Collaborating to Save Species

It’s not easy to restore wildlife where urbanization, deforestation, or climate change has threatened their native habitats. But Lincoln Park Zoo, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Reintroduction Specialist Group (RSG) is proud to announce we are hosting a conversation later this year to discuss these challenges—and some potential solutions—in hopes that we can preserve ecosystems and biodiversity in our rapidly changing world.

The Second International Wildlife Reintroduction Conference takes place at Lincoln Park Zoo from November 13-16. Reintroduction biologists and managers from around the globe will convene in Chicago to share information, triumphs and tribulations from their experiences in restoring wildlife back to the wild.

As our colleague, University of Otago professor and Chair of the conference’s Scientific Advisory Group Phil Seddon, said, “The health of the natural world depends on us as much as we depend on it.”

We are so proud and eager to welcome more than 250 notable wildlife experts to share their findings and foster collaborations. The event will also feature some 40 talks by leaders in the field, including:

• RSG founder Mark Stanley Price, Ph.D., who successfully reintroduced Arabian oryx to their native habitat after the species was extinct in the wild for 20 years;
• Indianapolis Prize winner Prof. Carl Jones, who is credited with bringing back from the brink of extinction several species native to the Isle of Mauritius, including the Mauritius kestrel, pink pigeon, echo parakeet and many more;
• Western Australia’s Scientist of the Year 2011, Prof. Richard Hobbs, who has contributed extensively to science around ecosystem fragmentation, rehabilitation, and restoration as well as landscape ecology.

From deep sea coral to green-winged macaws and ornate box turtles (pictured above), many species of flora and fauna are experiencing dramatic declines in population size or are already extirpated in what scientists have deemed the sixth mass extinction. Reintroduction of captive-bred wild animals is an established conservation strategy to bring these important species back to native ground. While wildlife reintroduction is inherently challenging, there have been several high profile and successful reintroductions over the past decades: California condors, black-footed ferrets, golden lion tamarins and Puerto Rican parrots (which now face new threats following Hurricane Maria).

Lincoln Park Zoo’s mission, in a nutshell, is to connect people with nature. Our vision is to inspire communities to create environments where wildlife will thrive in an urbanizing world. We remain dedicated to providing the best animal care and guest experience at the zoo, and we are thrilled to grow our participation in the global conversation about how our work can ultimately support thriving populations of the species in our care, in the wild.

I’d be remiss not to thank our fellow zoos who are sponsoring this event: Calgary Zoo and Saint Louis Zoo. These organizations are committed to the health of wild populations all across the planet, and we are grateful for their partnership.

If you are interested in wildlife reintroduction, I encourage you to visit reintro.org where we will soon announce some conference programming open to the public.

Kevin Bell