Frogs, crayfisgh and leopards among zoo’s top ten list of animals staving off extinction

ONE of the world’s largest frogs, Britain’s only native crayfish and Amur leopards are among the creatures staving off extinction with the help of zoos, it is claimed.

A list of species whose future is most reliant on conservation programmes by zoos in the UK and Ireland has been drawn up by the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Biaza) to highlight its work to save wildlife.

The top ten list includes Polynesian tree snails, the Potosi pupfish from Mexico and the scimitar-horned oryx from Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal, which are all extinct in the wild.

The critically endangered mountain chicken frog, facing extinction in its Caribbean home from exploitation by humans, habitat loss and a deadly fungus, is being bred in captivity in the UK.

Just 45 Amur leopards remain in the wild, but there are 220 in a global conservation breeding programmes in zoos around the world with a reintroduction scheme currently in the planning stages.

Dr Andrew Marshall, of Biaza, said: “This list highlights ten prevailing examples of how zoos are working to save these and many other species from ­extinction.”