Park in plan to save oryx

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 1

Park in plan to save oryx

By deborah mcpherson Orana Park has started a pioneering artificial insemination breeding programme as part of an international bid.by zoos to save endangered species. The park was the first New Zealand zoo to have been given permission by the Ministry of Agriculture to import semen of the rare scimitar-horned

oryx antelope from Canada, said the director of the park, Mr Paul Garland. The Metro Toronto Zoo has agreed to supply the semen from the antelopes after it has made blood tests on the animals to ensure they carry no disease. The seipen would be frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored in straws (long, thin glass recep-

tacles) until the female antelopes at the park were ready to be implanted, said Mr Garland. It would be several months before the antelope semen would be sent to New Zealand. Before then, Orana Park would embark on a “synchronisation” programme for its female antelopes, to determine accurately when the animals were coming into

their breeding cycle. A Rangiora veterinarian, Mr Lindsay Fraser, would supervise the insemination programme. Mr Fraser, who regularly visits the park, had been running successful artificial breeding programmes for cattle ahd goats, said Mr Garland.

The London Zoo had also agreed to supply semen from the oryx to Orana Park in a similar artificial insemination programme, he said.

Artificial insemination programmes being developed in zoos throughout the world opened up exciting possibilities, especially for zoos In New Zealand which had been prevented from importing many species by "incredibly high” freight costs, said Mr Garland.

New Zealand’s quarantine regulations had also previously restricted the importation of animals from Britain or Canada because of the risk of disease. The artificial insemination programmes gave the park the opportunity to do

something really constructive for many of the endangered species, said Mr Garland. Orana Park stocked 16 of the only 600 rare oryx left in captivity. None of the antelope, which once roamed the Sahara Desert in millions, were left in the wild, said Mr Garland. Civil war in Chad had killed the few remaining oryx in the last five years, as well as most of the other wildlife, he said.

Once the semen implants were successful, the park could consider the transfer of fertilised embryos to surrogate mothers, said Mi* Garland. The embryos would be frozen with the liquid nitrogen process and stored ready for use. Eventually, Orana Park might be able to supply zoos overseas with embryos from endangered species bred at the park. The park’s immediate task was to build an animal hospital to provide resources and facilities for the necessary equipment and service areas for the staff.