tetrapod - the worst thing is it not only effects any said species but has repercussions for others as well. in australia we had two exotic dog species in decent numbers (for australia) - maned wolves and wild dogs. wild dogs were being managed properly whereas only melbourne and western plains kept maned wolves. dubbo had bred so many that they actually were actually well in surplus and the new zoos were desperately needed to come of board, hold the species and have the program upgraded to a proper level of management.
but taronga zoo (who own western plains mind you) decided they wanted dhole. this is despite the fact that they no longer kept the species and had previously let it die out of their collection.
melbourne and adelaide agreed they too wanted dhole and the maned wolf was looking destined for phase-out in favour of a no more interesting (i would argue less) species, not even in the country that looked strikingly similar to our own native species of wild dog. why? for the simple fact that unlike the south american maned wolf - dhole were an asian species. and asian species are "in" at the moment with australian zoos.
and so only a few years ago when zoos should no better and we are supposed to be consolidating and initiating rescue packages for species, not making the same mistakes again, the a-typical scenario played out, proving our zoos are really no closer to being responsible with species management than they ever have been.
taronga imported only one pair of dhole and no more, despite initially declaring intention for a couple of pairs.
adelaide pulled out of their commitments. so too did melbourne. taronga bred their pair anyway, but since they have no additional unrelated animals can't continue past the first generation.
the program is downgraded.
so what have taronga done? well they have taken two endangered cambodian dhole and effectively "dead ended" their genetic lineage. thus not only have they failed at establishing a dhole breeding program it could be said that they have actually been counter productive to any other potential program as well by removing animals from the population.
in adddition the maned wolf population has now lost four valuable potential spaces that are being taken up by dhole which could have instead serviced them.
this didn't happen a decade ago. it happened recently.
