Story from Frank Weisenberger (Frank Weisenberger Consulting) and Katherine Selwood (Zoos Victoria)
Since 1991, Zoos Victoria has bred more than 650 Eastern Barred Bandicoots. There are now five reintroduced populations in Victoria, protected on islands or by predator barrier fences. Photo by Zoos Victoria.
In July and August 2019, staff from Zoos Victoria’s Wildlife and Conservation Science team and partner agencies participated in a workshop to explore applying the Open Standards to the Fighting Extinction program. The Fighting Extinction program aims to secure and recover species at risk of extinction, with a focus on 27 native threatened species that urgently require conservation intervention.
The recent Open Standards training focused on three case study species: the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Orange-bellied parrot, and Spotted Tree Frog. Each of these species face a number of threats, including habitat loss, introduced predators, and disease. Working with partner organisations, Zoos Victoria implements conservation actions for these species, such as captive breeding, releases to the wild, habitat restoration, predator exclusion, and threat abatement. Zoos Victoria is transitioning to the Open Standards to ensure the robustness of strategies, increase the efficiency of internal and external reporting, and improve collaboration with stakeholders. Through this effort and by working with other zoo-based organisations around the world, Zoos Victoria hopes to improve the implementation of the Open Standards in complex multi-stakeholder environments. For more information, please contact Katherine Selwood at Zoos Victoria.
Zoos Victoria staff work on a results chains exercise for the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. Photo by Frank Weisenberger.
