FEATURE


bird keepers could make a positive contribution to conservation by acting as a gene bank which could be tapped into for breed and release programmes. This gene bank would also be an insurance policy which could be used should a species become extinct in the wild. This is highly desirable, but in the cold hard light of dawn how realistic is this belief? Breed and Release programmes were popularised and well publicised during the nineties by Gerald Durrell of Jersey Zoo and Sir Peter Scott with the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and continues to be promoted by many zoos as it fits their corporate profile of education and conservation. Despite its high profile with the public, generally speaking scientists these days are somewhat cautious as it is difficult to implement, is very expensive and has a chequered history of success. A total of 19,561 vertebrates, invertebrates and plants are on the worlds Red List. Furthermore, the rate of extinction is accelerating with the global phenomenon being labelled by scientists as the world’s sixth mass extinction; one of the previous ones being the extinction of the dinosaurs.


M LEASE


Breed and Release programmes were popularised and well publicised during the nineties by Gerald Durrell of Jersey Zoo and Sir Peter Scott with the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust…


BIRD SCENE 35


any well meaning aviculturists would like to believe that


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