European Endangered Species Programs - EEP

One of the main activities of the EAZA, the European zoo association, are the European endangered species programs (EEP). This program tries with specific and coordinated breed to preserve animal species which are threaten to die out.

Thus they followed the example of the American zoo association AZA with its species survival plans (SSP). Private-people and other institutions like universities or national-parks can also join the EEP in individual cases beside zoos.

Each animal species is managed by a zoo in frame of the EEP. The breeding-book of the population is managed by a local coordinator who gives recommendations for mating of individually animals to keep up an optimal gene pool. This is how the inbreeding risk is avoid because the coordinator decides which animals are mated because of close relatives aren`t allowed to be brought together. He also puts together new groups and organizes the exchange between the involved breeders. These coordinators meet each other every year on the EAZA annual meeting. They give reports and get professional advices. Guidelines of keeping for the respective species belong to it. The EEP are suggested by specialists for animal groups, the Taxon Advisory groups, of the EAZA and are confirmed and watched by the EEP-committee.

The 150 EEP, which exist for now, care in their majority about mammals. Birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and invertebrates are getting breed too. A fewer intensive variant of an EEP are the European Studbook Programs, the ESB, of the EAZA, in this context another 140 species get breed.

An EEP leads in the best condition to constant, healthy and selfpreserving populations. In addition animals should be reintroduced, to support and rebuild the wildlife populations. Examples are the European bison or the Przewalski horse.

A disease can completely erase a species or a race, if there are only a few exemplars of this species or the race left. Because of that the disease protection is very important by the keeping of threatened animals. A weakening of the total portfolio can lead to the impossibility of a successful breed with the remaining animals. Because of that it is important to scatter the exemplars of threatened animals widely and to pass on them to other animal parks. By synthetic insemination and modern possibility of transport the program is maintained. In certain circumstances the delivery of exemplars to private citizens is a precious help and in particular it is carried out by livestock breeds, which can be kept under usually agriculturally conditions. 

Oskar