EAZA Historical Background

EAZA was formed in 1992, expanding the geographical scope of its forerunner, ECAZA, the European Community Association of Zoos and Aquaria, and also formally incorporating the important work of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEPs), which had been operating since the mid-1980s. In 1988 zoos in member states of the then European Community recognised a need to create a common platform through which they could work with the European Parliament towards a directive on minimum standards for the care of animals in zoos. The discussions eventually gave birth to the European Zoos Directive, eleven years later.

The fall of the Iron Curtain at the end of the 1980s created the opportunity for ECAZA to become a truly pan-European organisation and thus, at a meeting an Stuttgart in 1992, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) was born.

Koen Brouwer as appointed as EAZA's first executive director at the Annual Conference in Poznan in 1995, holding the position until 2006. The position was then held by Harry Schram until 2008 when the current director, Lesley Dickie, took up the reins.

Fred Daman (top right) of Antwerp Zoo was the organisation's first chairman, having previously had the same role for ECAZA. Roger Wheater of Edinbugh Zoo then held the position for three years before passing the baton to Gunther Nogge of Cologne Zoological Gardens in 1997. He was succeeded by Miklos Persanyi of Budapest Zoo in 2000 who was in turn succeeded in 2003 by Bert de Boer (left), of Apenheul Primate Park, following the interim chairmanship of Hans-Ove Larsson of Skansen in Stockholm.

In September 2009, following his retirement from Apenheul, Bert de Boer was replaced as chairman by Simon Tonge of Paignton Zoo in the UK.

Issue 44 of EAZA NEWS, dated December 2003, included a more detailed history of the organisation written by Gunther Nogge. It's available for download as a PDF.

 Fifteen Years of E(C)AZA

Photo of Bert de Boer by Michael Petersen, Copenhagen Zoo