Re:wild and the Colossal Foundation are launching a Species Reintroduction Fund, designed to fuel conservation efforts that restore tens of highly threatened species back to their natural habitats.
The fund will provide critical support for the reintroduction projects of partners around the world, improving the health of ecosystems and benefitting countless other species. This work will be done in close partnership with the IUCN SSC Conservation Translocation Specialist Group to ensure projects are high-quality and follow international best practice.
Re:wild recognizes that sometimes in situ conservation — habitat protection, community engagement, anti-poaching etc — is not always enough to save and recover a species. Consequently, Re:wild works through our local partners to support conservation breeding and reintroduction efforts across the world.
In 2020, Re:wild, Aussie Ark and WildArk partnered to release 11 Tasmanian Devils into a 1,000-acres wildlife sanctuary on Australia’s Barrington Tops. This was followed by additional releases and it is the first time in 3,000 years that the Tasmanian Devil was back in the wild on mainland Australia, an historic moment critical to rewilding Australia. Since then, Tasmanian Devils have been breeding in the sanctuary.
In 2019, Re:wild joined local partners Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zapata Swamp Cuban Crocodile Breeding Sanctuary in the wild release of 10 young Cuban Crocodiles, one of the world’s most threatened crocodilian species.
Re:wild has a long history of supporting the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s Kakī Recovery Program, which has bolstered the population of adult Kakī by 30 percent over the last 40 years through a conservation breeding and reintroduction program.
Re:wild is also working on a host of other species conservation projects that will eventually lead to reintroduction efforts such as the Sumatran Rhino, Annamite-Crested Argus Pheasant, and Sehuencas Water Frog.