Whf — Breeding programme

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Conservation

European Endangered Species Programme (EEP)

These programmes are organised by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).

The EEP is the most intensive type of population management for a species kept in EAZA zoos. Each EEP has a coordinator (someone with a special interest in and knowledge of the species concerned, who is working in an EAZA zoo or aquarium). He or she is assisted by a Species Committee.

The coordinator has many tasks to fulfil, such as collecting information on the status of all the animals of the species for which he or she is responsible,which are kept in EAZA zoos and aquaria; producing a studybook; carrying out demographical and genetical analyses, and producing a plan for the future management of the species.

Together with the Species Committee, recommendations are made each year on which animals should breed or not breed, which individual animals should go from one zoo to another, and so on. This is a lot of work, and EAZA is fortunate that so many people in so many EAZA zoos have taken on such a complicated task.