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Quarters For Conservation: More Than a Token Effort

by | May 17th, 2012

 

Flamingo Plaza Voting Station

Kids certainly make things more fun. I had the chance to spend some time at the Quarters for Conservation voting station at the Oakland Zoo the other day. I was sitting with “Jungle Jake” Ledesma, one of the Zoo volunteers, who was staffing the station for a couple hours, along with his plush chimpanzee “companion.” Judging by his endearing jokes and puns, Jake clearly likes engaging the public,

Jungle Jake and his Buddy

making personal connections that the station’s graphics can’t do alone. As a steady stream of visitors stopped by, I soon found myself being drawn in. Yet despite Jake’s simian sidekick, it was the young kids that made the biggest impression. The issues at stake may have been serious, but the kids were definitely having fun participating.

 

In case you haven’t heard, Quarters for Conservation is a wildlife conservation program at the Oakland Zoo whose motto is “Saving Wildlife with Each Visit.” Whenever you come to the Zoo, you receive a token. This token does two things.

Explaining the Issues

First, it symbolizes the twenty-five cent donation that the Zoo earmarks for conservation on behalf of each visitor. Secondly, it serves as a means for selecting which one of three different conservation projects this money will be spent on. At the voting station by Flamingo Plaza, you’ll find three green funnel-shaped coin receptacles under a cute little tin roof. Here you’re able to use that token to vote for which wildlife conservation effort you’d like to support. This year, we’re promoting The Amboseli Trust for Elephants, The Budongo Snare Removal Project (saving chimpanzees) and The Ventana Wildlife Society Condor Project. Whether it’s from habitat loss, poaching, or other issues, these animals face serious threats in the wild right now. Quarters for Conservation allows the public to take part in helping them.

 

As I sat there under the tin roof beside Jake, I was impressed by how aware the kids were about these worldwide issues.

Girls Involved in Conservation Efforts

They were informed, passionate, and articulate.  A nine year old girl came up and immediately started to talk about the Disneynature film “Chimpanzee,” and how it inspired her to help chimps in

 

the wild. She dropped her token in the appropriate receptacle. It spiraled its way down the little green chute and fell to the bottom with a clink. Later, another girl stopped by with her family. She was participating in a walkathon for a chimp orphanage in Uganda (pretty impressive for such a young kid.) She was having fun with another girl as they dropped a steady stream of tokens into the chimp receptacle. The elephants, by the way, got almost as many tokens, but the condors were having a bit of trouble keeping up in the race.

 

Kids Love the Coin Spinner

The coin spinner receptacle is a clever gimmick. One kid had a whole fistful of tokens and had clearly mastered the technique of getting them to spiral gradually down the chute instead of plopping straight to the bottom. Another kid, peering down into the green funnel, was fascinated by the real money that was lying among the pile of shiny tokens.

 

The adults took a more pragmatic approach, simply tossing in their tokens without allowing themselves to enjoy it as

Mastering the Token Technique

Using Props to Explain Conservation

much as the kids were. But it was clear that they were just as interested in the conservation efforts of the Zoo, and were happy to do what they could to help out.  And they’d be equally happy to know that Quarters for Conservation has raised more than $40,000 this year. That’s definitely good news for elephants, chimps and California condors. So visit the Oakland Zoo soon and show your support for wildlife conservation. Jake and his plush pal say “Thank you!”

 

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Stepping Through ZAM: Day 9, Savannah Module

by | May 11th, 2012

This is Franette Armstrong's last post in her diary of Zoo Ambassador training for the Savannah area of our Zoo.

 

 

 

 

 

Outrageous nests, forked tongues and pancakes were the topic tonight. Keeper Jason Loy and Zoological Manager, Michelle Jeffries, came to class to introduce us to the Reptiles and Birds of the Savannah.

Down in the Children’s Zoo we have dainty Black Tree Monitors but up here on the Savannah we have a 7-foot-long, 60-pound Black Throated Monitor. Monitors are the only species of Lizard that have forked tongues.

Forked tongues let the Black Throated Monitor capture scents and literally fork them into tiny holes leading to their nasal cavity. Photo Credit Steve Goodall

What is the purpose of a forked tongue? You might know, if you’ve been reading my ZAM blogs, that Snakes and Monitors have something called a Jacobsen’s Organ—a patch of sensory cells on the roof of their mouths. When they stick out their tongues, the forks catch moisture beads that have scent particles in them. Then the tongue brings them into the mouth where they are deposited into two little pits in this group of cells. From there they get processed as smells. Put in simple terms, Snakes and Monitors don’t breathe in odors—they taste them instead, and from two directions at once, a help in finding warm-blooded prey.

Our guy is related to Komodo Dragons and, like them, is nothing to be messed with out in the wild. He’ll give his opponents a tail whipping, a nasty bite, and carve them up with his claws for good measure. All these capabilities keep them from making ideal pets.

But that hasn’t saved them from the leather trade and sometimes they are killed just out of fear. All this plus habitat loss makes Monitors very threatened in the wild.

Flat and Happy

The opposite in size to our Black-Throated Monitor are our little Pancake Tortoises…the only turtles that can actually climb walls! These 7-inchers actually brace their shells against one side of a crevice and use their feet on the other side to propel themselves upward. And on flat ground they really move quickly, zipping under rocks and into crevices before a predator can say “what’s for dinner?”

Pancake Tortoises fill their lungs with air and their flat, slightly flexible shells expand to let them wedge tightly under rocks.

Because they are small and cute, Pancake Tortoises and their eggs are captured for the pet trade and they are also losing their turf to the lumber industry, so they too are a threatened species.

 

Flower Child

The opposite in size to our Pancake Tortoises is our African Spur Thigh Tortoise…the third largest Tortoise in the world, after the Galapagos and our Aldabras. These start out little (4-5” in diameter) so people buy them as pets not realizing that pretty soon they will weigh 100-200 pounds. As they can live 100 years or more, most owners get tired of them before the Tortoises get tired of living and then problem becomes, what do with old Torty? Sadly, the solution usually isn’t a happy one for Torty.

Tortoises love red and yellow fruits and flowers, so a favorite dessert is carrots and tomatoes. Ours is only 14 years old so she has a lot of eating ahead of her. Photo credit Steve Goodall

 

 

Because they are the most popular pet Tortoise in North America, Spur Thighs are nearly extinct in Africa. The best way to help them is never to purchase a wild-caught Tortoise, if you have to purchase one at all. You can always come visit ours!

 

Savannah Architects

We have two aviaries in the Savannah section of the Zoo and in them are some fascinating nest builders. I’ll just tell you about two and leave the rest for you to discover on your next trip.

Hammerkops are smallish brown crane-like birds who build such huge nests, and so many of them, that their nests become home not only to other birds, but to mammals, reptiles and insects— like snakes, owls, honey bees, mongooses and the cat-like Genets. Luckily for all these househunters, Hammerkops build nests constantly whether they need them or not.

Hammerkops got their name from the anvil shape of their heads

In the wild Hammerkop nests can be 6 feet wide by 6 feet tall and 45 feet up in trees.

Opposite in size are the fortress-like nests that Red-billed Hornbills construct. These hopping little ground birds create a nest and then the female goes inside and lets the male cement her in with clay he makes out of food, feathers  and dung, leaving only a tiny hole to feed her through.

The female sits in there, waiting to be fed, waiting for her eggs to hatch, and losing all her feathers (probably tearing them out from boredom!) until the babies are big enough to be left alone. Then she breaks out of the nest and she and her mate cement the babies in—again, leaving only a small hole to feed them through. Eventually the chicks get big enough to rebel and they start pecking their way out from the inside while the parents help them from the outside and the family is finally united.

In Africa, Hornbill feathers are highly prized for ceremonial headdresses and this is endangering the Hornbills. To help, a college professor has partnered with zoos to gather feathers that are dropped off these and other birds and give them to the Africans for their ceremonies. A small idea with a big impact!

You can see how Red-Billed Hornbills got their name. Photo credit Steve Goodall

 

 

And that is a central theme of so many conservation projects now going on to save African animals. One or a few people notice a problem (like snares capturing Chimps by accident) and come up with a solution (like training poachers to become snare removal troops and teaching them to raise goats so they don’t have to snare wild animals for food). From beehive fencing for protecting Elephants, to fuel-wood projects for protecting forest habitats, creative solutions that also help people are making a difference for animals.

Here at the Zoo we are supporting projects like this through our Quarters for Conservation program ((link)) and many fundraisers. If you’re looking for a chance to help all these animals, you can start right here.

 

Tonight was the last lecture in the Savannah module. On Saturday we give our final presentations and then we have a week to study for our final exam. After that, if we pass, we will be mentored by an experienced docent to make sure we are ready to roam the Savannah on our own.

 

Next stop? The Rainforest Module. Monkeys, Apes, Tropical Birds and….Tigers! As Tigers are my favorite animals, it is fitting that they should be saved for last.

 

See you in the Rainforest,

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Stepping Through ZAM: Day Five, Savannah Module

by | March 22nd, 2012

Franette Armstrong is taking us on her journey through Zoo Ambassador Training.

 

Ruminating on ruminants…that was a large part of tonight’s lecture, and this was timely because our baby Giraffe, Maggie, will be introduced to the world tomorrow. Tonight we get the inside story.

Maggie stepped right out to meet the media. What a star! Photo credit Steve Goodall

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giraffes are hoofstock, a category that also includes our  Zebra, Camels, Elands, Warthogs, Elk and Bison all of which are Ungulates (literally translated as “hoofed animals”) and some of which are Ruminants. Amy Phelps. their Keeper, came to class to explain.

 

Amy Phelps, Primary Keeper and passionate advocate for hoofstock.

 

What is a hoof? Surprisingly, it is like a shoe that fits over the animals’ toe bones. Think of it as a ballerina’s toe shoe. Hoofed animals actually walk on the tips of their toes, but we don’t see that because of their hooves.

Hooves are made of the same material as horns—keratin—which is a fibrous protein also found in our hair and nails. It’s pretty tough, but no match for rocky trails and paved roads, so that’s why Horses get horseshoes: the extra soles help their built-in shoes wear better.

Animals with hooves are divided into two categories: those with an odd number of toes (Zebras, Horses, Rhinos and Tapirs) and those with an even number (everyone else including Goats and Sheep).

Camels are two-toed Ungulates like Giraffes, Elands and Goats. Photo credit Steve Goodall

 

 

Even-toed hoofstock feast on branches and leaves and ruminate— chew their cud. That’s why we call cows, goats, camels, giraffes and others like them ruminants.

Horses and Zebra are one-toed ungulates. They are not ruminants.

What is a cud? It’s basically undigested food that keeps coming up for more chewing until it can finally be digested and go the way of most food. Since we don’t eat such fibrous food, we don’t have a cud to chew, though if we started eating branches, we’d wish we did!

This cud-chewing process has another advantage: it lets herd animals eat a lot of food when they’re on the run and then digest it later when they have time to stand around and rechew it. It also squeezes out every single drop of water in the food. Judging by their contented look when they are doing this, I’d say its about as pleasureable for them as gum-chewing is to some humans.

 

 

Giraffic Park

Our 8-Giraffe herd is here for life and they greatly enjoy every new birth that adds to their number. Our little Maggie will eventually go to another AZA-accredited Zoo so she can carry on her very rare Reticulated Giraffe genes. If she stayed here, there would be a danger of inbreeding which is very bad for all species. We will love getting to know her while we have her.

On our African Savannah we boast the largest (Elephants) and tallest (Girafffes) mammals on earth. Our largest male Giraffe touches the treetops at nearly 20 feet. Females get to about 14 feet tall and give birth standing up, so when Maggie made her entrance, she had to drop nearly six feet to the ground— it sounds harsh but the jolt triggers the baby to start breathing. She picked herself right up and staggered around to find her mom and breakfast.

Baby Giraffes have no choice but to quickly join the herd, which in nature is usually on the move. They surround their little ones to keep them safe. Photo credit Steve Goodall

Hoofed animals are independent from the get-go so if the herd has to move, they can too. We saw how her dad and mom both kept her from lying down too long at any one time. They’d nudge her, and the dad would even kick her, to get her back on her feet. Staying awake is a survival skill on the Veldt and Giraffes rarely sleep more than a few minutes at a time. When it’s time to rest and sleep, they will like down, though.

Despite their very long necks, Giraffes have the same number of cervical (neck) vertebra that we do: seven. The difference is theirs are ball-and-socket joints so they can swivel their necks nearly in a circle. Don’t try this at home! Male Giraffes spar with each other by slamming their necks and heads together…one more thing to avoid at home.

Valves in their necks keep blood from rushing to their heads when they make the long trip from tree top to grass. Without these, Giraffes would surely faint everytime they bent over.

With their long necks, Giraffes can see for a mile or more and act as lookouts for everyone around them. Since the males are taller, they eat the top branches of trees and the females eat the middle tier. The shorter Antelope, Elands and other hoofstock get the lower branches and shrubs. It’s all organized by height so everyone gets fed.

Giraffe heads are topped with horns, called ossicones that start out as soft cartilage flattened to their heads and then over the first few weeks gradually “pop up” and harden into bone. Males use these as part of their sparring and fighting, so usually the tops are bald from wear and it’s one way you can tell the guys from the gals on our veldt.

Maggie's mom is never far from her side these days. Giraffes don't have upper teeth...just a bony ridge. Photo credit Steve Goodall

Prehensile tongues come in handy for grabbing those branches and they even eat thorns. Their tongues can be 20inches long, so they find their way into birds nests, too.

When Maggie was first let into our Veldt enclosure, Amy kept back the Elands who share that space, because she was worried they might accidentally hurt our little gal with their long horns. A couple of days of cautious introduction went by and before you knew it, Maggie was chasing them, trying to play with them and leaving no doubt that Giraffes rule the hoofstock on the veldt.

Sadly, African Lions prefer to dine on large male Giraffes more than just about anything, so Giraffes are prey for them, particularly when they are drinking at watering holes.  And their land is being broken up into cattle ranches leaving them less room to roam: even a small Giraffe herd needs about 45 acres for feeding.

To add to Giraffic Woes, there seems to be a market for Giraffe fur to make little tourist bracelets, so add poaching to their problems and you see why the Giraffe population is rapidly dwindling.

Giraffes normally fear water, perhaps because they have to do the splits to get a drink, as Maggie is practicing here. Photo credit Steve Goodall

 

Putting Poachers Out of Business

Next time you go to Africa, please do not buy a Giraffe-hair bracelet—or anything else made from the bodies of wild animals. Did I say Africa? I meant anywhere! Instead, help the locals by buying crafts that don’t rely on killing animals.

 

Amy’s lecture on of the rest of our African plains animals was equally fascinating but would take too much time to tell you about tonight and I still have my homework to do. We’re going to visit all of them on Saturday, so I’ll fill you in then.

 

 

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Of Tusks and Terror: The Truth about Ivory

by | March 14th, 2012

The cross section of a tusk. If you look closely, you can see the diamond shaped pattern, also known as the Lines of Retzius, one reason why ivory is so desired.

What you might think you know about the ivory trade on African Elephants may be information of the past if you haven’t done your current research. Did you know that there are currently 40,000 African Elephants killed every year for their tusks? These incredibly high numbers are estimating that in fifteen years, African Elephants could be close to, if not extinct. Did you know that in the past decade the price of ivory has been driven from a measly twenty dollars to over fifteen hundred dollars per kilogram? The bau fa hu, or “suddenly wealthy” rapidly growing middle class in China has driven this price to skyrocket. Did you know that after China, the USA is the second biggest importer of illicit ivory in the world? Shame, shame. And for what? Greed? Wealth? Vanity?

In the late seventies an estimated 1.3 million African Elephants existed. Ten years later less than half remained, an average of 600,000. The cause? Poaching, second to habitat loss due to a doubling in human population.  Major public awareness campaigns were commenced worldwide to try and halt this vicious trade. The Amboeseli Elephant Research Project were critical players in the development of these campaigns and

African Elephant Distribution Map. Numbers are thought to be less than 400,000 total.

making people aware of and care about elephants. Proudly, in October 1989 at the seventh CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Convention of the Parties, governments banned the international trade of ivory. Other countries to the Convention, such as the United States, United Kingdom, and France also began to ban any import as well. In that same year, Kenya made a bold statement by burning a stockpile of twelve tons of ivory, bringing together a large community of people with a shared interest of the survival of the species. What happened next? Exactly what was hoped for, the demand went down and ivory lost its value from 300 dollars per kilo to three dollars a kilo. Elephants could now live in peace, populations began to regenerate. Kenya, who had lost ninety percent of its elephants, from 167,000 down to 16,000, now thrives at 37,000. Although the ban was mostly successful, small amounts of poaching continued mainly in West and Central Africa, where local markets existed as well as small amounts of exports to the Far East.

As populations began to thrive again, what happened next? At the next CITES Convention in 1997, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe began to down list their elephants to a less endangered status. This meant less protection for the elephants. A year later, 190 tusks and additional pieces weighing a total of 1.45 tons was seized by Taiwanese port police. The same three countries listed above were given permission to sell stockpile ivory to CITES-designated buyers, 50 tons were exported to Japan. Other countries wanted to follow suit, as did South Africa in 2000. In June, 2002 6.5 tons of ivory was seized by Singapore authorities, the largest shipment of illegal ivory since the 1989 ban. Regardless of the increased illegal activity and confiscations, at the 2002 CITES meeting Botswana, Namibia, and

Ivory signature carvings, known as "chops" in China, and hanko to the Japanese. A sign of wealth.

South Africa was given permission to export 60 tons of ivory. This sale occurred in 2008, and over 108 tons went to Japan and China. Now we’re starting to see a pattern forming, aren’t we?  Giving these countries permission to sell the stock-piled ivory, in hopes of boosting the economy, only boosted Japan and China’s appetite for the ivory, increasing its value, therefore increasing the illegal activity as well. The more valuable the ivory becomes, the more elephants are being slaughtered.

So what is happening today? Do you want the bad news or the even worse news? An estimated 470,000 elephants remain today, which has gone down from an estimated 600,000 in 1989. According to scientist Sam Wasser, an estimated 38,000 are being killed every year for their tusks. Dr. Wasser is a ivory DNA specialist, in where he discovered how to find where seizures of ivory originated from according to the DNA of the ivory. This is an extremely valuable tool in pinpointing where illegal activity is occurring so governments can be questioned and more policing can occur. Between 2007 and 2009 over 2,000 confiscations have occurred, a large increase from years past. The demand in China has escalated since the stockpile sales, with ivory carving factories and sales on the rise. If only a small percentage of the 1.3 billion people of China purchase ivory, elephants are in big trouble. Ivory now sells for 1500 dollars a kilo in the Far East. Although on the ground in Kenya, its value is much lower, a small pair of tusks could bring a poacher as much as 400 dollars, more than a casual worker makes in a year.

The incentive is paramount.

Kenya takes another stand against the illegal ivory trade, another burning took place in 2011.

With more breaking news, there has been a massacre of over 400 elephants in Cameroon’s Bouba N’Djida National Park, over a period of just eight weeks. Illegal activity has been known to occur in this area, but not to this degree so quickly. Poachers are believed to have entered the park from the Chad border and were heavily armed, selling the ivory for money, guns, and ammunition. The total population of Cameroon’s elephants is believed to be as little as 1,000 individuals. In the past week over one hundred Cameroonian soldiers have been sent in to secure the park.

What can we do to stop these amazing creatures from vanishing? One easy way to help is to get the word out there. In such a technologically savvy world today, telling everyone you know about what you’ve learned about the current status of African Elephants is easy. Blog about it, facebook it, tweet it. Spread the word, and help make everyone aware!

Please join the Oakland Zoo in May for our annual Celebrating Elephants Day, where we increase public awareness about elephant welfare, and raise money for the Amboeseli Trust for Elephants.

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Man Your Battle Stations: 20 Years of Conservation ZooMobile

by | January 11th, 2012

Question: What makes the Conservation Zoomobile different from the other wonderful ZooMobile programs offered by the Oakland Zoo? For one thing, it’s a team effort– and a very loyal team at that. For nearly twenty years (since being founded by docent Edna Mack), the CZM has been led exclusively by the same group of four docents! (Only recently did Harry, Roland, Claire and Debbie recruit some new blood.)

Hands-On Learning Fun

Yet, it’s more than team teaching that makes this program unique. Offered only on Wednesdays during the school year, CZM travels to elementary schools throughout the East Bay to teach kids in the 3rd through 5th grades about conservation issues around the world.  Usually set up in a school’s auditorium, it’s structured into several stations that operate simultaneously, sort of like a job fair.

"Garbage" Sorting Exercise

Following a brief introduction, the students are divided into groups and led to one of the four awaiting stations where they spend 15 minutes before rotating to the next one.  At the 4R station, the kids learn about sustainable consumption of the world’s resources, and the cycle of resource use. Also known as Reduce, Re-use, Recycle and Rot, this station teaches kids about purchasing power, donating clothes, and recycling light bulbs. They participate in an exercise where they sort “garbage” into different components, and see a mini composting demonstration. At the Rain Forest station, kids will find a festive cave-like umbrella display that they can actually sit inside. Here, they learn about the incredible living ecosystem of the tropical rain forest and get to see and smell some of the many by-products of the forest that we use in our daily

Exploring The Mini Rain Forest

lives, such as chocolate and spices. They also learn about some products whose extraction is destructive to the forest and how we can minimize that damage. What exactly goes on at the H.I.P.P.O. station? No, they don’t bring out a real live hippopotamus. These letters stand for Habitat, Introduced species, Population, Pollution, and Over-consumption– the five main threats to the earth’s wildlife. The kids see puppets and biofacts (animal artifacts such as skulls, bones, snakeskins, etc.) and learn about the impact of fur coats, as well as which other animal products to avoid. The last station offers what the Zoomobile program is best known for: live animals. Here, the kids get to visit with tortoises, snakes, chinchillas and even cool giant millipedes. They learn the difference between domestic and wild species, as well as which animals make good choices for family pets.

During the wrap-up, the kids are asked for feedback to show what they’ve learned, and what they liked best about the presentation. They then watch a rain forest video and later learn about the different things that they can do in their daily lives to help rain forests around the world.

Meeting A Furry Chinchilla

Longtime Zoo docent Harry Santi has seen a lot since he started with CZM. And, he’s noticed a big change in the depth of animal knowledge that kids possess these days. Sometimes, they know the answers before he’s even had the chance to finish the questions. He’s also seen a crazy thing or two in those twenty years, such as the time he got all the way out to Walnut Creek for the presentation before he realized that he’d forgotten to bring the animals! He had to go all the way back to the Zoo to get them.

So if you’re an elementary school teacher or know someone who is and would like to participate in this special educational experience, give the Oakland Zoo a call and get the Conservation ZooMobile to come to your school this year! You can book a Conservation ZooMobile by calling (510) 632-9525, ext 220.

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Stepping through ZAM: Day 7, Children’s Zoo Module

by | December 23rd, 2011

Franette Armstrong takes us through Zoo Ambassador training with her.

 

Bipolar. That’s how I felt after tonight’s presentation by Amy Gotliffe, our Director of Conservation.

On the one hand, we heard heart-breaking stories of what is happening to animals everywhere.

On the other hand, we heard heartwarming stories about what our Zoo is doing to protect and preserve animals and their habitats.

Amy Gotliffe, Director of Conservation

 

 

Which would you like first? The good news or bad? I’ll give you the bad first so we can end on an upbeat note:

One in five animals is in danger of extinction. That’s 20%, right? We are losing animals faster than their species can evolve to adapt to the changes humans have made to the planet in the last 35 years.

Illegal killing and collection of animals for Asian medicine, bushmeat and the pet trade is a huge cause of animal death and suffering. Sun bears are placed in “crush cages” so their bile can be extracted. Chimps are trapped in snares where their limbs are torn off, and everything from parrots to monkeys to lions are captured to sell to  stores, auctions, and over the internet.

I was shocked to learn that the money made off the black market for pets is second only to the drug trade. In Central America up to 80% of the tropical birds captured and exported die before they reach their destination,  but there’s still enough profit left to make the pet trade a major cause of animal endangerment.

Fashion is another killer of wild animals and a high-profit industry that supplies the endless market for ivory, leather, snakeskin, fur coats and other status symbols.

Amy suggested that we not lecture our friends who have these items, but we shouldn’t compliment them, either. There’s nothing beautiful about killing animals for vanity.

Western appetite for seafood is devastating our oceans.

 

We have to ask ourselves where we Westerners fit into the economics of all this. Amy pointed out that seafood is our version of  bushmeat and we are wiping out entire species of fish like Chilean sea bass and King crab by unsustainable fishing and fish farming.

If we accept as pets animals like Amazon parrots, Gila Monsters, and even ocelots and tigers, which either come directly from the wild or were bred from parents that did, how can we criticize Africans for selling their own wildlife?  Every time a wild animal is bought as a pet, a slot opens up for another one to be captured and killed in transit or sold.
I told you this was depressing.

Habitat loss is another reason species are disappearing daily. Entire forests are being cleared so that we can mine the Coltan mineral used in our cellphones and electronics. As a result, the Mountain Gorilla population in the Congo has gone from 258 five years ago to 130 at last count. This mining is just as bad for people: it has brought slavery and violence to the Congo.

Habitats are being destroyed every day to give us lumber, paper, palm oil, precious metals… things we use without giving it a thought. People need to feed their families, though, so many of our projects abroad are to help locals develop alternatives to killing their wildlife.

Air pollution, water pollution, careless introduction of
nonnative plants and animals, all are taking their toll on
animals as diverse as polar bears and frogs.

Our own wild animals here in the Bay Area—bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions—are losing out like grizzlies, elk, and wolves did a century ago. We want to build on their land,
hike on their hills and then when they are forced to meet us face to face, we want them killed. More often than not, they are killed because of property damage, not because of threats to human safety.  As Amy said, we are hardly role models for the rest of the world when our needs conflict with animals’.

That brings me to the good part

Whew! Thought I’d never get to this but our Oakland Zoo is involved in dozens of projects here and around the world to stop this steady death spiral. I’ll just name a few we learned about tonight:

The Budongo Snare Removal Project is supported solely by the Zoo to help chimps in Uganda who are being swept up accidentally in snares left for animals that are wanted for food. This project has turned former hunters into conservationists and is a model for programs in other countries.

One of many types of snares that are capturing and maiming wild animals.

The Zoo supports with staff and supplies the Kibale Fuel Wood Project to offer residents in Uganda an alternative to clearing their forest for cooking fuel.

In the Bay area our Zoo supports The Bay Area Puma Project to help protect our local wildcats through research and judicious use of dart guns.

California Condors are coming back from near-extinction and our Zoo is building a facility to help treat those that have lead poisoning from the buckshot they pick up in their food.

We already learned about our Head Start program for the Western Pond Turtles (ZAM Day 4) and there are many, many more conservation efforts the Zoo supports through donations, supplies, staff and public education.

Our new “Quarters for Conservation” program is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for projects Zoo visitors vote for with tokens they receive on admission.

Zoo Visitors have the chance to vote for 4 different conservation projects when they use the tokens they receive with admission.

On top of direct help to animals, the Zoo does its part by recycling, composting and using solar panels and hybrid or electric vehicles.

If you’re like me, you might feel overwhelmed by the size of the need and how urgent it is. I have an ache in my stomach just thinking about it right now. At least as a docent and volunteer I will be able to get directly involved in helping people understand that our choices have consequences.

A few easy things we can do right now

• Don’t flush kitty litter. The bacteria in cat feces isn’t killed by sewer treatment and is sickening the endangered sea otters.

• Don’t buy exotic or wild pets including reptiles and tropical birds. Here’s the  listing of illegal pets in California.

• Recycle your cellphones at the Zoo and demand that electronics companies develop gorilla-friendly technologies.  You’ll get a free train ticket and the phones will go to a group that refurbishes them to reduce the need for more Coltan. Write a letter to your cellphone maker today.

• Eat sustainably harvested fish. To get a list of what to avoid, go to  Monterey Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. You can print a pocket guide that makes choosing the right fish easy.

• Buy handmade products from the Zoo’s Conservation section of the gift shop. Sales of jewelry and other items help support people in Africa so they won’t have to kill wild animals to live.

• Volunteer to make a difference.

I’m sure Amy’s complete list of things we can do would take a hundred blogs, but we have to start somewhere and I am going to go write Apple this minute about Coltan mining.

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