 Convened by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it was attended by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (then Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust) headed by Gerald Durrell, Parc Zoologique et Botanique de Mulhouse, the Strasborg consortium, the Duke Lemur Center, and several US zoos.These institutions became the founding members of the group when it was formalized in 1988.The organization now has 39 member institutions .