Durrell sharing white-footed tamarin knowledge with Colombia

Durrell's husbandry course gives hands-on experience

October 2011: A Colombian vet is returning to South America armed with fresh conservation skills learned from hands-on experience gained at Durrell Wildlife Trust's primate husbandry course.

EXPERTISE: A white-footed tamarin

Juliana Peña-Stadlin spent two weeks at the Jersey headquarters of the trust after receiving a scholarship to attend its world renowned International Training to learn more about caring for the endangered white-footed tamarin, which lives only in Colombia.

This project is testament to how Durrell's three core conservation pillars work together to make a real impact in their mission to save species from extinction.

Sharing extensive knowledge
Accompanying Juliana on her return journey will be Dominic Wormell, head of Durrell's mammal department. Dominic will spend a fortnight in Colombia during which time he will initially follow the animals in the field, hoping to locate some of the last remaining white-footed tamarins.

The remainder of his time will be spent sharing his extensive knowledge of these diminutive primates, running a number of workshops and visiting some of the institutions that hold the species in captivity.

Commenting on her time spent at Durrell, Juliana said: ‘Not only have I learned so much from the theory side of the course, but also the practical time spent with the vets here has been invaluable. I feel as though I am now in a much stronger position to care for the tamarins and to share what I have learned with my colleagues.

‘I will also be implementing a series of new protocols with regard to the health aspects and husbandry issues of these animals in the various institutions with whom we work.'

Passing skills to people on the front line
Dominic added: ‘We are delighted with the work conducted in Colombia and the major improvements we have seen to date. Many of these improvements stem from our specialised knowledge of these animals and our ability to develop skills here in Jersey and then pass them on to people working on the front line, such as Juliana.'

The White-footed Tamarin International Conservation Project was started by Colombian conservationists, several of whom have trained at Durrell, and is a collaborative effort with the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). Durrell is a lead partner on the project, which has a multi-pronged approach, building the skills and capacity to have a safety population of the tiny mammals in Colombia, plus carrying out field work to survey the last patches of forest that the tamarin occurs in.

To date Durrell and its partners have trained well over 60 Colombians during the workshops and have built more than 20 enclosures in various institutions. In doing so great successes have been achieved. Captive mortality rates have reduced from 90 per cent to 20 per cent and in addition the teams are delighted to now have a number of mother-reared offspring, something which was practically unheard of prior to the commencement of this project.