Typhenn A. Brichieri-Colombi, Natasha A. Lloyd, Jana M. McPherson, Axel Moehrenschlager

“ We used these data to examine what proportion of North American animal conservation translocations involve captive-bred source populations, and of these, what percentage come from zoos. Moreover, we asked to what extent zoo professionals actively contribute to the science of conservation translocations by reporting their insights and experiences in peer-reviewed journals. ”

“ As animal-care specialists, educators, communicators, wildlife advocates, and scientists, zoo professionals have a diversity of skills to help advance the effectiveness of conservation translocations (Barongi et al. 2015) , but few zoos have traditionally seen systematic research and publication as a priority (Griffith et al. 1989; Carr & Cohen 2011) . ”

“ The obvious alternative to wild source populations is captive breeding. Captive breeding can be difficult due to taxon-specific genetic, behavioral, or health challenges and postrelease success is often limited unless animals are specifically selected or adequately prepared for release (Todd & Lintermans 2015) . ”