Regional Collection Plans sustain the beauty of biodiversity.

1. Regional Collection Plans sustain the beauty of biodiversity.

2. · Conservation · Education · Research · Recreation

3. Self-sustaining animal populations Zoos and aquaria need to have popu-lations of many species that are large enough to prevent inbreeding.

4. Resources are always at a premium EAZA member institutions make very careful choices about which species to keep and which ones not to keep.

5. Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) Institutions that use RCPs to guide their institutional collection planning processes benefit from the TAGs comprehensive taxonomic review.

6. Institution that keep RCP taxa have the assurance that the taxa they select are more likely to be available in the long term for their display, conservation, education and research objectives.

7. RCPs include • a list of taxa recommended for management in the zoos and aquariums, • the level at which those taxa should be managed, • the Conservation Status of taxa • detailed explanations how those recommendations were developed, • and an evaluation of how much space should be dedicated to each recommended taxon.

8. TAG Definition: The TAG should specify all taxa it is dealing with.

9. Conservation Status of Taxa: Sources: IUCN Red Lists, IUCN SSC Action Plans, CITES, etc. Critical   Endangered Vulnerable

10. Space Analysis : The TAG should compile a estimate of the space currently available and space that will be available to TAG taxa in in the future.

11. Selection Criteria - The status of the species in the wild - Conservation potential - Scientific/research potential - Exhibit value - The educational value of the species- Husbandry expertise- Taxonomic uniqueness - What are other regions doing?

12. Status of the species in the wild In case a species is threatened in the wild, and zoos and aquaria can make a contribution to its survival, they may choose to keep this species instead of a non-threatened species.

13. Conservation potential The potential for a captive population to effect in or ex situ conservation should be considered.

14. Scientific/research potential The TAG should evaluate specific research objectives

15. Exhibit value The visitor appeal of the species should be evaluated in this category.

16. The educational value of the species In case a species has special features about which an interesting story can be told, the TAG may propose to keep this species instead of a less interesting species.

17. Husbandry expertise Have zoos and aquaria successfully kept and bred a species?

18. Taxonomic uniqueness This criterion may be considered in conjunction with other criteria, such as exhibit value and conservation potential.

19. What are other regions doing?

20. Management Criteria • Existence of a viable European zoo population • What is the availability of the species/taxon in EAZA collections? • What is the availability of the species/taxon outside EAZA collections? • Availability of potential founders • What is the extinction risk for the species/taxon within EAZA collections if it is not managed ? • In what direction does the extinction risk within EAZA collections move if it is managed ? • What is the demand for the species/taxon within EAZA collections • What is the institutional commitment to the species/taxon within EAZA membership • How easy is it to breed the species/taxon? • What is the extinction risk for the species/taxon in the wild? • What are the program operating costs for this species/taxon? • Is there an international conservation/management program for this species/taxon? • What type of link would a management program have to conservation of this species/taxon in the wild? • Is there a conservation program associated with this species/taxon?

21. Recommendations All the above issues are taken into consideration. In the resulting Regional Collection Plan each TAG recommends which species EAZA member institutions should be keeping and how they should manage them.

22. Define specific conservation, research, or education function of all taxa recommended for a conservation management programme.