EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) is an association of European zoological parks whose aim is to promote cooperation between zoological establishments with a view to preserving animal species.
To be a member, zoos must comply with the guidelines and code of ethics, and undergo a full inspection by an international team of experts.
The Réserve Africaine de Sigean has been a member of the EAZA since 1993.
EAZA is responsible for managing the European Endangered Species Program (EEP).
Each EEP is coordinated by a small committee which issues breeding recommendations to each of the program’s member parks for the coming year. In this way, they ensure that maximum genetic diversity is maintained for each species, and give instructions for animal transfers that are consistent with this aim. This task is sometimes complicated by the very limited number of founding individuals, and inbreeding is clearly one of the main pitfalls of captivity.
These sustainably managed breeding programs can in turn serve as initial stock for reintroduction or population enhancement programs. There are already many examples: Cuvier’s Gazelle or Addax in North Africa, Bald Ibis in Spain, Vultures and Bearded Vultures in France, Golden Lion Tamarins in Brazil… It is obvious that in this context, no market value can be attributed to our animals, on pain of exclusion from the EAZA.
The Réserve Africaine de Sigean participates in some 40 European Programs for Threatened Species . The status of some of these species has deteriorated rapidly over the last twenty years, and species that were not threatened in the 1990s (lions, giraffes, etc.) are now in a delicate situation.