Rome, 1st December 2008, “Under the umbrella of WAZA- the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums – over 100 zoos have joined forces in support of the Year of the Gorilla 2009. The ambassadors in the zoos help to implement WAZA’s commitment: raise awareness, focus on education and fund field conservation projects”, says Dr. Gerald Dick, WAZA’s Executive Director.

WAZA

Founded in 1946, WAZA works in partnership with international organisations with a view to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. These organisations include IUCN, CMS, CBD, CITES and RAMSAR. Via its institutional members and the zoos which are organised in the regional associations, WAZA reaches about 600 million visitors in 1300 zoos and aquariums.

Gorillas and Zoos

Zoos are very concerned about the global loss of biodiversity and therefore committed to conservation. Zoos together with numerous partners are heavily engaged in gorilla conservation since many years, so for instance gorilla reintroduction in Gabon, protected area management in Cameroon, Nigeria and Congo as well as ecotourism development and conservation education.  In addition, the findings of Dian Fossey are well associated with modern zoo-biology and gorillas do breed successfully in zoos.

“For captive gorillas, trees should be available to climb and material such as straw, branches, or bamboo supplied for nest building. Food could be allotted in small portions throughout the day and require some degree of preparation such as peeling and stripping of stalks or even searching for randomly distributed items supplied at various locations within the enclosure. Access to the outdoors should be provided; contrary to popular opinion, gorillas greatly enjoy basking in the sun. Of prime importance to the reclusive gorilla are obscured niches where captive animals may withdraw, as desired, not only from the presence of people but also from one another, as is the species’ habit in the wild. Those bearing the heavy responsibility of caring for captive gorillas should be encouraged to exchange so-called nonbreeders between populations, an inherent process among free-living gorillas and one that avoids inbreeding and also stimulates productivity.” Diane Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist, 1983.

Today the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is based at Zoo Atlanta, US. The International Studbook for gorillas has been established already in 1967 under the WAZA umbrella and today contains 141 institutions in 32 countries, regionally coordinated conservation breeding programmes exist in Northern America (SSP- Species Survival Plans) and Europe (EEP- European Endangered Species Programme) in order to help some of the world´s most critically endangered wildlife.

Examples of WAZA supported projects

The Nouabalé-Ndoki Project in Democratic Republic of Congo – Since the early 90s, WCS (Wildllife Conservation Society) aims to help conserve biodiversity in Congo by working with the government, local communities and private sector partners to adopt a landscape scale management approach, establishing and maintaining a network of well-managed protected areas, including the Nouabalé - Ndoki National Park.

Conservation of the Cross River gorilla in Nigeria - The Cross River gorilla project in Nigeria has four main components and is part of the implementation of the official “Regional Action Plan for the conservation of the cross river gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli)” : 1. Support for protected area development, 2. Landscape level conservation action, 3. Research, 4. Conservation education

Conservation aCross Cultures (CCC) in Limbe, Cameroon –supports summer workshops on the commercial bushmeat trade, wildlife diversity and conservation, and sustainable alternatives to bushmeat trade.


 

Education Centre Contact Details:

Contact Louise on 011 646-2000 ext 254 
or education@jhbzoo.org.za