"Extinct" Socorro Doves Are Sent Closer To Home By Paignton Zoo

By Philip Knowling

Paignton, UK - Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in Devon and Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland are part of extraordinary international efforts to save a bird that has been extinct in the wild for 30 years.

Government departments and conservation bodies in twelve countries have been working to bring the Socorro dove back from the edge of extinction for 20 years. Even the Mexican Navy has been involved. It seems fitting that a dove - the international symbol of peace – has brought about so much international cooperation.

Seven birds from Paignton Zoo and five from Edinburgh Zoo were flown to California recently and have now been transferred to Albuquerque Zoo in New Mexico. The birds will form a satellite population outside Europe and free up space in European collections to allow for continued breeding. Their offspring could be the first Socorro doves to be seen on their ancestral home - an island 600 miles off the Pacific coast of Mexico - in 40 years.

Conservationists have gone to amazing lengths for this unassuming Pacific dove. Moving the birds required months of planning on both sides of the Atlantic. Twelve birds (six males and six females) from two EEP participants (Edinburgh Zoo and Paignton Zoo) were identified as the best candidates. Paignton Zoo carried out vet checks on its seven birds before sending them north to Edinburgh Zoo, where the whole group was put into isolation and screened by vets. Meanwhile, UK export documents and US import documents had to be obtained.

The birds were put on a British Airways flight on 16 October 2008 and arrived in Los Angeles the next day. From there the birds were transported to the United States Department of Agriculture’s quarantine station in San Diego where they were isolated for the required 30 days. They were then transported to Albuquerque Zoo. In preparation for the return of the dove, the Mexican Navy and local conservationists have built a breeding station on Socorro Island.

Paignton Zoo Curator of Birds Jo Gregson said: “This project shows how conservationists around the world work together. It’s important that we try to save every single threatened species, not just the well-known charismatic ones. Every species has the right to survive. Bringing a species back from the brink of extinction doesn’t happen every day.”

Edinburgh Zoo’s Head Bird Keeper Colin Oulton said: “The Socorro Dove Project demonstrates how the zoo world and conservation community can work closely with each other to bring species back from the brink of extinction. It’s further evidence of the increasing role that zoos like Edinburgh and Paignton can play in saving species from disappearing off the face of the planet”.

“We are thrilled that decades of caring for this species are soon going to result in its return to the wild,” said Stefan Stadler, EEP Co-coordinator from Frankfurt Zoo.

The Socorro Dove (Zenaida graysoni) was endemic to Socorro Island. The last sighting of this pretty, pink-necked dove on the island was in 1972; it was declared extinct in the wild in the early 1980s. The uninhabited island was discovered in the 16th century by Spanish explorers, but the dove was first described by a 19th-century American naturalist, Andrew Jackson Grayson. The bird was once common across the island, but fell victim to sheep grazing and human disturbance. In 1957 the Mexican navy set up a base on the island.

The species was saved from extinction mainly by collections in the UK and Germany. A successful international captive breeding programme in top zoos has been organised by the European Endangered species Programme coordinator Stefan Stadler, based at Frankfurt Zoo. Paignton Zoo has been keeping Socorro doves since 2002. The first chicks hatched in 2003. There are thought to be no more than 100 purebred Socorro doves in existence, all of them until now in collections in Europe.

It is hoped the return of the dove will mark a turn in the island's ecological fortunes. Several other species are endangered, including the Socorro mockingbird, which number fewer than 400, the Socorro parakeet and Townsend's shearwater.

Paignton Zoo Environmental Park is a registered charity. For more information go to www.paigntonzoo.org.uk or ring (01803) 697500.

Paignton Zoo is a member of the British & Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums (BIAZA). BIAZA represents its member collections and promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums. For further information please telephone 020 7449 6351.

Notes:
Socorro Island covers about 132 square kilometres (about 51 square miles) and is about 16.5 kilometres by 11.5 kilometres (about 10.3 by 7.1 miles).

The Socorro Dove Project began 20 years ago thanks to the efforts of the late Dr. Luis Baptista, founder of the Island Endemics Foundation. His former student Juan E. Martinez Gomez is running the Mexican branch of IE, Endemicos Insulares.

There are currently about 100 purebred Socorro doves birds kept in EEP collections.

The Socorro dove eats seeds, fruits and, especially during rearing of the young, insects. The typical life span is 10 to 12 years.

The next steps
* Continue to increase zoo population
* Continue restoration efforts on Socorro Island
* Aiming for reintroduction possibly in 2009

www.paigntonzoo.org.uk
www.livingcoasts.org.uk

Photo credit: Island Endemics / Endemicos Insulares