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Black footed fer­ret (Mustela nigripes) kits at Toronto Zoo.
Image credit K. Wright, Toronto Zoo.Zoo part­ners with Inter­na­tional Union for the Con­ser­va­tion of Nature to save species

Lin­coln Park Zoo in part­ner­ship with the Inter­na­tional Union for the Con­ser­va­tion of Nature’s (IUCN) Rein­tro­duc­tion Spe­cial­ist Group (RSG) will host the 2^nd Inter­na­tional Wildlife Rein­tro­duc­tion Con­fer­ence from 13 – 16 Novem­ber, 2018. After a suc­cess­ful con­fer­ence at the zoo in 2008, rein­tro­duc­tion biol­o­gists and man­agers from around the globe will again con­vene in Chicago to share infor­ma­tion, tri­umphs and tribu­la­tions from expe­ri­ences restor­ing wildlife back into the wild.

From deep sea coral to green-​winged macaws, rein­tro­duc­tion biol­o­gists are tire­lessly work­ing to restore native pop­u­la­tions of endan­gered wildlife. Many wildlife pop­u­la­tions through­out the world are expe­ri­enc­ing dra­matic declines in size or are already extir­pated in what sci­en­tists have deemed the sixth mass extinc­tion. An estab­lished con­ser­va­tion strat­egy to enhance the restora­tion of locally extinct pop­u­la­tions is the rein­tro­duc­tion of in-​situ and ex-​situ bred animals.

Phil Sed­don, Uni­ver­sity of Otago Prof. and Chair of the Conference’s Sci­en­tific Advi­sory Group

“This is a chal­leng­ing time for many species,” said Lin­coln Park Zoo’s Exec­u­tive Vice Pres­i­dent Megan Ross, Ph.D., “Lin­coln Park Zoo is excited to gather the great­est minds in rein­tro­duc­tion sci­ence to dis­cuss how we can best increase our impact to pre­serve the nat­ural world”

The sec­ond Inter­na­tional Wildlife Rein­tro­duc­tion Con­fer­ence will bring together top experts in the field to focus on the evolv­ing sci­ence of rein­tro­duc­tion and dis­cuss ‘lessons learnt’, iden­tify sci­en­tific processes that improve effec­tive­ness and build a cul­ture of inno­va­tion of the­o­ret­i­cal and applied research on wildlife rein­tro­duc­tion and other con­ser­va­tion translocations.

While there have been sev­eral high-​profile suc­cess­ful rein­tro­duc­tions over the past decades such as Puerto Rican par­rots, Cal­i­for­nia con­dors, Ara­bian oryx, black-​footed fer­rets and golden lion tamarins, wildlife rein­tro­duc­tion is inher­ently chal­leng­ing. More than 40 speak­ers, includ­ing many notable wildlife experts, will present new research find­ings to fos­ter col­lab­o­ra­tions and improve the suc­cess rates of future rein­tro­duc­tion programs.

The Inter­na­tional Wildlife Rein­tro­duc­tion Con­fer­ence is also made pos­si­ble by Cal­gary Zoo and Saint Louis Zoo.

(Source: Lin­coln Park Zoo press release, 11.01.2018)