THE SCIENCE OFÂ
CARE FOR THE RARE
Conservation
Over half of the current species conservation success stories have involved breeding programs. In a world experiencing a collapse in biodiversity, the role for breeding programs to save species and protect their genetic integrity is growing exponentially.
However, to realize its full conservation potential, captive breeding need not, should not and cannot sacrifice or trade the welfare of individual animals in order to save species.
Care for the Rare places animal welfare at the very heart of its conservation activities, maximizing the well-being of animals participating in species survival programs and protecting the social license necessary to retain and expand this vital component of the conservation toolkit.
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We have been involved in national and international conservation policy development and implementation for over two decades; we are part of the Canadian Commission for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and are actively engaged in species conservation projects on three continents, working with a variety of partners and agencies to develop strategies and programs to secure species in both wild and captive environments.
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We provide expertise in small population management, conservation planning and in particular its integration with animal welfare science, and wherever possible, apply a community-based conservation approach to the protection of biodiversity.
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We have been involved in numerous captive-breeding-for-release programs in North America and have helped establish national conservation strategies for Vietnam's elephants and Kenya's critically endangered Mountain bongo as well as securing millions of dollars for projects across the globe from Antarctica to Zimbabwe.

FOCUS AREAS

CONSERVATION PLANNING
Evidence Based Planning
With wildlife having declined by a third in just 25 years, effective conservation requires careful evidence based planning and buy-in from all stakeholders. We help develop national and international conservation strategies, population habitat viability assessments and conservation masterplanning.  We believe the future for wildlife is dependant upon establishing strategies in which local communities benefit from conservation activities and the persistence of wild populations that go beyond human wildlife conflict resolution, establishing more mutually beneficial relationships between wildlife and people.
CONSERVATION BREEDING & RECOVERY
A Key Ingredient in the Conservation Toolkit
We advise on the establishment and management of conservation breeding programmes. We encourage a holistic approach to species conservation, integrating captive and wild populations as part of a unified conservation strategy. We also advocate the judicious use of release programs and believe they shouldn't be viewed as a goal in of themselves, only a tool to achiever wider conservation aims – in particularly we advocate a metapopulation management approach where the capacity for captive populations to protect genetic diversity is brought to bear in the conservation of existing fragmented wild populations.


IMPACT AT THE INTERSECTION OFÂ ANIMAL WELFARE, CONSERVATION & PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Connecting the Dots...
Care for the Rare operates at the nexus between conservation, animal welfare and public engagement. Our goal is to protect species and ecosystems one individual animal at a time, inspiring a greater understanding of, and commitment to the natural world. By focusing on exclusively on endangered species in managed breeding programs and ensuring those programs deliver Peak Welfare, we aim to save species whilst harnessing the innate empathetic connection people readily develop towards individual animals, to nurture a more actionable understanding towards more complex ecosystem wide issues.