ZIMS: Making a difference in India.

Over the course of the last seven years, Species360 and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) of India have been working closely and tirelessly to support the Indian zoo and aquarium community.

In 2016, alone, Species360’s Regional Coordinator Moin Ahmed held eleven on-site training workshops at Indian zoos. Topics ranged from ZIMS usage and data management practices to international collaboration. In all, these workshops served 63 individuals from 36 institutions in events across India.

Host institutions included Ariganar Anna Zoological Park, Bannerghatta Biological Park, Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, Bharat Ratna Pt. G.B. Pant High Altitude Zoo, Kamla Nehru Zoological Park, Nawab Wazid Ali Shah Prani Udyan, Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, and  Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre.

After their training was complete, nearly all participating member institutions showed a significant increase in ZIMS usage. These metrics show the vital importance of training as well as following standardized regional procedures. ZIMS can not only organize and hold institutional data, it can also connect individual institutions, share best practices, and improve veterinary care.

“ZIMS also helps us pick up early signs of sickness, find out what drugs and treatments have worked best on a particular species, and see whether any change (in behaviour, weight, condition, etc.), is out of the ordinary,” Ahmed said. “Medical decisions benefit greatly from our vets being able to compare test results from our animals to pooled data from zoological institutions around the world—Including normal values for a range of physiological attributes of a species, or drug treatment or anaesthesia efficacy.”

–Moin Ahmed, Species360 Regional Coordinator for India &
Josh Courteau, Training Manager, Training Manager, Species360