European Endangered Species Programme

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The European Endangered Species Programme or EEP is the most intensive type of population management for a species kept in European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) zoos. Each of the EEPs has a coordinator (someone with a special interest in and knowledge of the species concerned, who is working in an EAZA zoo or aquarium) assisted by a Species Committee^[1].

The coordinator has many tasks to coordinate, such as collecting information on the status of all the animals of the species for which he or she is responsible kept in EAZA zoos and aquaria, producing a studbook, carrying out demographical and genetical analyses, and producing a plan for the future management of the species.

Together with the Species Committee, recommendations are made each year on which animals should breed or not breed, which individual animals should go from one zoo to another or on breeding loans, and so on.