Zoo Conservation Success Stories
Zoo conservation success stories often come in the form of birth announcements. Breeding in captivity can be challenging, especially when animals are transported to and from zoological societies to maintain biodiversity. This year, a rare armadillo was born in Minnesota; a giant panda had a cub at the San Diego Zoo; a collared lemur, tree kangaroo and an African lion were all born in the Bronx Zoo; a wombat was born in Brookfield, Illinois; a giraffe was born in Denver; vultures, an elephant and a gerenuk were born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom; Houston welcomed a giraffe, a porcupine and a rare sifaka; the Lincoln Park Zoo hatched a penguin; two rare snow cloud leopards were birthed at the Washington DC Zoological facility; Oregon got a new elephant baby; the San Francisco facility got a new gorilla and the Atlanta facility received a new panda; San Diego’s Wild Animal Park got a cheetah, an Indian rhino and three Sumatran tigers.
In 2007, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums released an article discussing zoo conservation success stories that happened that year alone. More than 6,000 Wyoming toad tadpoles were released into the wild, bringing these neat-patterned amphibians back from the brink of extinction. Fifty-two Perdido beach mice were housed in a Florida breeding facility to protect their species following a devastating hurricane. With just 400 North Atlantic right whales left, there are now 3,693 conservation projects underway to improve their situation. The 215 black-and-white ruffed lemurs held in captivity are now being reintroduced to the wild in Madagascar.
The World Wildlife Federation has also been credited with much zoo conservation work. In 2009, they proudly announced the shift in rhinoceros populations from 8,466 to 14,500 white rhinos and 2,599 to 4,000 black rhinos. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Virunga National Park increased its number of mountain gorillas significantly. The panda reserves have also been protected over the past year. Over the winter, the Bhutan Wangchuck Centennial Park was set up as the only place on Earth where tigers and snow leopards live together. There is now a 10-year plan to protect Coral Triangle reef marine life. The Sumatran forest will now be a home for even more tigers, elephants, rhinos and orangutans, now that the Tesso Nilo National Park has been doubled in size. Thanks to the work of dedicated Americans, more and more species will thrive for years to come.
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