The problem is that if they give away animals on loan, I think China is first in line. Politically speaking the Ethiopian government is rather fond of China and not so much fond of the west (for the people of Ethiopia it seems to be the other way around). Unfortunately there will always be this whole political dimension involved....
That’s true but there are some good zoos in China that could properly care for the animals. St. Louis zoo is also a candidate for these animals as they do lots of conservation work with mountain nyalas and Ethiopian wolves. Leipzig is a sister city of Addis Ababa so the zoo is also a possibility if they really want them. Al Wabra already works with many horn species as well (Beria antelope are actually on loan from the government) so they are also a candidate.
Overall there are other facilities that could get the big three of the highlands (Ethiopian wolf, mountain nyala, walia ibex) as many place already do conservation work in the area and in the case of Leipzig and China, are good friends of the country. This is just a prediction though.
There's more that goes into a zoo (and conservation, by extension) then a rapidly growing economy*. The new prime minister has a mess of competing challenges that put conservation down towards the bottom. And that's assuming that the entire country/region doesn't break down into internecine warfare.
* - It's not hard to grow an economy when 85% of it is reliant upon agricultural production. It's also dangerously susceptible to a spike in global interest rates being overly reliant on foreign investment.
Pride goeth before a fall and let me join in the chorus of those who don't see why this has to be an either or situation. You just saw what happened with the Northern white rhinoceros,right?
Let’s hope it doesn’t go to a point of the northern white rhinoceros. The leadership change is still fairly new so I’m still unsure what the future holds for the political and economical world of Ethiopia.
Waiting and hoping for the government to realise means you are gambling with the species continued existence. What I read above is you would rather the species went extinct (waiting for the government) than let other zoos in the world have them.
The Ethiopian Govt might one day build a zoo, but in the foreseeable future it won't be first class (more than likely it will be like a roadside zoo as opposed to a White Oaks-type facility). To set up a breeding group requires a lot of money and expertise; overseas facilities can provide this, not the government of a third world nation.
Hix
I think if facilities like Leipzig and other organizations pitch in it could be at least better than a roadside zoo. I don’t want the species to go extinct and I won’t let my political views cloud that so I’m sorry if that is what you read from my comment.
It seems that I’m in a very small minority with this topic. After thinking about it and reading about my country’s current state and other countries, it seems that if this thing continues populations will go very low. Our country already has regional extinctions and I won’t allow for this to continue. I think my views are more baised on what happens with the Sumatran rhinoceros. I’m worried that a captive breeding program will fail and make the state of the species worse off.
But as technology grows and political relationships become more and more important, I thought of a compromise between the ideals of the majority and the ideals of the minority. Yes this has many holes but it could work if the organizations come together.
I purpose Dassie rat’s idea that Ethiopia can implement the loaning system. Facilities that work closely with conservation in the area (St.Louis, Frankfurt, etc) and zoos that are up to very high standards and have some relation to the nation (Leipzig) can pay for these loans and have captive breeding efforts in their zoos. The loan money can be used to not only fund conservation efforts in the nation, but can help build a breeding facility similar to Al warba so that there is a place back home that animals can be sent back to (Like pandas in China) so not only there is a worldwide breeding effort but also one back home. If things go haywire in Ethiopia (political issues, economic issues, famine, etc) the facility in Ethiopia could send many of the animals to previously mentioned places so that there is still a good gene pool within the species. I think this could potentially work but there are still many factors that I probably didn’t point out. It will take a lot of convincing and coaxing from the Ethiopian government to let this happen and that’s exactly what I plan to do in the far future. I’m not saying I’m building said facility in Ethiopia but I’ll get involved anyway I can to help the beauty that is my nation’s wildlife.
