2021 – 2023 Asian Hornbill SAFE Program Plan
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2021 – 2023 Asian Hornbill SAFE Program Plan ASIAN HORNBILL SAFE PROGRAM PLAN 2021-2023 Contents BACKGROUND ……………………………………………………………. 2 Asian Hornbill SAFE Program Goal ………………………………………… 3 Program Operational Structure ………………………………………………. 3 Conservation Target ………………………………………………………….. 4 Status of Asian Hornbills within AZA Community …………………………. 5 AZA Conservation Activities ………………………………………………… 5 AZA Public Engagement Activities ………………………………………….. 6 SPECIES STATUS …………………………………………………………... 7 Conservation Status …………………………………………………………... 7 Recovery Plans & IUCN SSC Hornbill Specialist Group Priorities …………. 13 Threats ………………………………………………………………………... 14 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES ………………………………………………… 15 Conservation Objectives ……………………………………………………… 15 Public/Stakeholder Engagement Objectives …………………………………. 16 Communications/Public Awareness Objectives ……………………………... 16 Funding Objectives …………………………………………………………… 16 LITERATURE CITED ………………………………………………………. 17 PROGRAM SUMMARY TABLE …………………………………………... 21 Cover photo © Aparajita Datta, Great Indian Hornbill Back cover © Morton Strange, Rhinoceros Hornbill - 1 - BACKGROUND The Asian Hornbill SAFE Program creates a partnership between the IUCN SSC Hornbill Specialist Group and the AZA community to support the implementation of effective conservation planning and actions to conserve threatened Asian Hornbills and the habitat upon which they depend. Asian Hornbills are some of the largest and most visually striking birds seen in AZA member institutions. They draw attention to the importance of tropical rainforests across Asia and the role that hornbills play as seed-dispersers to maintain forest ecology. They are affectionately described as being the 'gardeners of the rainforest' and make ideal flagship species to highlight the biodiversity of life that exists in these unique ecosystems. They are dependent on the continued existence of primary rainforests so that they can find mature trees that can provide suitable nest cavities for breeding, and therefore they focus attention on the dangers of losing rainforest biodiversity when land is cleared for development. Several hornbill species are affected by illegal trade, either for the live bird trade, or for body parts used as souvenirs (as detailed later in this plan). This initial three-year Asian Hornbill SAFE Program Plan focuses on 15 threatened category species, from five focus countries in South-East Asia where AZA members have historically or currently support conservation work with Asian Hornbills. The five focus countries of the current program plan are India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia & the Philippines. Conservation actions supported by AZA members include developing conservation action plans, nest site protection, local community-based forest warden programs, habitat protection and enhancement, biodiversity assessments of natural areas, species population surveys and population viability assessments, provision of artificial nests, anti-poaching and demand reduction programs. Fig 1 – Distribution of the 15 Asian Hornbill species covered in the SAFE Program Plan - 2 - PROGRAM GOAL The Asian Hornbill SAFE Program’s overarching, long-term goal is to support the sustainability of wild Asian Hornbills in viable, ecologically functional populations in forest, both intact and managed, within their natural ranges. Within their range countries hornbills will increasingly be valued by local communities for their role in rainforest ecology and protected from poaching, trade and habitat loss or degradation through science-based, and stakeholder-inclusive conservation action. The focus of the three-year plan includes. 1. Partner with IUCN SSC Hornbill Specialist Group, and affiliated working groups, to deliver science-based, stakeholder-inclusive conservation planning for priority Asian Hornbill species and coordinate implementation of the conservation strategies and action plans produced. 2. Cultivate long-term sustainable partnerships, between AZA organizations and field partners, both established and new, that advance the field conservation of Asian hornbills. 3. Address data deficient knowledge gaps for key range areas and species of Asian hornbills, according to strategic priorities identified by IUCN SSC Hornbill Specialist Group. 4. Work with Traffic-Asia and other like organizations to monitor patterns and current trends in wildlife trafficking of Asian hornbills and address demand reduction to reduce wildlife trafficking for Asian hornbills in range, transit and demand countries. PROGRAM OPERATIONAL STRUCTURE Program Leader Roger Sweeney North Carolina Zoo - [email protected] Director of Animal Management 336-879-7601 Vice Program Leader David Oehler Nashville Zoo – [email protected] Vice President 615-833-1534 x 193 Steering Committee and Program Partner Bryan MacAulay Phoenix Zoo – [email protected] Collection Manager of Birds 602-286-3800 x 7635 Michelle Smurl Brevard Zoo – [email protected] Director of Animal Programs 321-254-9453 x 217 Gen Anderson St. Augustine Alligator Farm – [email protected] General Curator 904-824-3337 x 116 Mark Myers Woodland Park Zoo – [email protected] Curator of Birds & Invertebrates 206-548-2507 - 3 - Program Advisors WCC Liaison Dr. Lisa Kelley – St. Louis Zoo [email protected] Executive Director, Wild Care 314-646-4958 Education Advisor Michelle Kolar – Zoo Atlanta [email protected] Vice President of Education 404.624.5890 Coraciiformes TAG Paul Schutz - Disney’s Animal Kingdom [email protected] Animal Operations Manager 407-938-2936 IUCN SSC Hornbill Dr. Aparajita Datta – Senior Scientist [email protected] Specialist Group Nature Conservation Foundation Wildlife Trafficking Sara Walker – AZA [email protected] Alliance Senior Advisor 301-244-3320 Helmeted Hornbill Dr. Jessica Lee – Assistant Director [email protected] Working Group Wildlife Reserves Singapore +65 6768 5322 Field Partners PhilBio Foundation Lisa Paguntalan -Executive Director [email protected] Talarak Foundation Dino Gutierrez - President [email protected] Katala Foundation Dr. Peter Widmann - Director [email protected] Hornbill Research Vijak Chimchome - Secretary [email protected] Foundation Nature Conservation Dr. Aparajita Datta – Senior Scientist [email protected] Foundation HUTAN Conservation Dr Marc Ancrenaz – Scientific Director [email protected] Program Animals Asia Harold Browning – Animal Welfare [email protected] Foundation Advisor CONSERVATION TARGET The Asian Hornbill SAFE Program initially focuses on 15 species of the family Bucerotidae, from the South-East Asia region. The list of species for this initial Asian Hornbill SAFE program plan was created by combining the highest priority Asian species that the IUCN SSC Hornbill Specialist Group has identified for conservation planning and action, with the list of current AZA animal program species, and then inclusion of existing field conservation programs where AZA members have already invested in Asian hornbill conservation and partnerships. We then restricted the species list to only include those species listed in IUCN threatened categories (CR, EN & VU), but we note that several additional non-threatened hornbill species will also benefit from the actions supported by this Program. The following table represents the species covered in this initial Asian Hornbill SAFE Program Plan. - 4 - Table 1: Current Asian Hornbill SAFE Program Plan species STATUS OF ASIAN HORNBILL SAFE SPECIES WITHIN AZA COMMUNITY The AZA Coraciiformes Taxon Advisory Group currently has 3 SSP programs for Asian Hornbill species, plus one candidate program. All four of those species are included within the Asian Hornbill Safe Program and their population numbers are detailed in the 2019 Coraciiformes TAG Annual Report as follows. Rhinoceros Hornbill - Yellow SSP - 35.37.2 (74 individuals) Wrinkled Hornbill - Yellow SSP - 26.19.1 (46 individuals) Great Indian Hornbill - Red SSP – 15.5.0 (20 individuals) Wreathed Hornbill - Candidate Prgm – 9.10.0 (19 individuals) In addition, both Black Hornbill and White-crowned Hornbill have been kept in AZA institutions but have been listed as phase-out species during past regional collection planning by the Coraciiformes Taxon Advisory Group. AZA CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES In a 2019 survey to AZA Coraciiformes TAG Institutional Representatives, 20 AZA organizations stated that they were either funding field conservation work directly focused upon hornbills or had staff members directly involved with hornbill field work. Many additional zoos have funded regional conservation work in Asia that has connection to Asian Hornbills. In many cases, AZA organizations have shown long-term support for conservation programs for - 5 - population monitoring, nest protection and habitat enhancements for Asian Hornbills such as those offered by the Hornbill Research Foundation in Thailand, or the Nature Conservation Foundation, India. The current Asian Hornbill SAFE Program Partners have been involved in the following activities. • North Carolina Zoo is supporting field survey work and conservation action plan development & implementation with Philippine hornbills that has been ongoing for several years. This has included participation in species action planning workshops for Sulu hornbill, Rufous-headed hornbill & Visayan hornbill as well as other Philippine wildlife. North Carolina Zoo is now working with Philippine partner organizations to implement conservation actions from the Sulu Hornbill