PSAAZK

The Puget Sound chapter of AAZK is proud to announce that Gordon McGregor Reid, Director General Chester Zoo and WAZA President, will be the opening keynote speaker for our 2009 International conference.

Gordon McGregor Reid is Director General of Chester Zoo (The North of England Zoolog ical Society), which has an annual turnover of up to £26 million and employs as many as 500 staff. The Society is an independent charity for conservation, education and science. The Zoo is a leading wildlife attraction in the UK with 50 ha developed and 150 so far undeveloped. There are well over one million paying guests each year; and about 7,000 animals in as many as 500 species (ca half of which are on the IUCN Red List).

The conservation outreach work of the Zoo spans 50 countries in five continents, with substantial and growing investment. The Zoo has gained more than 100 international, national and regional awards in conservation, animal welfare, environmental management (ISO 14001), science, education and business excellence. This includes twice winning (2001, 2006) the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the category of Sustainable Development, the highest business accolade in the UK; and being a recipient of the a prestigious Darwin Award (2007) for work to conserve Asian elephants in Assam.

Gordon originally trained in the British Museum of Natural History and has authored more than 100 scientific publications. He has extensive field experience in Africa, Central and South America , India , the Middle and Far East , and has acted as a consultant for Conservation International, Fauna and Flora International, British Executive Services Overseas and WWF. For work in conservation and science, Gordon is a Huesped de Honor of Bolivia (2004), an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moore’s University (2006), an Honorary Doctor of Science of the University of Chester (2006) and an Honorary Doctor of Science of the Manchester Metropolitan University (2008). Two African species of fish new to science have been named in his honour (Labeo reidi 1997, Nannocharax reidi 2004).

Gordon is Immediate Past President of the Linnean Society of London, Trustee National Museums Merseyside (until 2006), visiting professor in the University of Liverpool and Global Chair of the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group. Until the end of 2007 he was Council Member EAZA (and Co-Chair of the EAZA Research Committee) and member of the WWF-UK Conservation Programmes Committee.

Gordon has been a Member of WAZA Council since 2001 (re-elected 2003). He served as Chair of the Aquarium Committee (until 2006) and Chair of the Marketing, PR and Education Committee (1998-2003), with close involvement in developing the mission, vision, values and logo. He has co-organised five International Zoo Marketing Conferences for WAZA and co-edited the Proceedings. Gordon was a member of the WZACS steering group, organising separate workshops to provide input on aquariums and scientific strategy. Currently, he is a co-chair of the Amphibian Ark, a conservation partnership between WAZA and IUCN (CBSG, ASG). Gordon became President of WAZA in August 2007.

Establish and direct snow leopard research and conservation programs for this new and emerging organization dedicated to saving the great cat species worldwide.

Manage research and conservation programs for snow leopards in 5 range states ( China , India , Kyrgyzstan , Mongolia , and Pakistan ) Train national counterparts in research and conservation techniques. Establish Asia-wide database for snow leopard, prey and habitat status surveys. Lead interdisciplinary team of snow leopard experts in development of Snow Leopard Survival Strategy. Serve as Executive Director of the Snow Leopard Network, a global consortium of more than 200 professionals involved in snow leopard research and conservation.

Lead project to raise capacity of government and NGOs to protect biodiversity on the island state of Anguilla. Project funded through UK government Darwin Initiative grant. Seek extension of multilateral environmental agreements to Anguilla (CITES, CBD, Ramsar, etc.). Establish in law and practice a system of marine and terrestrial protected areas.

Wildlife Conservation Society/ New York Zoological Society

Project Leader - Joint Mongolian-American Snow Leopard Research Project 1993-99.

Responsible for all aspects of research and conservation program for snow leopards, wild camels and Gobi brown bear. Capture leopards for VHF and satellite telemetry. Assess leopard distribution and abundance by sign surveys and interviews of nomadic herders. Draft Snow Leopard management plan for Mongolian government. Design and initiate state-of-the-art genetic research of Gobi brown bear. Design and initiate wild camel surveys and population monitoring/modeling.

IV. Leader of Species and Protected Areas Component 7/93 - 11/94

GEF / UNDP - Biodiversity Project

Under UNDP, with funding from the Global Environmental Facility, and in cooperation with the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment, implemented a program to conserve Mongolia 's biodiversity. Design program to assess Mongolia 's biological resources, protected areas system, wildlife management program, baseline data availability, research needs, and institutional capacity.

Design and conduct large mammal research programs. Census terrestrial and marine wildlife by aerial surveys, photo-census, track/sign counts, or mark-recapture techniques, and monitor population and harvest trends. Study impacts of development (mining) on wildlife and habitat.

McCarthy, T. M. and B. Munkhtsog. 1997. A preliminary assessment of snow leopard surveys in Mongolia . Pages 57-65 In R. Jackson and A. Ahmad eds. Proceedings of the 8th International Snow Leopard Symposium. Islamabad , Pakistan . International Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle , WA .

Allen, P., McCarthy, T. and Bayarjargal, A. 2002. Conservation de la panthère des neiges ( Uncia uncia ) avec les éleveurs de Mongolie. . In Chapron, G. and Moutou, F. (Eds), L'étude et la conservation des carnivores. Societé Française par L'étude et la Protection des Mammifères , Paris .

Bhatnagar, Y. V., V. B. Mathur and T. M. McCarthy. 2002. A Regional perspective for snow leopard conservation in the Indian Trans-Himalaya. Pages 25-47 In McCarthy, T. M. and J. Weltzin (Editors), Contributed Papers to the Snow Leopard Survival Summitt. International Snow leopard Trust, Seattle .

McCarthy, T. M. , and G. Chapron, Editors. 2003. A Snow Leopard Survival Strategy. 125 pp. International Snow leopard Trust, Seattle , USA .

Mishra, C. , P. Allen, T. McCarthy, M. D. Madhusudan, A. Bayarjargal, and H. H. T. Prins. 2003. The role of incentive programs in conserving snow leopards. Conservation Biology.17(6):1512-1520.

McCarthy, T. M. , T. K. Fuller, and B. Munkhtsog. 2005. Movements and activities of snow leopards in Southwestern Mongolia . Biological Conservation 124: 528-537.

Waits, L. P., W. E. Johnson, D. Onorato, T. M. McCarthy. 2007. A select panel of polymorphic microsatellite loci for individual identification of snow leopards (Panthera uncia). Molecular Ecology 7:311-314.

McCarthy, K. M., M. Ma, T. K. Fuller, T. M. McCarthy, L. Waits and K. Jumabaev.2008. Estimators of Snow Leopard Population Size . Journal of Wildlife Management 72(8):1826 -1833 .

McCarthy, T. M. , L. P. Waits and B. Mijiddorj. In Press. Status of the Gobi Bear in Mongolia as determined by noninvasive genetic methods. Ur sus 00:00.

Sally Walker was a "lost" American who visited India for a three months stay to study yoga. After 7 years of this, she literally fell into an unplanned and till date unpaid zoo career which is currently in its 28th year.

Not a fan of zoos at that time, but definitely an all-animal lover, she began volunteering in Mysore Zoo after a few minutes holding a tiger cub. Subsequently she founded the first zoo society in India , the Friends of Mysore Zoo. Her work at Mysore Zoo publishing India's first zoo magazine and running training and scientific workshops earned her a seat on India's National Zoo Advisory Board. As a result of this, she met government officials who encouraged her to set up a national level zoo organization funded by the Ministry of Environment. When government changed funding ran out, but Sally continued to raise funds by visiting western zoos and explaining her goals for the society, Zoo Outreach Organsation. She earned her own living as a freelance writer for the Indian press and her more than 300 positive and constructive articles about zoos changed public and political perception of these beleaguered insitutions and catalyzed the passage of zoo legislation for the country. She served as a member of the law mandated Central Zoo Authority for six years till 2000 when her two terms completed. She then founded the South Asian Zoo Association

Zoo Outreach Organisation was never only about zoos but focused on linking zoos and wild and expanded its mandate by associating closely with IUCN SSC thematic and taxon based specialist groups. Now with ZOO there is a sister organisation called WILD working in both in situ and ex situ conservation with over 1000 South Asian academics. Sally has received awards for her work in animal welfare and wildlife science. She is a fellow of the Linnean Society of London and is till this date the only person to have been awarded the Heini Heidigger Award of the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria and the Ulysses S. Seal Award for Innovation in Conservation.

For many years a resident of India, she now divides her time between India and USA in three month increments so that she can help her father who supported her in her work for nearly three decades.

Wildlife Conservation Society/ New York Zoological Society

IV. Leader of Species and Protected Areas Component 7/93 - 11/94

GEF / UNDP - Biodiversity Project

Mishra, C. , P. Allen, T. McCarthy, M. D. Madhusudan, A. Bayarjargal, and H. H. T. Prins. 2003. The role of incentive programs in conserving snow leopards. Conservation Biology.17(6):1512-1520.