, I think in overall conversation Bronx (more accurately WCS) is #1 in terms of spending and does fantastic work across the globe. Although a lot of that is ex-situ, they still do a lot of really good in-situation work with some endangered species, so get my vote.

Also, why are both Berlin Zoos and ZSL combined into 1 entity, while Bronx and San Diego aren’t?
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I don't think it is objective either, which is why there is a poll! Of course, everyone is free to have their own interpretation, whether or not you think size and income should matter heavily, whether or not you think local work matters more than work further afield (or vice versa even) and a plethora of other factors.

@lintworm I did not know that about Frankfurt so thank you for telling me. That is a very high sum! How is the money generated?
 
Well I know we are nor supposed to look at money, but WCS spends more than 100 million a year on conservation outside its parks, which far dwarfs other zoos work. This work is in over 60 countries focused around biodiversity hotspots. When you look at the specific program and the organizations relationship with governments, its a blowout. But again I don’t think this is something that should or can be ranked.

Many on this list do great work, but organizations like WCS and ZSL have such different focuses and scopes. I think a better question would be to focus on which major zoos in the United States and Europe are not doing enough. Plenty of major zoos spend less than 3% of there budget on conservation, most of these spend far more.
 
Now Durrell have a lot of projects but how many of them do they fund entirely by themselves?Not many if any I suspect
 
Had to vote for Jersey in this poll, as far as I'm concerned they are and have historically been the best with regards to contributing to in-situ species conservation.
 
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