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.
Zoo conservation breeding programs are just part of the puzzle, of course. There needs to be government protection of wildlife habitats and careful regulation of development and boating pursuits that threaten endangered species around the world. Far too often human exploits go too far and we destroy the animal kingdom’s environment, without ever really realizing it — until we see a dead whale washed up on the beach with rotor slashes on its back, or a mountain lion dead along a California highway. Zoos around the world are calling attention to these issues, imparting the lessons of conservation upon future generations while they are young and impressionable in hopes of avoiding a dire fate.
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