Chapter 37: Ex-situ conservation of wild pigs and peccaries423
deciduous forest, closed to open broadleaf forest/shrubland and
to a lesser degree mosaic vegetation/cropland. Only 12 per cent
of the highly suitable areas fall under a form of formal protec-
tion (Ferraz et al. 2016). The Chaco has recently seen alarming
increases in the rates of deforestation to make room for inten-
sive agricultural practices and livestock production or for min-
ing operations, thus leading to habitat loss, degradation and
fragmentation (Taber et al. 2011; Altrichter et al. 2016). Indeed,
between 2000 and 2010, deforestation rates in the Chaco were
among the highest in the world (Aide et al. 2013; Hansen et al.
2013) and in the period 2010–2013 another 16,431 km^2 of forest
was lost (Cardozo et al. 2014). Although illegal in all three coun-
tries (with exemption for subsistence hunting by indigenous
peoples), the species is further affected by hunting for consump-
tion and (in Bolivia and Paraguay) for its meat and hide, leading
to reduced population sizes and behaviour changes (Altrichter
et al. 2016). Unsurprisingly, the species is currently listed as
Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
(Altrichter et al. 2015).
In February 2016 a species conservation planning work-
shop was held in Paraguay, attended by 31 participants from all
three range countries and representatives from a wide range of
stakeholders including governments, NGOs, researchers, indig-
enous people, Mennonite communities, the IUCN SSC PSG,
etc. (Altrichter et al. 2016). The workshop also included species
distribution modelling, population viability analysis and the
application of the IUCN SSC Guidelines on the Use of Ex-situ
Management for Species Conservation (IUCN SSC 2014).
Following the five-step process described in the guidelines, the
participants (from both in-situ and ex-situ backgrounds) took
note of the current in-situ and ex-situ status of, and threats to,
the species, identified potential roles for ex-situ management for
conservation, determined what would be required to fulfil those
roles and whether this would be feasible or would hold par-
ticular risks. Finally, having evaluated the benefit of proposed
ex-situ activities in comparison to the other proposed actions
to conserve the species, the roles and goals of the ex-situ pop-
ulation were set. The participants retained the following roles
for ex-situ management (Altrichter et al. 2016): (a) provide an
insurance population that can serve as a source for population
restoration when required and possible (and in the meantime
can serve to develop successful protocols with trial reintroduc-
tions); (b) provide opportunities for research (especially to
gather those biological parameters that are hard to research in
the wild but are essential for modelling to inform conservation
planning and implementation) and training (for in-situ and
ex-situ specialists, in field methodologies, reintroduction tech-
niques, handling of animals, veterinary care, ex-situ husbandry,
etc.); (c) provide education opportunities (in range countries
to inform school children and other stakeholder groups about
the biology and plight of the Chacoan peccary and the Chaco-
ecoregion, and internationally to highlight the precarious situ-
ation of the whole Chaco-ecoregion and the Chacoan peccary
in particular); and (d) for the international partners to harness
financial and in-kind support for management of the range coun-
try ex-situ operations and in-situ conservation measures. While
established afresh, these roles completely overlapped with those
determined previously (D. Meritt and J. M. Campos Krauer, per-
sonal communication), but the massive scale of deforestation
significantly increased the sense of urgency and importance.
The workshop devised an action plan aimed at achieving the ex-
situ roles identified (Altrichter et al. 2016).
Currently, there are three ex-situ populations of Chacoan
peccaries: Proyecto Tagua in Paraguay, an SSP programme in
AZA, and an EEP programme in EAZA. In 1985, Proyecto Tagua
was established following an agreement between the Zoological
Society of San Diego, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock
and the USA Peace Corps with the intention to start a research
and captive breeding facility at Fortín Toledo, Department of
Boquerón, ~35 km from the city of Filadelfia, in the central
Paraguayan Chaco (Altrichter et al. 2015; http://www.cccipy.org/).
In 2010 the project morphed into the non-profit organization
Chaqueño Center for Conservation and Research (CCCI), aim-
ing to continue and expand the work of captive breeding, con-
servation, health and sustainable development in Paraguay with
an emphasis on the Chaco region (www.cccipy.org/). Having
originally started with seven wild-caught adults, in February
2016 the Proyecto Tagua population counted 106 individuals
derived from about 30 founders that had gradually trickled into
the population over the years (Table 37.1; Figure 37.1). About 40
were released in trial reintroductions between 1999 and 2001 (J.
M. Campos Krauer, personal communication). In 1996, 12 ani-
mals were shipped to Phoenix Zoo in the USA, of which 10 sur-
vived, so that the SSP population was started with three males
and seven females (Quick 2012). In 2014 the SSP population had
grown to 68 individuals (Table 37.1). In 2012 seven animals were
transferred from the SSP to Tierpark Berlin as the start of the
EAZA EEP population, which by October 2016 had grown to 30
individuals in five institutions. The EEP is thus genetically a sub-
set of the SSP population, but exact genetic analysis figures are
not yet available. Animals in AZA and EAZA are owned by the
Republic of Paraguay (Meritt et al. 2014). Both the SSP and EEP
programmes strongly encourage their members to contribute
financially to the Proyecto Tagua/CCCI.
At the conservation planning workshop in Paraguay, the
participants envisaged that the Paraguayan ex-situ population
would be the main genetic insurance population which, given
the regular opportunistic influx of new founders, should be able
to retain good amounts of gene diversity even with its current
population size of around 100 individuals. Ideally, at regular
intervals, individuals would be transferred from Proyecto Tagua
to the SSP and/or EEP to increase the currently low founder
basis of the international population (Table 37.1) and so that the
SSP and EEP can function as secondary populations to avoid the
risk of having ‘all genetic eggs in one basket’. In its latest plan,
the SSP also recommends the import of four potential breeding
pairs from Paraguay (conditional on permitting and funding)
(Meritt et al. 2014). Both SSP and EEP request extra holders.
Establishing a second population in a range country is an alter-
native scenario that is recommended to be investigated for feasi-
bility. There are currently ~20 individuals at Itaipu Zoo (eastern
Paraguay), derived from Proyecto Tagua stock, but the zoo was
considered to be a suboptimal location for establishing a large
secondary population in Paraguay..03913:02:26