Editorial
Tapir's death a setback for conservation efforts

	ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES A mother tapir and baby (in corner) sniff around the warm, indoor enclosure at the Woodland Park Zoo three weeks after the male calf's birth.
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With its pig-like snout and bulky body, the Malayan tapir is no beauty. But the endangered mammal, which has hardly changed in 20 million years, is a powerful poster child for the urgency of conservation: Today, only a couple thousand of the black-and-white ungulates remain, mostly in dense Asian rain forests. There are just 58 of them in U.S. zoos.

That's why the death of a baby Malayan tapir at the Woodland Park Zoo is so disappointing.

The celebration of the male calf's birth was short-lived; it died just 10 weeks after it was born. Because of cold weather, the young mammal had not yet appeared in public. It was housed in a heated barn with its mother — viewable only through a "tapir cam" — when it died this week.

When a baby animal is born at the zoo, it generates excitement. More importantly, it raises awareness. Tapirs need all they can get. Native to Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Thailand and Myanmar, Malayan tapirs are victims of deforestation. Some are also hunted for their thick skin.

People still argue about the merits of keeping wild animals in captivity. But the role zoos play in conservation efforts is undeniable. Many zoos educate people about endangered animals and support preservation efforts — both in captivity and in the wild. That's especially important for animals like the tapir that don't have cuddly faces or widespread familiarity like pandas or chimpanzees.

As part of its participation in a species-survival plan for Malayan tapirs, the Woodland Park Zoo has worked hard to breed them. In 2000, another baby Malayan tapir was born to the same parents, but it also died shortly thereafter. The two died of different causes.

Their deaths, like their births, should underscore the need to preserve these living fossils before they fade away.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company