Projects
Crocodiles
Steve Irwin and his Australia Zoo team, in partnership with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) and the University of Queensland (UQ), are making monumental strides in the field of crocodilian research and conservation. Through programs such as Crocs in Space, International Crocodile Rescue, not to mention the Irwin family’s long-time involvement in trapping and relocating rogue crocodiles for the QPWS, we are fighting at the frontline in the battle to save the Saltwater Crocodile, and all crocodilian species, from persecution and eventual extinction.
Dr Craig Franklin - Croc Research
Tigers
“How many tigers are left in the wild?” is a common question asked at Australia Zoo, and to give an honest answer – nobody really knows! Due to their elusive nature, it is very difficult to give a precise number.
What we do know is that the tiger is on the brink of extinction. In the last sixty years we have lost three sub-species of tiger. The Balinese, Caspian and Javanese tigers are gone forever. It is estimated that just 100 years ago there were over 100,000 tigers in the vast forests of Asia; today it is possible that fewer than 5,000 remain.
Tigers in the Wild and at Home
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Workshop program
Wombats
Steve Irwin and the Australia Zoo team love wombats. It's as simple as that. Why else would you build a one-acre enclosure with large air-conditioned dens and then put just three Common Wombats in it? The Australia Zoo wombats have the best life of any captive wombat anywhere in the world. Almost to prove the point, both of our females have produced offspring in the last two years despite being hand-raised, something that usually prevents breeding in captivity. Their offspring, two female joeys, have also been hand-raised and now share time in the enclosure with their parents. Given that the new enclosure has only had wombats in it for 30 months, the enclosure and husbandry regimes have been enormously successful. The experience of caring for the adults and producing these Common Wombat joeys has just been the start of an ambitious program by Australia Zoo to aid the critically endangered Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat.
The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is one of the most endangered species of mammal in the world. There are currently no more than 113 individuals left in the wild, and this is an ambitious guess based upon random hair-sampling of active burrows. At one point in the 1970s it was thought that the population was as low as 35 individuals, so there has been some progress in stabilising the population.
Cheetahs
The cheetah’s range once encompassed nearly all of Africa, Arabia and what is today Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Today cheetahs are restricted to specific areas of Africa and a few small, isolated pockets of land in the Asian countries. Cheetahs in the wild are under threat largely due to increased human/cheetah conflict.
Wildlife Warriors are working in partnership with De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre in South Africa to track and relocate problem cheetahs away from local villages. We are proud to assist the efforts of De Wildt’s crucial program in securing the future of this threatened and truly magnificent animal.
Elephants
The Asian Elephant is declining throughout its range and nearing extinction in the wild in many of the thirteen countries where it occurs.
The threat of poaching, habitat loss and increasing cases of human/elephant conflict requires extensive investment into anti-poaching programs, government liaison, community education and the establishment of good practices to protect the second largest land animal from extinction.
Working in partnership with Fauna and Flora International in Cambodia, we are investing in a range of strategies to prevent the destruction of habitat and helping local villages to co-exist with the elephant. Securing the income of farmers affected by the local elephant populations is a main priority in mitigating human-elephant conflict (often referred to as HEC).
Included in these strategies is the planting of chilli around crops (elephants hate chilli), helping to recover property loss as a result of elephant activity, the implementation of educational campaigns, elephant tracking, anti-poaching patrols and prevention of illegal logging. The work is extensive and intense, and is helping to build a future in which the protection of this amazing gentle giant is assured.
