Hello everyone 🙂 I’m back today with a new post about breeding endangered species! In one of my earlier posts, I blogged about the advantages of having zoos conduct breeding programmes for the conservation of protected species. Today, we will be examining the opposing side. How does breeding endangered species have any negative implications? Let’s take a look!
Breeding endangered species in Wildlife Reserve’s Singapore acts as an “assurance population”, in case the wild population in Singapore goes extinct. Although this has largely benefitted populations by increasing their numbers and then releasing them back into the wild, we have to acknowledge that there are problems as well. This issue is a complicated one.
The issue
Firstly, let’s examine what Myanmar has been doing. In June this year, officials released a range of wildlife that were allowed to be bred in captivity. These animals include 175 threatened species, notably threatened species like tigers and pangolins. The new controversial regulation would permit the sales of animal for meat and commercial raising of them for attractions like zoos. What this implies to me, is that this may counteract the initial law that calls for the captive breeding to protect threatened species and exacerbate the problem of decreasing populations. This is because the demand for wild animal products increases when wildlife poaching of this sort is encouraged. Furthermore, the World Wildlife Fund and Fauna and Flora International jointly commented, “Commercial trade has been shown to increase illegal trade in wildlife by creating a parallel market and boosting overall demand for wild animal products.” This is one of the limitations of breeding protected species.
Apart from the above limitation, captive breeding can also cause a decrease in the lifespan and reproductive capacities of animals that are subsequently released back into the wild (Araki et al., 2007). I may do a future post on this! Do stay tuned to find out 🙂
-Amanda
Reference list:
“Pangolin” by Smithsonian’s National Zoo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Araki, H., Cooper, B., & Blouin, M. S. (2007). Genetic Effects of Captive Breeding Cause a Rapid, Cumulative Fitness Decline in the Wild. Science, 318(5847), 100–103. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1145621
Hi Amanda,
I wanted to ask if another problem of these breeding programmes is the decrease in ability of the animals bred in captivity to survive in the wild? How significant is this problem and how do they prevent/counter it?
-Si Ying
Hi Si Ying!
Yes that’s right, being bred in captivity does decrease their chances of surviving in the wild. This is definitely a significant problem as their numbers decline drastically when the animals are unable to adapt to new conditions in the wild, such as the new predators they have to fend against and being able to find resources for their basic needs. To counter these problems, animals must be taught basic survival skills in captivity. Although these instincts come naturally for some, others have to learn them to survive. They must learn how to look for food, avoid predation, attract potential partners, and get shelter.
– Amanda 🙂
Hi Amanda!
Wow I always thought that legal captive breeding would only be limited to zoos and was surprised that Myanmar allowed it so openly! While I do agree with you that it is not an effective policy, what are your thoughts towards organizations that breed animals captively to ensure ‘sustainability’? Eg how there are crocodile farms in Singapore next to Sungei Buloh which I really find ironic!
Hi Stacia,
I think that having crocodile farms that breed animals captively to ensure its survival is justified. When I searched up the crocodile farm that you were referring to, it seems that they breed crocodiles for meat and crocodile leather products? In that case, I think that while having such organisations are not warranted in an idealistic world, there is still demand for exotic products which explains why the farm is still in existence. If the crocodiles they use are killed humanely, the entire animal is used and the species is not threatened, maybe it is still alright to do so. Yet again, there are so many alternatives to crocodile leather like faux leather and I can’t wrap my head around why it is still used in products too.
– Amanda 🙂
Hi Amanda,
How can that (your answer to Si Ying) be true ? I mean, for instance, let’s say a parrot species is primarily threatened by the collection of nestlings for the pet trade. Individuals bred in captivity will stand a HIGHER, not a lower, chance of survival in the wild because they will be reared until they are physically independent of their parents and able to forage on their own.
Maybe I don’t understand what you mean, but there’s no question that when you bring species into captive breeding programmes, the result is often INCREASED survival. If it weren’t, conservationists wouldn’t use this as a strategy, would they ?
jc
Hi Dr Coleman,
Thank you for pointing out my mistake! I have misphrased what I was originally trying to convey, which was that captive breeding indeed increases the chance of survival in the wild but it does have negative consequences like the ones that I previously mentioned. Sorry for the confusion Si Ying!
-Amanda
Hello Amanda! Thank you so much for the interesting read 🙂
I was just wondering why countries would invest more in captive breeding but at the same time permit sales of meat and such. Is this due to differing cultures and practices s in other nations or due to lack of regulation and enforcement? To add on, after weighing both the benefits and cons of breeding protective species, what is your stance on it here in Singapore? Thank you and hope to hear from you soon 🙂
-Amira
Hi Amira!
I believe that countries in the case of Myanmar, permit captive breeding for the sale of meat. However, it is true that in many countries, there is a lack of regulation and enforcement of the exotic animal trade. It is illegal in many places but smugglers find ways many ways around inspections. The animals may be hidden among legal animals or dangerous species of animals so that officers are less likely to thoroughly hand-inspect shipments. Furthermore, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has a lack of officers to hand-inspect the shipments individually. I think this is also the case in many other countries and thus, it is difficult to control the sales of exotic animal meat. In my opinion, I feel that breeding protected species should be evaluated on a species to species basis. For example, polar bears shouldn’t be brought to tropical countries like Singapore because they just aren’t made for this kind of climate. The Singapore Zoo has also stopped bringing polar bears over after Inuka passed away and I think it is the right decision to make.
– Amanda 🙂
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for sharing! I didn’t know SG had our own wildlife breeding programme. It was interesting to hear about it and I was wondering if you could share more about it?
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
I found this from the Wildlife Reserves website, “We continue to contribute to the global conservation effort through our captive breeding programmes. In 2014 alone, the zoo successfully bred over 100 animals — many of them endangered or threatened in the wild.” WRS has bred 25 threatened species, all under human care. One of the animals is the hyacinth macaw, a type of parrot species native to South America that is threatened by habitat loss and poaching. The parrot is being housed at Jurong Bird Park’s Breeding & Research Centre to increases survival chances.
– Amanda 🙂