2 Przewalski Horses turn up at auctions

[ReSomething]

My coworker regaled me with stories about the rich idiot with the lions out here in BFE Kentucky. Got loose at regular intervals, complained about, finally vanished.

[hoopoe]

@JenEM

The Smithsonian biologist mentioned there is a close genetic monitoring in breeding them in captivity. So would it be possible to DNA test these two, like you can DNA test a TB to verify parentage on them? I’d think that would also provide a big clue where they came from.

yes. Zoos and institutions participate in the International stud book in an effort to monitor and trade animals for breeding. The Prague Zoo keeps the book for the Przewalski . the linked article has a further link talking about Prague Zoos reintroduction of horses out onto the steppe. I hope they have some effort going to try and figure these horses out

[moonlitoaksranch]

Are there any updates? I can’t read the WAPO article. Is the mare going to someone responsible? Is the stallion real? Did the parents of the 14 year old step up and offer to do the right thing? Honestly, I would have yanked my kid off of social media as soon as the story broke. She doesn’t need that sort of attention.

[roseymare]

Huckabay is the stallion owner and Bjorklunds have the mare at the rescue

Huckabay and the Bjorklunds plan to care for the horses as long as needed, but said they’d prefer to see their rescued Przewalski’s move to a professional conservation program.

Shrek is happy on the ranch, but Huckabay said she’d rather see him with “a herd of his own.”

“That would be the best-case scenario,” she said.

[aredhel]

I do find it strange that both horses are apparently still in private hands, given that they are an endangered species and it is not legal for the average private citizen to own one. When are they going to be placed in an appropriate conservation herd? Where is US Fish and Wildlife in this mess?

I do hope we get a true update eventually one that shows the horses have been placed in an appropriate setting, and that serious efforts are being made to track down how they wound up at auction facilities in the first place.

[roseymare]

I believe private individuals can own them with permits.

[Scribbler]

I am not sure there’s a level of authority that’s going to be too heavily invested in seizing and rehoming said to be Przewalski’s horses that ended up at auction.

[roseymare]

yep
hoofstock is pretty low on the list unless from a country with endemic Hoof and Mouth

[aredhel]

True, but normally those permits are extremely difficult to get. Basically, the government wants species on the CITES Appendix 1 List to be owned by people who will keep them in a breeding situation.

[Scribbler]

I expect the przewalski horses turning up is something totally unexpected because they aren’t one of the species typically sold on the exotic pets black market, they aren’t dangerous to the public, and they aren’t invasive or environmentally a problem.

https://www.speciesplus.net/species#/taxon_concepts/9902/legal

[roseymare]

Really because it seems like there are quite a few out there in small zoos and parks that are not breeding.

[aredhel]

Yes, really. With endangered species in captivity, each animal is supposed to be evaluated (in terms of its genetics), and matings are controlled by the Species Survival Plan (https://www.aza.org/species-survival-plan-programs) in order to maximize the genetic diversity of the captive population. That doesn’t mean every animal will be bred, but those places in non-breeding situations will be those individuals whose genetics are over-represented in the population. So random individuals of an endangered species on the CITES Appendix 1 list aren’t generally allowed to be held outside of breeding situations without the SSP signing off on the placement, which certainly didn’t happen here.