Philippine spotted deer

Ituri

Ituri

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I was reading in the LA Zoo's member magazine back in 2005, and it talks about plans for the LA Zoo to import a herd of Philippine spotted deer, because White Oak was not able to "step to the plate" financially speaking to undertake the costly import? Do any of you with ties to either of these facilities have any further information on this? I also believe it mentions the SD Zoo being involved somewhere.
 
Last I heard, the plans are still there, but there are so many hoops to jump through ... the Calamian deer situation was rather a mess until recently due to regulations imposed by the Philippine Government (hence why no animals left San Diego between their arrival in 1995(?) and 2008). Now that those issues have been resolved, hopefully there can be more focus on the spotted deer.

I believe the idea was to import animals from Panay (Europe works with deer of Negros origin), in the same sort of set up as the Visayan warty pigs. Unfortunately, this means that the captive population in Europe (which is doing fairly well, after a slow start) isn't an option, and all of the imports must come from the Philippines. I also recall hearing that ruminant quarantine spaces were/are almost non-existent ... the regulations are horrific.
 
Well, in the LA zoo's member issue from this summer there is a full article on deer species at the zoo, and it does talk about acquiring Philippine Spotted Deers in the "near future". This article also mentions that the zoo wants to acquire Reeve's Muntjacs (which are part of the elephant exhibit), Musk deer, and Bokharan Deer (Bactrian Wapiti). This article was done due to the acquisition of the calamian deer. I'm sure both the Musk Deer and the Bactrian Wapiti will come from SD zoo as it's the only zoo that has both species in North America.
 
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Im not at liberity to discuss specifics regarding the future and finances of White Oak...all I can say is that since the death of our benefactor, the future of the conservation center was unclear and all of our finances and support have been maintained to continue our existing programs at status quo. No major new programs have been initiated at White Oak in the last ten years. From what has been learned this year, all I can say is that the future is bright for White Oak.

In 1997, White Oak was involved with the Melbourne Zoo, the Philippine Deer Conservation Program (now probably the SSP) and the Philippine government to initate imports of the spotted deer. Our benefactor died in January 1998.

I doubt White Oak will have any part in any imports. We are looking at expanding our existing programs at the moment.
 
Thanks for the updates, and I'm glad to hear the future is bright for White Oak.

Are the only places holding Bactrian wapiti right now in the US San Diego and The Wilds?
 
Ituri said:
Thanks for the updates, and I'm glad to hear the future is bright for White Oak.

Are the only places holding Bactrian wapiti right now in the US San Diego and The Wilds?
Click to expand...

According to ISIS, but if the info on the LA zoo member magazine is correct, the LA zoo will be the third.
 
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