TRAINING ZOO PROFESSIONALS FOR STUDBOOK AND SPECIES SURVIVAL PLAN PROGRAMS

In 1989 a proposal to establish a Zoo Curator's Training Academy was d istributed to more than 30 zoo professionals attending the annual conf erence of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums ( AAZPA). Receiving a positive response, we tabulated the results and re -evaluated the proposal. A task force was created in August 1990 to fu rther define the target audience and to develop a curriculum and budge t. The proposal was submitted to the AAZPA Board of Directors at the a nnual conference in September 1990, and the Board agreed to fund creat ion of an AAZPA Conservation Academy. The Academy's first course, Stud book I, was presented in February 1991 and taught methods for collecti ng and entering data into a specially tailored computer program. The c ourse was well received by the students and their institutions. A seco nd course, SSP Coordinator Training, was piloted in 1992 and achieved similar results by teaching standardized methods, including the use of a publishing format for the AAZPA's SSP programs. In 1993 the Institu te of Museum Services (IMS) approved funding for development of a thir d course, the Science of Zoo and Aquarium Animal Management. This cour se, introduced in February 1994, fulfills the second of the Associatio n's mandates for the Academy-to address animal husbandry by integratin g scientific methods with animal management techniques and thereby est ablish standards for data bases and management plans. All Academy cour ses have been designed to be ''hands-on'' participatory experiences an d, combined with lectures, effectively train students to ''do the job. '' (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.