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Our managed species are diverse, and so are the optimal population management strategies for them. While the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan® program has long been a symbol of our collective commitment to population sustainability, we really had built a “one-size-fits-all” management style which was not working for some of our programs.
Many SSPs were not sustainable within this framework and some were making management changes to improve sustainability even before the reimagination. Louisiana pine snakes had been managed as an SSP since 2000 with a goal not only to manage an ex situ population but to also establish a sustainable in situ population by releasing animals produced by the SSP. But sustainability of the SSP population was uncertain because of a widespread lack of breeding success across many AZA facilities.
The decision was made to move all non-breeding animals in the population to four breeding centers. Consolidation began in 2016, and in just two years, the population had more than doubled due to increased breeding success, and the number of hatches and releases each year has since nearly tripled. Even though the change reduced the number of holders, moving to consortium management improved success of the program by allowing a few select facilities to hone their focus.
To combat the population sustainability crisis, the AZA board of directors directed the Animal Population Management (APM) Committee to develop a new framework for managing animal programs. Last year, SSP assessments were developed and 369 SSPs completed the assessment process. Now that the SSP assessment evaluation process is complete, one question we are hearing is “what do we do about the programs that are no longer SSPs?”
The answer really depends on the program and the direction it wants to or should take.
For some programs, our task will be to start addressing concerns identified by the assessment to improve their sustainability and ultimately future consideration as an SSP. Other programs may never be able to meet the new SSP criteria, but this doesn’t mean they are not important to some members. Some programs could benefit from a new and different management system that was not possible within the structure of an SSP program.
When SSP assessments were launched in 2022, we saw a new and improved way to evaluate population sustainability by considering more than just long-term genetic diversity. These assessments identify program challenges to offer direction in developing SMAART Goals to ultimately benefit their sustainability. And although most programs not meeting the new SSP criteria did not run assessments, some like the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko did since the assessments do offer insights into the overall health of the population. Although satanic leaf-tailed geckos are no longer an SSP since they do not meet the 15-facility criterion, assessment evaluation indicated that this is a strong and sustainable population with regards to genetics, demographics, and husbandry. So, a primary goal for this studbook is to simply increase the number of holding facilities to regain the SSP title. It is a popular species, according to a recent space survey, so accomplishing this goal should not be challenging.
Even before SSP assessments were completed, many facilities, like White Oak Conservation in Yulee, Fla., were watching the changes coming to the SSP programs, anticipating those species that would no longer be SSPs. White Oak has had a long-term investment in some species and did not want to lose these programs. They contracted with an independent population biologist and plan to assume management of the gerenuk, slender-horned gazelle, roan, and Somali wild ass programs. White Oak believes the management plan is critical to the long-term survival of these species and will continue to partner with AZA and non-AZA expert advisors to maximize genetic diversity and appropriately manage the demographic distribution and long-term sustainability of these species.
American bison had been a candidate program before the SSP changes occurred. The studbook keeper had been tracking a small but growing population of genetically “pure” bison. Because many of these animals were part of individual partnerships between institutions and Native American tribal groups, it did not lend itself to traditional SSP style management. However, these partnerships and other growing American bison conservation efforts looked like a better fit for AZA SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction. A small group has started working on that process with the goal of creating a One Plan/ metapopulation management program among AZA institutions and the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council and its Tribal members working with the IUCN SSC Bison Specialist Group and other NGO’s.
Following the assessments, two long-time SSP programs from the Felid Taxon Advisory Group, fishing cats and black-footed cats, ended up not being SSPs. The Fishing Cat SSP fell short of the 15-facility minimum. The Black-Footed Cat SSP had 16 holding facilities at the time of the assessment but scored poorly in three of the four assessment categories, indicating that the program has barriers to overcome in the areas of breeding, survivorship, and genetic diversity. In order to fix a problem, you must first identify it. The assessments highlighted where the black-footed cat program needed to apply efforts to keep animals in AZA long-term and potentially regain SSP status. Both programs are now taking different approaches to address their new status.
The black-footed cat program has adequate institutional support with a number of facilities that already communicated their commitment to this species. They also already had a small steering committee in place. Their response is to form a consortium that somewhat mimics the structure of a successful SSP. The first step was to hold a steering committee meeting that also included a couple IRs from the committed facilities to align on what this consortium would look like and to fortify their collaborative commitment. They discussed the barriers to the population’s sustainability and are now in the process of refining their SMAART goals to target those barriers. Attached to those SMAART goals will be aggressive action items that will include roles for all vested institutions, thus making the effort to overcome its barriers truly collaborative.
In addition to having less institutional support, the fishing cat program also suffers from similar sustainability barriers as the black-footed cat program. The program leaders are taking a deeper dive exploring the resilience of this program. The first action is to question the commitment of the AZA community by reaching out to current and potential future holding institutions and communicating the dire needs of the population. The program leaders will ask for these institutions to step up and take the necessary actions to stabilize this program. Simultaneously, the Felid TAG leaders and the fishing cat program leaders will start exploring other roles of the fishing cat in our community’s programs. For example, fishing cats are charismatic, and there are conservation initiatives sponsored by AZA institutions in fishing cat range countries. Perhaps the fishing cat could be the face of a SAFE initiative. If the response from AZA facilities is not adequate to revitalize this program, the fishing cat will be phased out with the purpose of opening space for other similar species with more robust programs.
Finally, a number of programs are getting creative in other ways to prepare for life as a non-SSP. There is already talk of collaboration between TAGs with program needs and zoos that employ population biologists. Programs are already assessing their needs from population biologists and are determining that they can persevere without such things as full breeding and transfer plans allowing them to whittle down the needed resources. Some programs are drafting Memorandums of Understanding to help fortify relationships between facilities with common species and agreeing upon pathways forward.
Many of the programs that lost their SSP status are still important to their respective TAGs and member facilities. In many cases, it is not desirable for zoos to drop these programs from their collection plans simply because they no longer carry the SSP label. Check with TAG leadership to see what kind of help these former SSP programs need. If a species is important to your institution, consider stepping up to develop and coordinate an alternative management strategy.
Hero Image: A Louisiana Pine Snake. Photo Credit: © Phoenix Zoo
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