Today I read an article on the Chicago Tribune website that named a member of staff at Lincoln Park Zoo as the first ever person to have 'reintroduction biologist' as their job title (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-05/entertainment/ct-ent-0906-green-snakes-20120905_1_snakes-lincoln-park-zoo-herpetology). Given that Phil Seddon, Doug Armstrong and Richard Maloney wrote "there is therefore now a recognizable field of reintroduction biology" only five years ago (Seddon et al. 2007), this represents quite a development and a milestone the translocation community should be aware of.
Hopefully we'll see more people join Allison Sacerdote, the Lincoln Park Zoo employee, as the profession develops. Perhaps more importantly, we'll see increasing numbers of employees of zoos, botanic gardens and statutory agencies who adopt an 'experimental' approach called for by Seddon et al. (2007) and adopted by Sacerdote. In the featured reintroduction project, she will be comparing 'hard' and 'soft' release techniques in order to develop effective protocols for smooth green snakes in Illinois.
Seddon, P. J., Armstrong, D. P., & Maloney, R. F. (2007). Developing the science of reintroduction biology. Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, 21(2), 303–12. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00627.x
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