Association of Zoos and Aquariums

SAINT LOUIS ZOO CONTRACEPTION CENTER WINS SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

CONTACT: Jane Ballentine, (301)562-0777, x 252

CHICAGO, IL, September 18, 2005 – The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) today honored the Wildlife Contraception Center at the Saint Louis Zoo with a special award. Zoo officials accepted the award at the AZA's 81st Annual Conference, meeting here this week.

Mother and baby bongos The Saint Louis Zoo is home to a long-term contributory animal management program for the responsible management of captive exotic mammals, formerly known as the Contraception Advisory Group (CAG), and now known as the AZA Wildlife Contraception Center (WCC). The AZA CAG/WCC has worked for 16 years to identify, monitor, produce and promote safe and effective reversible contraception as a management tool that increases the ability of AZA zoos to follow genetic and demographic management recommendations outlined in masterplan and TAG recommendations.

The AZA CAG/WCC has been equally instrumental in promoting the use of contraception as an important tool to minimize the production of surplus mammals and thereby increase the ability of AZA zoos to practice and model responsible breeding programs as well as comply with AZA's Code of Professional Ethics.

Since 1989, the AZA CAG/WCC has been monitoring contraceptive use in exotic mammals at AZA and other participating institutions. The Wildlife Contraception Center Database currently holds close to 20,000 contraceptive bout records (encompassing 462 different species and 45 different methods) which are fundamental to the formulation of the annual taxon-by-taxon recommendations. Over the years, the center's job has expanded from accumulating and circulating information on the efficacy and safety of available contraceptive methods to also coordinating research efforts prospectively exploring new methods and working with pharmaceutical companies to bring promising products to the market.

Note: For more information contact Janet Powell at 314/781-0900 x233.

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