By Patrícia Medici, Brazil

Wild Mountain Tapir, Los Nevados Park, Colombia. ©2002 Jaime Suarez, TSG

October 21, 2004: During the Second International Tapir Symposium held in Panama in January 2004, participants agreed that the next PHVA should focus on mountain tapirs. Although some previous local efforts for the conservation of the mountain tapir already existed, it was considered important to identify strategies at a larger scale including the three range countries - Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. 
 
The Mountain Tapir PHVA Workshop was held at the Otún-Quimbaya Fauna and Flora Sanctuary in Pereira, Colombia, from October 12 to 15, 2004.  The major goal of this workshop was to gather, systematize and discuss all the available data and information on mountain tapir (population demographic parameters - e.g. age structure, birth rates, mortality, dispersal, and other biological data, the species current status and distribution, threats to survival across its range, available habitat etc.) and use this information to develop an updated Mountain Tapir Action Plan, establishing research, management and conservation priorities for the species, and concentrating on recommendations for the conservation in the wild, but also with attention for the captive population, education and capacity-building, research priorities, and funding.  

TSG Veterinarian Paulo Mangini (R), with captured animal. Colombia. ©2002 Diego Lizcano, TSG

A total of 66 representatives from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, as well as TSG officers from other countries, attended the workshop last week, and I would like to let you all know that the meeting was another VERY SUCCESSFUL event of our TSG.  I am extremely happy to be able to tell you that we now have a NEW ACTION PLAN for the species, including specific goals and actions for the short, medium and long-term!!!  The Spanish version of the PHVA report should be ready in 3-4 weeks, and will be printed and distributed to all workshop participants and interested parties.  Additionally, the report will be translated to English, and both the Spanish and English versions will be made available for download on the TSG and CBSG websites.

Colombian mountain tapir habitat panorma. ©2002 Diego Lizcano, TSG

Supporting Institutions
The institutional and/or financial supporters of the Mountain Tapir PHVA Workshop were the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group (TSG); IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG); American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) Tapir Taxon Advisory Group (TAG); European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) Tapir Taxon Advisory Group (TAG); Colombian Tapir Network (Red Danta de Colombia); World Wildlife Fund (WWF) - Colombia; Conservation International - Colombia; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of International Conservation, USA; Unidad Administrativa Especial del Sistema de Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia (UAESPNN); Houston Zoo Inc., USA; Houston Zoo Inc., USA; Los Angeles Zoo, USA; Copenhagen Zoo, Denmark; and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, USA, and I would like to take this opportunity to THANK ALL THIS ORGANIZATIONS for their generous support!  We would never have been able to make this workshop happen withouth their support!


Other Tapir PHVAs
As soon as we all come back from Colombia we will get started on the organization of the third workshop, the Baird’s Tapir PHVA, which will be held at The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center, Belize, Central America, in August 2005.

Additionally, I would like to mention that the new version of the Malay Tapir Action Plan produced during the Malay Tapir PHVA last year in Malaysia is available online in PDF format on the TSG Website.  Check it out at:  http://www.tapirs.org/action-plan/action-index.html