Actually, article 9 of the CBD requires signatory parties to “Adopt measures for the ex situ conservation of components of biological diversity, preferably in the country of origin of such components” (Glowka et al. 1994). As a signatory of the CBD, the European union encourages ex situ activities for native, strictly protected species listed in Annexes IV and V of the habitat directive, and produced an EC zoos directive (22/1999) to oblige zoos and aquaria to adopt a relevant conservation role, consistent with the CBD’s requirements (Rees 2005). It appears that while a number of EU-financed LIFE projects included “captive breeding” among their activities, the active participation

of the zoo and aquarium community to check details European biodiversity conservation has been so far negligible on the whole, although notable exceptions exist as in the case of the European mink Mustela lutreola and the bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus breeding JQ-EZ-05 programmes (Anderegg selleck products et al. 1984; Maran et al. 2009). As a result there is the paradoxical situation of several breeding (and restocking) programmes, often of popular and charismatic species, managed completely outside the zoo world. Examples only from Italy include Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, Apennine hare, Lepus corsicanus, otter Lutra lutra, Egyptian vulture Neophron

percnopterus (Gippoliti 2004) and so on. European zoos and global biodiversity However, the main issue raised by this paper concerns the contribution to global biodiversity conservation by European zoos. To our knowledge, no concern has been previously Tangeritin manifested and discussed for the ‘parochial’ approach posed by ex situ activities as recognised in the CBD, that undoubtedly seems to overlook the importance of non-native taxon populations in European zoos and elsewhere, as is also noted, but not discussed, by Stanley-Price (2005).

This issue is of critical relevance for many European institutions, which have a tradition of long-term commitments to biodiversity conservation in non-European countries. Examples of exotic species, owing their survival to ex situ programmes outside their natural range, are continuously growing (Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx, scimitar-horned oryx Oryx dammah, Kihansi spray toad Nectophrynoides asperginus). Several European zoos have long-established relationships with foreign countries and serve a key role in those countries’ national conservation strategies (Peter and Adler 1995; Hatchwell and Rübel 2007). In the last decade, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA, with more than 300 members totalling about 130 million visitors annually) launched several conservation campaigns and financed field projects, mostly of global relevance.