Blog: how does a rhino cross the Channel…?

Let me take you back to the relatively uncomplicated, pre-Brexit, pre-Covid days of 2019…BIAZA member zoos and aquariums were connecting record numbers of visitors with some of the world’s most threatened species. Participating in 404 EEP (international conservation breeding) programmes, and providing homes for over 11,000 individual animals from those programmes, the BIAZA zoo and aquarium community was transferring approximately 1400 animals between zoos and aquariums in the UK and Ireland, and mainland Europe each year. By far the majority of these transfers were on the basis of EEP recommendations, helping to maintain genetically healthy populations of threatened species to support their conservation.

Fast-forward to 2022, and we find ourselves recovering from a global pandemic, and finding our way in a politically and logistically very different landscape.

2021 saw two major legislative changes for the zoo and aquarium sector; the transition to new EU Animal Health Law within the EU and (separately) Brexit! With the latter, the major challenge has been in the failure to replace the prior system with one that enables zoos and aquariums to move animals across UK-EU borders without being bogged down in a suffocating amount of red tape.

These changes are now impeding our ability to carry out essential international animal transfers. They have led to a vast number of technical difficulties and piles of costly extra administration around both imports and exports. These issues are stacking up, the list includes:

•  a lack of Border Control Posts able to carry out inspections on transiting zoo animals;
• challenges in obtaining transporter authorisation for our animal transporters;
• a lack of health certificates for zoo species;  
• excessive new testing requirements for diseases such as rabies (even though the UK is rabies-free!);
• new requirements for time-limited CITES permits;
• a complete lack of alignment between current UK and EU veterinary health regulations.

Animal transfers which just 3 years ago would have been straight-forward processes, with initial planning to final transfer completed within a matter of weeks, can now take months if not over a year to successfully complete.

We have been extremely lucky to have the support of Defra and of EAZA in working through a significant number of these initial challenges, and are now seeing a steady but painfully slow increase in animal transfers between GB and EU. Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) data shows that 56 transfers were recorded on ZIMS between UK (GB and Jersey) and the EU in 2021. At time of writing, 138 animal transfers have been recorded in 2022, still a far cry from the 1,345 in 2019.

Whilst the trajectory is in a positive direction, it’s becoming abundantly clear that under these new, permanent restrictions, it is unlikely that zoos and aquariums in UK and Ireland will be able to return to previous levels of animal transfers.

To be clear, what is at stake here is not only the continued ability of UK and Irish zoos to maintain healthy animal populations, but also the active role they play in the pan-European – and indeed global contribution towards ex-situ conservation. This is especially important at a time when the ongoing biodiversity crisis needs good zoos and aquariums to be more actively involved than ever, in boosting numbers of threatened species.

However, we are optimistic that many of the new administrative barriers to animal transfers could be resolved through better alignment of UK and EU’s veterinary health regulations. We are therefore joining with other sectors in asking UK Government to explore with the European Commission, a UK-EU SPS (Sanitary and phytosanitary) agreement to be implemented in the longer-term future. Members can read more on that in BIAZA’s position statement on an SPS Agreement and can follow our regular animal transfer updates here.

So, whilst in the shorter term we continue to work with our heroic BIAZA zoo and aquarium registrars, battling through endless administration to successfully see animals transferred to new zoos and new breeding groups, we will also be working with UK and EU officials and Ministers, towards a longer-term goal of a more unified approach to animal health and also to international conservation efforts.  

By Nicky Needham, Senior Manager at BIAZA

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not a reflection of BIAZA's positions.