By Patrícia Medici, Brazil, TSG Chair

Download our Second International Tapir Symposium Report (PDF document, 1.4Mb)

24 January, 2004: The Second International Tapir Symposium held from January 10 to 16 in Panama City, Republic of Panama.  The symposium was organized through a partnership between the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group (TAG) and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) Tapir Taxon Advisory Group (TAG).  We had about 80 tapir conservationists from 19 different countries (Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, French Guiana, Guatemala, Honduras, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela).  About 49% of our TSG membership attended the conference, and as a consequence, our group was very well represented. 

The first part of the Symposium consisted of paper and poster sessions addressing tapir biology, research and conservation.  The second part was devoted to workshops addressing and prioritizing specific topics relevant to the conservation of the four species of tapirs and their remaining habitats in Latin America and Southeast Asia (Genetics, Husbandry and Captive Management, Action Planning & Fundraising).  We also had 6 keynote speakers, including myself, Dr. William Konstant (Conservation International, USA), Dr. Matthew Colbert (University of Texas, USA), Dr. Stanley Heckadon-Moreno (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama), Dr. William B. Karesh (Wildlife Conservation Society, USA), and Wally Van Sickle (Idea Wild, USA). 
 
In the last day of the symposium, we held a workshop that we called TSG Plans for Action.  This workshop was a full day meeting and it was facilitated by Dr. Phil Miller and Amy Camacho from the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG).  The main objective of this session was to set short-term goals and priority actions that the TSG should take during the next two years (2004-2005) in order to be more effective in terms of tapir conservation worldwide.   The main questions we asked ourselves were “What should we do as a group?” and “What actions should we take to be more effective in terms of tapir conservation?”   The final outcome of this workshop was a list of priority goals and actions that we WILL be taking during the next two years, before the Third Symposium that will be held in Chiapas, Mexico, in January 2006.  The final document produced during the workshop is currently being edited and will be sent to all interested parties (TSG members and other tapir conservationists, IUCN officers, AZA and EAZA Tapir TAG members, TSG partners, symposium's institutional and financial supporters etc.).
 
Also, during the next few weeks I will be working on the symposium's final report and I will make sure to keep you posted about all the results and recommendations generated during the conference.  Reports about the conference will be also published in the next issue of the Tapir Conservation Newsletter (June 2004) and in the IUCN Species Magazine, and posted on the TSG Website. 
 
For now, I just would like to share the good news and say that the symposium was extremely successful! I have received inumerous e-mail messages from our symposium participants and there is a common agreement that the symposium was a major accomplishment for the group, and that we are all feeling even more motivated to keep working hard for the conservation of tapirs and their habitats!
 
2004 promises to be a very busy, but at the same time very exciting and challenging year for the Tapir Specialist Group.
 
My very best wishes from Brazil,
 
Patrícia Medici

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