LEADING figures from the international world of conservation gathered at Sparsholt College to share the many challenges they face in the battle to protect some of the world’s endangered animals.

Monkey World’s director Dr Alison Cronin joined Cathy Dean director of Save the Rhino International and Esther Conway director of 21st Century Tiger for the Conservation Symposium which marks the first of a series of Sparsholt College centenary lecturers.

The symposium was organised by Andy Beer the college’s director of zoo management studies.

Speaking to a packed audience of Sparsholt students and industry experts, Alison Cronin discussed primate confiscation and rehabilitation, highlighting the very difficult ethical decisions Monkey World and other international rescue centres have to make.

Alison said: “Primates around the world are being exploited for so many reasons but ironically because they are so human-like and humans are fascinated by them.”

Cathy Dean shared her own career path into conservation and told the audience about the many threats facing rhinos from loss of habitat to fragmentation of the rhino population.

Save the Rhino International is working on a number of solutions to this crisis which include political, law enforcement, behaviour change and community conservation.

Cathy said: “The thorny issues continue to be trophy hunting, shoot to kill, de-horning, poisoning horns and captive breeding.”

21st Century Tiger is a funding partnership between the Zoological Society London (ZSL) and Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation working with the international zoo community to fund wild tiger conservation.

Director Esther Conway talked the students through the threat facing tigers and, explained that like orang-utans and rhinos, habitat, palm oil and poaching are the greatest threats.

Esther said: “We are funding anti-poaching teams which are under-cover, intelligence-led operations specifically in Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra.

“In India we are funding tiger monitoring and in Malaysia we have citizen-led initiatives which encourages the local community to take responsibility for the habitats in their own country.”

Andy Beer said it was a great experience for students and staff at the college to interface with inspirational speakers who are making a difference in the conservation of endangered species.