Achieving a balance: Animal welfare and conservation

Date:  January 31, 2019

Source:  San Diego Zoo Global

In a paper recently published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, a team of researchers, animal care experts and veterinarians evaluate the balance between animal welfare and conservation needs for a number of rare species of native birds being raised in San Diego Zoo Global breeding centers in Hawaii. The paper shares the challenges and complexity of situations where the needs of an individual and the needs of a species are weighed, and how that balance is achieved.

"Animal welfare and conservation breeding have overlapping and compatible goals, but promoting optimal welfare in breeding programs can require tactics that minimize the effects of captivity," said Alison Greggor, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate at San Diego Zoo Global in the 'alalā recovery program, which prepares these endangered birds for eventual release into wild habitats. "We offer a perspective on how SDZG's Hawaiian Endangered Bird Conservation Program strives for high welfare standards while balancing the needs for birds to learn skills for the future."

The paper describes a scientific attempt to measure animal welfare standards using guidelines provided through an "Opportunity to Thrive" model, as they are balanced by the need to prepare individuals for naturally occurring stresses.

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Rare Kiwi Chick Hatches at San Diego Zoo

Created on Thursday, 23 October 2014 19:00

Written by IVN

San Diego, California - After undergoing a 78-day incubation, one of the longest of all birds, a rare kiwi chick hatched this morning at the San Diego Zoo's Avian Propagation Center. Animal care staff made the decision to intervene with the hatching of this newest chick when it didn't proceed as it should.

Unlike most birds, it is the father kiwi that incubates the enormous egg. The female is nearby and will sometimes lay a second egg a few weeks later. When hatching, a kiwi chick typically pokes a ring at the top of the egg with its beak, allowing it to emerge from the top of the egg. This chick accidentally poked its legs through the bottom of the egg, making it difficult to emerge. Staff monitoring the chick carefully taped the bottom of the egg to give the chick the opportunity to hatch on its own, but after the chick was still unsuccessful, keepers peeled back part of the shell to assist with the hatching.


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Breeding success for endangered bird

September 8, 2014

By LEE IMADA - Managing Editor (leeimada@mauinews.com) , The Maui News

San Diego Zoo Global photo

Six healthy palila nestlings, a "critically endangered" small native songbird, were bred in captivity at the San Diego Zoo Global's Maui Bird Conservation Center in the first full breeding season at the Olinda facility.

The oldest chicks are under 2 months old, but they all have passed the danger stage, according to Christina Simmons, public relations manager for San Diego Zoo Global. The center's goal is to bring species back from the brink of extinction.

"We have every confidence that they will grow into adulthood," she said in a phone interview Tuesday.

There are less than 1,000 palila left in the wild, said Bryce Masuda, San Diego Zoo Global program manager. Their lone habitat is the mamane and naio forests between 6,500 and 9,500 feet in elevation on the slopes of Mauna Kea on Hawaii Island, a state Department of Land and Natural Resources website said.

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Parent-Raised Rare Birds are First in this Century

Created on Friday, 28 June 2013 16:33 Written by IVN

San Diego, California - Two `alalā (also known as Hawaiian crows) at the San Diego Zoo Global's Keauhou Bird Conservation Center represent the first chicks of this critically endangered species to be successfully raised by a parent in more than 25 years. 

Hatched on 30th April and 1st May 2013 on the Big Island of Hawai`i, the chicks have passed an important survival marker - fledging. Newly feathered and beginning to fly, the birds represent a species that is extinct in the wild and is being managed through a collaborative effort as the Hawai`i Endangered Bird Conservation Program (HEBCP).

For just over six weeks, the chicks were cared for by their mother, enabling them to rapidly develop from small, naked, blind nestlings into fully-feathered youngsters, almost the size of an adult. On 13th June 2013, both chicks took the bold step of jumping out of their nest.

"It has been nerve-racking watching these chicks on camera. We had no idea whether Po Mahina would be a good mother. Fortunately her maternal instincts kicked in straight away and we are absolutely delighted that the chicks have successfully fledged," said Rosanna Leighton, Research Coordinator at KBCC. "We also have another female raising a chick a few weeks younger, still in the nest."

The last `alala were recorded in their Hawaiian forest natural habitat in 2002 where they were threatened by habitat destruction, introduced predators and avian disease. The HEBCP has been working with the species in captivity since 1993, bringing the population from a low of only 20 individuals to more than 110. Until this year artificial incubation and hand-rearing were used as a strategy to maximize breeding success.

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