Cross-border calls from zoos and aquariums for post-Brexit animal transfer agreement

Zoos and aquariums across the island of Ireland have called on the UK and Irish Governments to work together to deliver a post-Brexit animal transfer deal.

They have warned their conservation work is seriously threatened by red tape.

Eleven organisations from the Republic and Northern Ireland have penned a joint letter urging the Prime Minister and Taoiseach to deliver an EU-UK sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement.

Signatories include Belfast Zoo, Castle Espie and Dublin Zoo.

They claim that international conservation programs have been significantly challenged by excessive and prohibitive regulations since the UK left the European Union.

The latest figures show the number of animals transferred between UK and EU zoos and aquariums dropped by almost 97% in two years.

Around 1,400 animal transfers were recorded by members of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) in 2019 however that figure fell to just 48 in 2021.

International conservation programs are reliant on transferring endangered species across international borders to cooperating zoos and aquariums.

Zoos and aquariums in Northern Ireland are also taking a leading role in coordinating conservation breeding programs.

For example, Belfast Zoo is coordinating the program for colobus monkeys and Francois Langurs.

The Senior Manager at BIAZA says the transfer of animals has been made "so much more difficult following Brexit."

Nicky Needham said: "Our zoos now face impossible hurdles and delays to partaking in international breeding programs.

"We urge Irish and UK Government to move to protect the world-leading conservation efforts of our zoos and aquariums. Let’s work together for a brighter future for wildlife.”

• Read the letter in full:

RE: Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement for the movement of animals between GB and EU Dear Taoiseach,

We, the undersigned, are writing to call for the Irish and UK Governments to work collaboratively with the European Commission in the name of species conservation. As Ireland and Northern Ireland’s members of BIAZA, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, we urge you to clear the red tape and give a green light to species conservation by advocating for a high-level Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement for the movement of the animals between GB and EU Member States, including Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Zoo- and aquarium-led international breeding programmes are essential to the ongoing survival of many species. Species as diverse as gorillas, toucans and sawfish are conserved through collaborative efforts on a European and world-wide scale. There are species that now only exist in the dedicated care of zoos and aquariums and for whom cross-border movements are critical to their ongoing survival.

We urge you to act. Excessive (and in some cases prohibitive) regulations between GB and the EU (and now also Northern Ireland) is an existential threat to these carefully coordinated breeding programmes. Not only are transfers between zoos in GB and Ireland (and Northern Ireland) being prevented, but animals can now no longer be transited through GB on onward journeys into the EU which previously allowed for the fastest (and hence best possible welfare) journeys. Last year just 48 animal transfers between EU and UK zoos took place, compared to 1,400 in a normal year.

This is completely undermining the conservation impact of BIAZA member zoos, in all these nations.

The Irish and UK Governments must work together to negotiate an SPS agreement with the European Commission that would give the green light to conservation programmes and ensure future generations live in a world thriving with wildlife, a world shared with much-loved species.

All our nations share in our vision as world-leaders in nature conservation. We all want to see a world where wildlife is in abundance and our natural systems sustainably meet our needs as societies. Through bodies such as BIAZA and EAZA, our world-leading zoos and aquariums have a rich and proud history of cross-border collaboration. We now urge you not to let this historic collaboration diminish but to lead us all in going further, doing more and truly enabling a better future for us all.

Kind regards the undersigned zoos of Ireland and Northern Ireland:

• Dr Christoph Schwitzer - Dublin Zoo

• Alyn Cairns - Belfast Zoo

• Matthew Hawkins - Galway Atlantaquaria

• Sean Mckeown - Fota Wildlife Park

• Bridget Collins - Ardmore Open Farm

• Ann O’Connor - Secret Valley

• Máire O Shea - Oceanworld Aquarium

• Lee Donoghue - Tayto

• Marc Boardman - WWT Castle Espie

• Matt Bolland - Exploris Aquarium

• Nicola Moore - Tropical World, Alcorns

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