Conservation Initiatives Around the World

Having only attended one of the four Barrow’s Lectures at the Cincinnati Zoo, I can say that my view on conservation efforts around the world has drastically grown.  As mentioned a few weeks ago, I attended Amy Dickman’s lecture on the Human-Carnivore conflict in Tanzania.  In the conservation world, Amy Dickman is a common name and her efforts have made a large positive impact on the lion population.  I look forward to the other lectures in the Barrow series and learning more on these issues. 

Other than Amy’s efforts, many conservation efforts occur around the world.  Basically, if there is an endangered animal, then there is an effort toward its conservation.  These efforts can include conserving the habitat through natural park reservations, educating the locals on the animal and it’s habitat, and the like. 

After researching conservation around the world, the first thing that came to mind was Bernadette Plair. Bernadette is a researcher as the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and she works with CREW, The Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife. I had the pleasure to meet with Bernadette and hear her story about the Blue and Gold Macaws, Ara ararauna, and their reintroduction into her homeland of Trinidad (LaFay, 2004). Bernadette grew up with these birds in the 1950’s. She left Trinidad for her studies but never forgot the macaws. In 1993, Bernadette and the zoo began the very successful reintroduction project by first organizing the Trinidad-based Centre for the Rescue of Endangered Species of Trinidad and Tobago (CRESTT) (Lafay, 2004).

Reintroduction efforts began with pin pointing the reason for eradication. The macaws completely disappeared from Trinidad due to poaching, industrial rice farming, and the pet trade in the 1960’s (CZBG, 2011). Also, the efforts needed to begin with wild caught birds(those confiscated from illegal traders) and teaching those captively born how to survive in the wild. These captive born chicks were raised in Trinidad under the Wildlife Division by researchers and other bird surrogates. However, it was nearly four years before their breeding efforts were successful. The first successful group of blue and gold macaws were reintroduced in December 1999 (LaFay, 2004). This group consisted of nine macaws which formed fours breeding groups and produced twelve chicks within two nesting periods (LaFay, 2004). Finally, the natives needed to be educated on these birds and the pet trade. The success continues today and will continue due to the passionate efforts of Bernadette and her researchers. Many years were put into this effort with trial and error. By teaching the macaws how to live in the wild and the natives how to keep this species in Trinidad, the researchers established a safe environment for the Blue and Gold Macaw to thrive.

References:
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (2011) Blue and Gold Macaws.

http://www.cincinnatizoo.org.
LaFay, L. (2004). Resurrecting the Blue and Gold. http://www.parrotchronicles.com.