Korea gathers zoo disease experts as first national diagnoses reported

South Korea's environment ministry said Wednesday it brought together about 100 zoo veterinarians, keepers and animal-health officials in Daejeon to share disease-management practices and discuss guidelines it distributed this year to the country's 121 registered zoos.

The one-day meeting at the Onoma Hotel in Yuseong District, hosted by the National Institute of Wildlife Disease Control and Prevention and organized by the Korean Association of Zoo and Aquarium Veterinarians, was held under the title "Zoo Disease Management Practitioners Gather to Seek Advanced Management Systems."

The guidelines, drawn up under the Act on the Management of Zoos and Aquariums, cover routine disease management, measures to take when disease breaks out and how to request diagnostic testing. They were sent to all registered zoos nationwide in April.

At the seminar, veterinarians from Japan's Ueno Zoo and Hong Kong's Ocean Park presented overseas clinical cases, while Kim Dae-yong, a professor at Seoul National University, presented domestic necropsy and diagnostic findings. Veterinarians from Seoul Grand Park, Uchi Zoo in Gwangju and Everland described cases from their own practices.

Researchers from the national institute and a team led by Kyungpook National University professor Kim Kyu-tae also reported the country's first diagnoses of two zoonotic pathogens in zoo animals, found in a survey of major zoos nationwide. The pathogens were Giardia, identified in an African crested rat, and Enterocytozoon bieneusi, found in a lynx and a spotted seal. The findings were published Sept. 23 in One Health, an international academic journal.

"I hope this event serves as an opportunity to share disease-management experience among domestic and overseas zoos and to ensure the zoo disease-management guidelines are used smoothly in the field," said Lee Chang-kyu, head of the National Institute of Wildlife Disease Control and Prevention. Lee added that the institute will continue to do its utmost to support the health of animals held in zoos.