Notes from Reintroduction SAG Meeting
AZA Annual Conference 2004
New Orleans, LA—Saturday, September 18, 2004

Welcome and introductions

Attendees signed in and they listed if wanted to be members of SAG. 

ReintroSAG Structure  – Joanne Earnhardt

Chair: Joanne Earnhardt

Vice Chair: Tandora Grant

Steering Committee introduced: Devra Kleiman (absent), Colleen Lynch, Don Moore (absent), Peter Siminski

The secretary position and the Vote-of Confidence process are both on-hold pending WCMC review of SAGs and restructuring of other programs.

Publications list – Tandora Grant

A list of recent publications on reintroduction was distributed by Grant via the list serve.  The original intent of distributing actual articles on the list serve was abandoned, due to concerns from the AZA legal affairs office concerning copyright infringement.  Grant and Earnhardt were able to acquire authorization to post abstracts, however.

IUCN Reintroduction Specialist’s Group update – Devra Kleiman (absent)

Kleiman is the North American liaison to the IUCN/SSC Reintroduction Specialist’s Group (RSG).  She could not attend this meeting.  Earnhardt reported in her absence that the IUCN CBSG meeting is planned for October in Taipei and talks on reintroductions are shceduled, and the IUCN World Congress is scheduled for November, also in Southeast Asia. 

Implementation of ReintroSAG Action Plan – Joanne Earnhardt, Will Wadell

The Reintro SAG is acting upon four items from the SAG Action Plan. 

1. At this conference, a reintroduction symposium entitled “The Hard Choices in Reintroduction” is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. 
2. Also a roundtable discussion on “Animal Welfare and Reintroductions” is scheduled for later on Tuesday.  It is hoped that the Animal Welfare roundtable will test the need and desire for a future symposium on this topic. 
3. Waddell reported on the activities of the ReintroSAG’s Data Analysis Task Force.  This task force is looking at studbook data handling for programs involving captive and reintroduced populations.  Currently several strategies are being used.  The task force hopes to provide guidance for improving data handling to meet the analysis needs of these integrated programs.  The Lincoln Park Zoo currently has an IMLS grant to develop software that will address these data needs for reintroduced animals in the new ZIMS project. 
4. The SAG has also completed the survey of AZA reintroduction projects (See below).

Reintroduction Vignettes

The ReintroSAG hopes to have as a regular feature of its annual reporting meeting for the membership reports from various reintroduction projects.  The purpose of these reports is to inform and educate the membership on these reintroduction activities including their successes, failures, new approaches, and just updates.

1. Dr. Peter Tolson  reported on the Mona Island and Virgin Island Boa SSP reintroduction project. Tolson reported 41 released boas on Mona Island in ’93 and ’94, and 41 in the Virgin Islands in ’96 and ’03, plus some translocations.  He stated that these sites are now rat free, the main threat.   Evaluation protocols have shown 82.6% annual survival on Mona Island.  9.75% of the “old-timers” are still around.
2. Karen Bauman reported on the history and current activities with swift fox recovery in the U.S. and Canada.  The proposed federal endangered listing of the swift fox in the late ’90s prompted examination of swift fox status in the range states.  The result was that they did not warrant listing at that time.  However, the result of these activities was the formation of an U.S. Swift Fox Conservation Team and a Canadian Swift Fox Recovery Team.  These entities are active today.  The AZA Canid TAG has recently renewed ties with these teams and the role of zoos in swift fox conservation is valued and being clarified by these teams.  Reintroductions and translocations have happened on the Blackfeet tribal lands, in South Dakota on Turner Foundation lands, and in Kansas by the USGI.  There is a proposal for reintroduction on the Blood tribal lands that is being evaluated by the teams and the TAG for the appropriateness of using zoo-bred animals in the project.
3. Paul Marinari reported on the black-footed ferret recovery program.  Currently there are six captive facilities holding ferrets that are involved in the reintroductions.  Marinari reported on efforts to enhance the survival of reintroduced ferrets by encouraging predator avoidance, evaluating soft versus hard releases and through predator control and exclusion.  He has found that preconditioning the ferret to their release surrounding for 30 days has resulted in a three times greater survival rate of reintroduced ferrets.  Marinari also reported on their population monitoring program and their disease monitoring program.  He reported that there are now 1,800 ferrets at nine reintroduction sites.  A Canadian release is possible in the near future.  The Mexican release site has been severely degraded and no further reintroductions have been planned for this site.

The ReintroSAG’s survey of AZA reintroduction programs – Joanne Earnhardt

This survey is completed.  It has been distributed on the ReintroSAG list serve and is available on the Lincoln Park Zoo website. 

Announcements:

• There is an effort underway by the Calgary Zoo to look at the success of reintroduction programs globally.
• The avian reintroduction and translocation databases now contains data on 140 reintroductions worldwide. 
• A USFWS – Davis, CA staff member is compiling a similar database for amphibian reintroductions.

Business from the floor

• Report from South Africa of a Namibian reintroduction project with vultures.
• Bill Houston reported on a proposed addax and scimitar-horned oryx reintroduction using SSP and EEP captive animals.  See session 39 on the SSIG activities at the conference.
• Also at the conference is a session on island conservation involving reintroductions.
• The Vancouver Island Marmot reintroduction was briefly reported on.

Meeting adjourned

Notes from Reintroduction SAG Meeting
AZA Annual Conference 2003
Columbus, Ohio—September 2003

We had a very thought-provoking ReintroSAG meeting at AZA this year. Sorry
that all of you could not attend but I will give you a synopsis.

First, there has been a structural change in the SAG. Ben Beck has stepped
down as chair after a long and productive chairmanship. Ben is a founder of
the ReintroSAG and has been leading it since its inception. However, not to
worry Ben's interest in reintroductions continues and he will remain an
active member and provide his expertise and guidance on the committee.
Thanks Ben for your capable leadership.

As Vice Chair of the SAG, I have stepped into the chair position. That means
that there is a vacancy for both the Vice Chair and the Secretary. Per WCMC
guidelines, the Vice Chair should be able to step into the Chair position
when necessary which means that they must be employed by an AZA zoo. This
requirement is not necessary for the Secretary. The other qualifications for
both positions are: be able to contribute time (not a lot) and attend the
annual meeting. If anyone is interested please contact me.

Second, I reported on the SAG membership, which is quite diverse. There are
46 members from AZA zoos, Fish and Wildlife Service, and  International
facilities. Their role is to advise on reintroduction issues and programs
and to participate in SAG
activities. Their expertise covers mammals (19 species), birds (8 species),
reptiles/amphibians (9 species) and invertebrates (6 species). The programs
are in 20 countries in North America, Africa, South America,Central America,
Asia and Australia. The reintroduction roles of our members cover project
director,  scientific advisor, captive breeding, and SSP/TAG coordinators.
Quite a talented group.

Third, we need to move the action plan forward to an implementation plan and
are establishing a new taskforce, the Implemenaion Plan Taskforce. Some of
the actions proposed for the ReintroSAG have already been started but we
need a formal plan. We are asking for volunteers and would encourage some of
the Action Plan Taskforce members to volunteer but would also like some new
perspectives.  I think that this would be a really easy and interesting way
to be a good member of the SAG.

Two reports on specific reintroduction projects were presented by Peter
Tolson on ongoing programs with releases of Butterfly species  (specifically
wetland butterflies, e.g. purplish copper, Lycaedes helloides and Mitchell's
satyr, Neonympha mitchelli.) and by Don Moore on a potential reintroduction
(maybe even of several species) project in Argentina that WCS would be
coordinating.

A report was given by Mike Kreger, Ph.D., from the US FWS (OSA) on permit
issues with reintroductions especially in regard to interventions.

I reported on the Avian Reintroduction Database developed in partnership by
Lincoln Park Zoo and USFWS. At this time it is specific to reintroductions
(some captive component to the animals history) not translocations. It
should be finalized by the end of the year.

In new business, Devra Kleiman introduced a discussion of a reintroduction
for giant pandas proposed by the Chinese. Several members were familiar with
a past history on this proposal or had information on the current plan. It
was decided by the group that at this time there is no direct role for
comment by the ReintroSAG.

This was the end of our meeting time.

But a few comments on other activities during the AZA conference. There were
two sessions with talks about reintroductions organized by the ReintroSAG
that were terrific (no bias on my part). And Will Waddell did a really
interesting talk about the red wolf reintroduction program in another
session. At the Conservation and Science Program leaders session, I
announced that the ReintroSAG is available to assist with development of
reintroduction programs for AZA, to evaluate on-going programs, or to review
CEF proposals. If you are particularly interested in any of these areas
please contact me.

Thank you to all who participated in the meeting,
Joanne