BIAZA Public Access

How Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Breeding Programmes Work

The conservation role of zoos and aquariums can be split into two parts: in situ and ex situ conservation. Simply this means conservation of a species inside their natural habitat or outside their natural habitat respectively.

Ex situ conservation largely involves appropriate management of captive populations through coordinated breeding programmes. Management of captive populations removes the need to continuously take individuals from wild populations, which may contribute to their local extinction, and creates sustainable populations that can be used as advocates for conservation and environmental issues by raising awareness and generating funds for in-situ conservation.


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You could be forgiven for thinking that all that captive breeding involves is the successful breeding of zoo animals. However, there is a lot more to the coordinated breeding programmes that take place in the majority of zoos and aquariums. Conservation breeding concerns endangered or threatened species kept in captivity, and is managed at different levels with different aims including not breeding from some individuals.

Zoos and aquariums no longer work in isolation but act cooperatively along side each other, and in so doing they have become an integral part of the conservation movement. Collaboration and co-ordination are essential if captive populations are to be successfully maintained without the need to take individuals from wild populations. Animals in separate zoos should be managed as part of one single population, and this population must be kept genetically and demographically healthy.

It would be unwise to keep all individuals of one species in the same place, as we don’t want to risk losing the entire population to factors such as disease or natural catastrophe, but the population benefits genetically if it is managed as a single whole. Therefore, individuals, although physically located in zoos scattered across the world, are generally managed as one single, global population.

There are different levels of organisation of breeding programmes, from global and regional (e.g. Europe) down to individual institutional level. To ensure successful management between these differing levels there is extensive networking and cooperation between and within regions. Regular meetings are held to maintain contact, discuss pertinent issues and exchange relevant information.

How are breeding programmes managed?

Until 2006, captive breeding programmes In Britain and Ireland were run as the Joint Management of Species Programme (JMSP), overseen by the Joint Management of Species Committee (JMSC), which is a special group of experts set up by BIAZA, and smaller, more specifically focused Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) which concentrated on a particular group of species, or taxon.

Due mainly to the increasing level of operation of TAGS at European level, changes were made to the system at the Britain & Ireland level to better reflect the management of breeding programmes on a regional and global scale and to ensure that it remains relevant and useful to all BIAZA members.

Britain and Ireland form part of Europe, and it is important that we do not isolate ourselves from European Programmes, which are coordinated through the European equivalent of BIAZA; the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). BIAZA member collections are encouraged to join the relevant European programme for their species, as most British and Irish programmes have become European wide in their scope. It is the role of the EAZA TAGs to develop Regional Collection Plans (RCPs) for the species that are kept in captivity in European collections, outlining recommendations for the management of these species. The RCP also identifies which species need to be managed in European Endangered Species Programmes (EEPs) and European Studbooks (ESBs). See the ‘what are studbooks?’ page for more details.

Britain and Ireland form part of Europe, and it is important that we do not isolate ourselves from European Programmes, which are coordinated through the European equivalent of BIAZA; the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The BIAZA TAGs are completely compatible with, and should form part of, the EAZA TAGs. JMSC recommend to all member collections that they join the relevant European programme for their species, as most British and Irish programmes have become European wide in their scope. In some cases the JMSP co-ordinator will also be the European co-ordinator for the species. If not, they will make the job of the EEP co-ordinator easier as regards to communication with BIAZA collections. This will be especially true where the private sector is involved.

The roles of BIAZA TAGs differed from that of the equivalent EAZA TAGs which could often lead to some confusion, so they were renamed and reorganised to reflect this differences. BIAZA now operates combined Taxon Working Groups (TWGs)

Taxon Working Groups

There are seven Taxon Working Groups (TWGs) that represent the range of different taxa held in zoological collections in Britain and Ireland, namely Mammal (MWG), Bird (BWG) Terrestrial Invertebrate (TIWG), Reptile and Amphibian (RAWG), Aquarium (AWG), Plant (PWG) and Native Species (NSWG). The main focus of these working groups includes:

	Encouraging advances in knowledge in their respective taxa (e.g. husbandry, nutrition, disease) through workshops, discussion, action plans etc
	Establishing and managing focus groups
	Encouraging and supporting the development and training of keeping staff
	Supporting and/or actively carrying out in situ conservation
	Disseminating information from regional and global management level
	Encouraging cooperation and collaboration with other BIAZA committees (e.g. marketing, education, research)

Focus Groups

Where there are specific issues pertinent to an individual species or taxa, issues that are better or more appropriately dealt with at BIAZA rather than EAZA level and where the TWG meeting is too big and general a forum to allow these issues to be effectively addressed, then a dedicated focus group may be established. These groups may not be permanent, but exist for as long as there is a need for it. Many of the current focus groups reflect the former BIAZA TAGs and represent species within the taxon that require a greater level of attention and discussion.

Joint Working Groups Committee

The Taxon Working Groups and their Focus Groups are overseen by the Joint Working Groups Committee (JWGC) which consists of 15-20 people made up mainly of the chairs and vice-chairs of the TWGs. The role of JWGC is to set objectives and timescales of TWGs and focus groups and to ensure that BIAZA TWGs work closely with EAZA TAGs and where appropriate liaise with species management programmes in other regions.

British Isles Native Species

British Isles Native Species are dealt with slightly differently as a European Regional Collection Plan may not be ‘sensitive’ enough to reflect the national requirements. It is therefore the role of the Native Species Working Group, in conjunction with other organisations such as Natural England and the Countryside Council for Wales, to draw up a British Isles Native Species Collection Plan and to manage native species based on the following management categories:

1	BIAZA Co-operative Conservation Programme – high level management within the British and Irish region with species covered by multi-agency conservation programmes with the captive population directly linked to on-site conservation work e.g. reintroduction to the wild.
2	BIAZA Co-ordinated Species – high level management within the British & Irish region, with a designated co-ordinator providing recommendations to participating institutions.
3	BIAZA Studbook Species – medium level management within the British & Irish region with species covered by a studbook to which TAGs and participating institutions may refer in order to make decisions.
4	BIAZA Monitored Species – low level management within the British & Irish region with species monitored by designated members of the TWGs through a register or census

The Native Species Working Group (NSWG) focuses on key issues surrounding native species (both captive and wild) and habitats, in particular the important role that zoos and aquariums can play in native species conservation. The NSWG consists of a steering committee of around 12 members made up of professionals from zoos and aquariums, government offices, charities and NGOs. As with the other working groups, focus groups are established to deal with specific issues, problems or species.

Do all zoos and aquariums participate in organised breeding programmes?

Responsible zoos, aquariums and other collections that hold threatened species will participate in organised breeding programmes. With the wild situation as it is, it is hard to justify keeping a threatened species in captivity and not participating in a programme. Collections are expected to commit all their species to the relevant Taxon Working Group and it is part of their obligations of membership when a collection signs up to an organisation like BIAZA.

How important is conservation breeding?

The first official recognition of the important role that conservation breeding plays in species conservation was by the IUCN (The World Conservation Union), one of the world’s largest and most influential conservation bodies. In 1987 they published a policy statement recognising the logic and contribution of captive breeding (this was restated in 2002).

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) came into force in 1993 following the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. In the UK the CBD is implemented through 391 species Action Plans, 45 Habitat Action Plans and 162 Local Biodiversity Action Plans. Articles within the CBD highlight the importance of zoos to in-situ conservation, and their critical role in ex-situ conservation (complementary to in-situ conservation). This includes the captive breeding of animals, research and promoting the understanding of the importance of the conservation of biological diversity.

By managing our ex situ populations of threatened species to ensure that they do not go extinct in captivity, they can become a benefit to wild populations rather than being a sink. In some cases, such as the Przewalski’s horse and the scimitar-horned oryx which have become extinct in the wild, species would no longer exist if it were not for captive breeding programmes.

Captive breeding programmes fulfil several roles in conservation as outlined by the IUCN Technical Guidelines on the Management of Ex situ Populations for Conservation:

	To increase public and political awareness and understanding of important conservation issues
	To coordinate genetic and demographic population management of threatened taxa
	To re-introduce and support to wild populations (if applicable – see later)
	Habitat restoration and management
	Long-term gene and biomaterial banking
	Institutional strengthening and professional capacity building
	Biological and ecological research relevant to in situ conservation
	Fundraising to support efforts to conserve species in situ (i.e. in the field)

However, it must be noted that in certain cases, it may be more beneficial to harvest a limited number of individuals from the wild in order to ensure their survival. For example, the Marine Aquarium Council Certification System covers both practices (industry operators, facilities and collection areas) and products (aquarium organisms), from reef to retail ensuring a value in the reef, there by ensuring the reef’s survival. Project Seahorse aims to do similar things with seahorse harvesting and has lobbied CITES to ensure the legislation on seahorse trading is much tighter giving more return to the fishermen per seahorse.