Five Slovenian ibex from ZOO Ljubljana released into the wild.
Five Slovenian ibex – Perun, Maja, Vesna, Živa and Zarja – have exchanged the enclosures in Ljubljana ZOO for the vastness of the Austrian Hohe Tauern. Eleven ibex from three European zoos were released into the wild. ZOO Ljubljana rated the release as an unforgettable and emotional event. "One of the most important tasks of modern zoos is preserving a healthy and genetically diverse enough population of individual endangered animal species, so that in case of need, we can return animals to the wild within nature conservation projects," they emphasized.
ZOO Ljubljana joined the international nature conservation project and thus for the first time in its history released offspring of its animals into the wild, with the aim of increasing the existing population of alpine ibex in the Hohe Tauern mountain range. As reported by ZOO Ljubljana, on July 4, 2024, eleven alpine ibex from three European zoos were released into the wild in the Austrian Hohe Tauern. In addition to the Ljubljana Zoo, the Salzburg Hellbrunn Zoo and the Stuttgart Wilhelma Zoo also participated with their animals.
The alpine ibex was once widespread over a large part of the Alps. Through relentless hunting, humans almost exterminated this species everywhere, with one exception: at the beginning of the 19th century, a remaining population of about a hundred animals – ancestors of all alpine ibex living in the Alps today – still lived in the Italian Gran Paradiso National Park. Due to strict protection and reintroduction measures, the charismatic native mountain goat is now widespread again in numerous regions of the Alps, including parts of the Hohe Tauern range in Austria, as explained by ZOO Ljubljana.
In 2023, ten alpine ibex from various zoos were relocated to the Grossarltal area into the wild to promote connection between free-living populations that are not yet permanently connected. This project, which was the result of a local initiative, was based on a well-founded feasibility study that showed the habitat's suitability for ibex. After the first successful reintroduction last year, Austrian colleagues, on the recommendation of the coordinator of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria - EAZA, approached the zoo with a request for ZOO Ljubljana to also participate in the project, as they have one of the three largest herds of alpine ibex among all zoos in the association with 28 animals.
Five young Slovenian ibex released into the wild
For the release project into the wild, ZOO Ljubljana allocated five young ibex, namely a three-year-old male, a two-year-old female, and three one-year-old females. Due to the importance of participating in such a project, the Slovenian alpine ibex were symbolically named after Slavic deities – Perun, Maja, Vesna, Živa and Zarja. The alpine ibex were accompanied on this journey by professional leader Bojana Stranjac, animal curator Špela Štrus, and head of veterinary service Dr. Pavel Kvapil.
How did the release proceed?
Before departure, the alpine ibex underwent a detailed veterinary examination and testing for various infectious diseases, as assured by ZOO Ljubljana. In addition to the certificate that the animals are healthy and in good physical condition, they needed appropriate transport documents and ear tags with numbers for the journey into the wild. The alpine ibex were transported to Austria on July 3 in wooden boxes by a sponsor's van, specifically to the location Hüttschlag. Male Perun and female Maja received telemetry collars, based on which they can be tracked for one year. The next day, the boxes with alpine ibex were transported to the last hut at 1483 m altitude, and from there by helicopter above the upper tree line.
President of the Professional Council of ZOO Ljubljana, Dr. Hubert Potočnik, said on this occasion: "In the area of Slovenia, the ibex is believed to have been exterminated in the second half of the 17th century, but we did not have solid evidence of this until recently. Based on archaeo-zoological and genetic analyses, it has been substantiated that the ibex is a native species in Slovenia, which lived on the territory of present-day Slovenia in the late antique and early medieval periods. Valuable experiences gained from the release of ibex in the Hohe Tauern will thus also be able to help ibex in the Slovenian alpine world, as due to spatial fragmentation of small populations, they will also need similar resettlement measures to preserve the species in Slovenia."
The release of alpine ibex into the wild was an unforgettable and emotional event for all participants. Indeed, one of the most important tasks of modern zoos is preserving a healthy and genetically diverse enough population of individual endangered animal species, so that in case of need, we can return animals to the wild within nature conservation projects, as stated by ZOO Ljubljana.
Source:
https://www.24ur.com/novice/slovenija/pet-slovenskih-kozorogov-iz-zoo-ljubljana-izpustili-v-naravo.html