Amphibians Dying Out: Zoos Launch Worldwide Campaign

Once again this year, the amphibian crisis was the central theme of the 62nd Annual Conference of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), which was held in 2006 at the Zoo Leipzig and this year in Budapest. It is reckoned that in the near future, up to 50 percent of all amphibian species worldwide will be extinct – the largest case of mass mortality since the dinosaurs died out. Over 200 participants from around the globe devoted themselves to this issue at the annual conference. As an answer to the immense loss of species and as part of the detailed Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP), the WAZA founded the Amphibian Ark together with the United Nation’s environmental organisation, IUCN. The Amphibian Ark is developing and coordinating the short-term ex situ management of the endangered species and is to safeguard the long-term survival of different amphibian species. For the Leipzig zoo, supporting such measures taken for the protection of species is also a major concern. As an established member who was re-elected to the WAZA board (with 85 percent) during the conference in Budapest, Zoo director Dr Jörg Junhold has intensively collaborated on the founding of the Amphibian Ark. As chairman of WAZA’s marketing committee, he is also the co-initiator of the marketing campaign “Year of the Frog 2008” and assumed responsibility for the worldwide coordination of the project back in early 2007. (eap)