MISSION STATEMENT

The Deer Specialist Group shall contribute to the conservation of deer, musk-deer and chevrotain species, to protect biodiversity, ecosystems, and dependent cultures and societies, by way of advancing relevant scientific research and in-situ and ex-situ conservation work, raising awareness, and monitoring the situation of these species in the wild, by its members and through collaborations with multiple, diverse stakeholders.

OBJECTIVES

• Facilitate and promote international collaborations to conserve deer species.

• To understand the place of deer within biological communities, and their importance to ecosystems and human communities, to propose adequate conservation measures for threatened deer species.

• Focus special attention on obtaining knowledge about the lesser-known South American species.

• Maintain, as much as possible, updated IUCN Red list assessments for all deer species, to understand the threats that deer face and to identify changes in the conservation status of deer as early as possible.

• Integrate in situ and ex situ conservation work and push to enhance the scientific knowledge of husbandry and welfare of deer under human care.

• To pursue collaborative work with other SSC specialist groups to improve conservation planning and work.

• Publish and dissemination information among relevant governmental and non-governmental organizations to allow better decision making, conservation planning, and programme implementation.

• Increase awareness to the situation of deer among the general public through social media platforms.

STRATEGIES

• Build a network of in situ deer conservation projects in various biogeographical regions with the aim to allow easier collaboration between colleagues.

• Initiate and facilitate training workshops to disseminate and promote the use of technical field skills needed to assess the conservation status of ungulate populations; focus on young nationals from the range countries.

• Work in collaboration with other Specialist Groups of the Species Survival Commission to advance Deer Conservation.

• Identify potential financial supporters to fund the diverse planned DSG activities.

•Reach out to potential new collaborators, outside of the academic and field conservation sectors, to increase the Group’s visibility and promote deer conservation among new audiences.