WILDLIFE INFORMATION NETWORK

(A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE)

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2006

I am pleased to report that the Charity has had a good year. During the year we completed another volume in the Wildpro^® Multimedia series "Elephants: Diseases and Treatment", which was jointly funded by Chester Zoo and Twycross Zoo. This volume is the first we planned for the conservation community and will be swiftly followed by Bears: Health and Management and Cranes: Health and Management.

Our membership, which is administered through our wholly owned trading subsidiary, is growing steadily with new universities and colleges subscribing throughout the year. The Institutional organisations continue to renew their memberships and this clearly demonstrates the value and importance of our detailed and thoroughly referenced scientific information system. In 2006 the Board made a conscious decision to streamline the membership options to increase administrative efficiency. In place of the individual membership a catalogue of all of our published titles has been produced so that selected CD-ROMs may now be purchased on-line, and we believe that this has widened the choices.

For a long time, I have been exercised that our information is not always getting to the people who probably need it the most, the wildlife professionals in developing countries. This may be for a variety of reasons, lack of funds or not being aware that Wildpro exists being the most probable. I have therefore been working very closely with our IT consultant, Mr Bob Sowton of ComNet2000, over the past months to see if there is any way we can differentiate between visitors to the WIN Website. I am very pleased to report that a geographical identification system has been found and satisfactorily tested over a sample number of countries.

It was a very proud moment for everyone connected to WIN when we formally launched our Open Access programme at a reception last March held at The Farmers Club, London. The result of this Open Access initiative is that visitors from over 160 developing countries may now freely access all of our scientific information at any time. As part of a pro-active PR and marketing campaign to raise international awareness of our exciting project, I have enlisted the cooperation of the worldwide Zoo Associations who are promoting the OA project to all of their members across the world's continents. This has resulted in a considerable rise in Web-usage and I thought it prudent to upgrade and acquire an additional server to carry the increase in traffic. I am most grateful to The Dennis Curry Charitable Trust who generously answered my appeal for funding and provided the finance to purchase a new high specification server, which is now commissioned.

As you will be aware, WIN attends many conferences and meetings throughout the year, as detailed below, and we now make it an integral aspect of any meeting that we display posters promoting the Open Access project. I am always reminded of the sad story about the Pear's Soap corporate decision to cease advertising as they perceived they had cornered the market.

And now to the other activities that WIN has undertaken during the year, with acknowledgements:

Conferences & Meetings attended 2006:

• Badgers and TB. Evening meeting, Zoological Society of London
• European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians (EAZWV) Scientific Conference, Budapest, Hungary.
• British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), Chester
• Conservation Breeding Specialist Group(CBSG), Leipzig

• World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), Leipzig
• African Association of Zoos and Aquaria (PAAZAB), South Africa
• South East Asia Zoo Association (SEAZA), Vietnam
• British Veterinary Zoological Society (BVZS), Spring Meeting
• British Veterinary Zoological Society (BVZS), Autumn Meeting (joint with the Rabbit Welfare Fund)
• Animal Health Information Specialists (AHIS), The Royal Veterinary College, London
• Aviornis Council Meeting & AGM
• Joint Management of Species Committee Meetings
• BIAZA Bird Working Groups, Belfast

Contributions to Publications and Conference Proceedings 2006:

• “Avian Influenza” - Aviornis International Volume 16.1, June 2006
• “Avian Pox” - Aviornis International Volume 16.2, December 2006
• “Sex, Cranes and Videotapes: Conserving cranes as flagship species” – WAZA Conference Proceedings
• “Rabies and Raccoons: a lesson in disease translocation” – BVZS Spring Meeting Proceedings

Lectures/Presentations 2006

• “Rabies and Raccoons: a lesson in disease translocation” – BVZS Spring Meeting
• “Handling, Physical and Chemical Restraint of Marsupials” and “Therapeutics and Preventative Medicine of Marsupials” - MSc Wild Animal Health, Zoological Society of London and The Royal Veterinary College
• “Darting: Remote Injection” - Anaesthesia Elective Final Year Veterinary Students, Cambridge University Veterinary School
• “Disease and Mortality in Bennett’s Wallabies at Whipsnade Wild Animal Park” and “Disease & Mortality in the Free-Ranging Mammals at Whipsnade Wild Animal Park”: MSc Wild Animal Health / Wild Animal Biology, Zoological Society of London / The Royal Veterinary College
• “Sex, Cranes and Videotapes: Conserving cranes as flagship species” – WAZA Annual Conference
• "Oil and Penguins - A Bad Mix" Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, The Wetland Centre, London
• “Sex, Cranes and Videotapes: Conserving cranes as flagship species” - BIAZA Bird Working Group Meeting

Special Thanks and Acknowledgements:

Our thanks and sincere appreciation go to Albuquerque Biological Park, Balcombe Trust, Bridge House Trust, Corporation of the City of London, British Airways, British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Colchester Zoo, Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, Balcombe Trust, Dennis Curry Charitable Trust, Department for International Development, English Nature, Environment Agency, European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians, First Great Western, Great North Eastern Railway, Humane Society of the United States, HSBC Holdings plc, International Fund for Animal Welfare, International Media Services, Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Marsh Christian Trust, Mathew Eyton Animal Welfare Trust, Merial Animal Health Limited, North of England Zoological Society, USGS-National Wildlife Health Center (Department of the Interior), Olympus Optical Co (UK) Limited, The Royal Parks Agency, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Royal Veterinary College, Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Twycross Zoo-East Midland Zoological Society, US Fish & Wildlife Service, USDA-National Wildlife Research Center, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, World Society for the Protection of Animals and The Zoological Society of London for their generous support and contributions to WIN’s activities.

It only leaves me to thank our Patron, Presidents, Board of Trustees and Advisors to the Board for their guidance and advice throughout the year, and also to the Council of Twycross Zoo - East Midland Zoological Society for their support and encouragement.

To conclude, WIN has had another steady year and continues to produce outstanding scientific volumes that are very well received both by the conservationists and academics alike.

Project funding is being secured in an even manner and with two new modules currently being researched, and the probability of two, if not three, further commissions being confirmed, I think we can look forward to the forthcoming year with a certain sense of expectation.

Our Open Access project is certainly the jewel in the crown, and I shall work very hard to keep the impetus going, and with the long term goal of eventually going Open Access globally.

Iain M W Boardman

Chief Executive

5 June 2007