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May 2025

abigazzard
In News

Critically Endangered Hamster, Meet Endangered Pocket Mouse

On April 27, 2025 a contingent of three Ukrainian scientists from the Kyiv Zoo arrived in San Diego for a study tour with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. The Ukrainians have been involved in the conservation breeding and reintroduction of the now Critically Endangered European Hamster (Cricetus cricetus) into the steppe region of Ukraine. The project is led by Dr. Mikhail Rusin of the Kyiv Zoo, also a SMSG member. As a supporter of this program, Zoo New England (ZNE) requested and received a grant from the foundation Trust for Mutual Understanding to provide the scientists from this war-torn country a chance to learn from one of the world’s best captive breeding and reintroduction team.

Kyiv Zoo team and Zoo New England facilitator at San Diego Zoo

The Ukrainian team was supported by Peter Zahler of ZNE, also a SMSG member, and hosted by Dr. Debra Shier, who is the Alliance’s Brown Endowed Associate Director of Recovery Ecology. Dr. Shier and her group work on a number of small mammal translocations, including a very successful Stephen’s Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys stephensi) program and the program the Ukrainians observed during their visit, on the Pacific Pocket Mouse (Perognathus longimembris pacificus). These tiny mice, the smallest in North America, were thought extinct until a small population was discovered in the 1990s. They currently can be found in only three sites, and probably still number only about 200 animals along the coast of southern California.

Over the next nine days, the Ukrainians were provided with both presentations and hands-on opportunities to learn cutting-edge methods in husbandry, breeding decisions, hormone trials, genetic studies, health assessments, and data management protocols. They also learned about the complex decision-making that goes into identifying potential release sites. Finally, they learned about behavioural competency conditioning for the mice to prepare them for life in the wild, including predator avoidance, shelter use, and foraging.

The team also went into the field to help with a “soft release” of 50 Pacific pocket mice into small cages out in the coastal scrub, helped with vegetation surveys, and finally went out to remove the “soft release” cages and free what might well be 20% of the wild population of this highly threatened small mammal. They have since returned to Ukraine where they will attempt to put what they’ve learned into practice for the European hamster initiative.

The reintroduction site, the Ukrainian team conducting fieldwork in the coastal sage scrub (middle) and a “soft-release” trap where the mice spend a week getting used to being outdoors (right).

Author: Peter Zahler, Director of Field Conservation at ZNE, SMSG member

rosalindk
In News

A fond farewell to our Co-Chair, Dr. Tom Lacher Jr.

This month, after 13 years in the role, Tom is stepping down as the Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Small Mammal Specialist Group (SMSG). Here we look at some of the huge contributions and achievements Tom has made to the group over this period.

Tom replaced Don Wilson as the co-chair of the newly formed SMSG back in 2012, with his focus on developing small mammal work across the Americas. He served as co-chair first with Rich Young and more recently with Ros Kennerley. During his time as Co-Chair, Tom was a professor at Texas A&M University (TAMU), until his retirement a few years ago. Through academic connections and teams of students at TAMU, he oversaw the previous Global Mammal Assessment for the Americas.

Since his retirement from TAMU, Tom has been able to assist in the renewal of the Red List Partnership between TAMU and the SSC and promoted strong continued interest in the SMSG as well as assessment activities more widely, among faculty, staff, and administrators. The university has also renewed an agreement that Tom had previously negotiated with Re:wild to enhance capacity for both Red List and Green Status assessments.

In addition to his work for the SMSG, Tom has had many other engagements with the wider SSC activities. He first became engaged with the SSC when he was Executive Director of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International in the early 2000s. He helped organise the funding of both the SSC Chair position (at the time Holly Dublin) as well as the first GMA (then under Simon Stuart) – so it has been nearly a quarter century of engagement! Tom also served on the Red List Committee from 2010 to 2023.

Some of Tom’s SMSG highlights:

Tom presenting at the SSC Leaders’ Meeting, 2024

(c) Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD)

Dr Jon Paul Rodríguez (Chair of the SSC) presenting the Excellence Award to the SMSG co-chairs, 2024
At our SMSG workshop in Puebla, Mexico, 2018

Tom says:

“I have greatly enjoyed and have been enriched by my work with the SMSG and the SSC. I am interested in continuing to support the SMSG in a more informal way by assisting in South America, helping move the assessments forward, supporting colleagues there to develop and submit proposals, and providing guidance to teams wishing to develop planning and action activities related to the SSC’s ASSESS-PLAN-ACT cycle.”

Hear from the SSC Chair, and some of our SMSG members, below.

-Dr Jon Paul Rodríguez, IUCN SSC Chair

“This is a bittersweet moment, as Tom has been a major force in this group and SSC in general, so it makes me sad to see him go. But Tom steps down as someone that had great success and left a fantastic group to continue with this work. You leave a substantial legacy.

Many thanks, Tom, for all that you have done for SSC. I look forward to remaining in touch and learning about your continued contributions, as I am certain that they will be great, too.”

-Professor Ricardo Ojeda, SMSG member

“I have known Tom since our days as a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, back in the late 1970s. Since then, we have maintained contact at different conferences and exchanged frequently on various topics related to the distribution, ecology, and conservation of Neotropical mammals.

My impression of Tom is that of an exceptional biologist with deep knowledge in various fields of mammalian biology. The diversity of topics developed in his scientific contributions is proof of this.

For several years Tom has been driving the appropriate means and space to translate much of his knowledge from basic research into the promotion of policies and strategies for the management of mammalian biodiversity conservation, particularly small mammals.

I particularly highlight his interest in promoting research related to small mammal species with knowledge gaps regarding their distribution, ranges of occupancy, abundance, and their relationship with protected area systems.

His departure from the IUCN SSC Small Mammal Specialist Group leaves an important foundation on which to continue diversifying and consolidating the path toward a more robust biodiversity conservation biology.

Of course, several of us understand that stepping down as Co-chair does not mean Tom is retiring from the small mammal research community and his pertinent and always sought-after expert opinion…

Cheers, Tom, and a good life, my friend!”

-Professor Jaime E. Jiménez, SMSG member

“I have been impressed by Tom’s generosity and grit – over so many years – to care about threatened species and to fight on how to protect them.”

-Professor Ella Vázquez-Domínguez, SMSG member

“Tom’s charm and enthusiastic leadership made the Small Mammals assessment in Puebla, México, one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling workshops I have ever participated in.”

Thank you for all of your work over the years Tom, from all of us in the SMSG team.