2009 Conservation Finalists

We invite you to learn about this year's 6 conservation project finalists. Voting takes place October 1 through October 31.

Recipient #1 - Snow Leopards - Snow Leopard Trust
Recipient #2 - Thornicroft's giraffe - South Luangwa Conservation Society
Recipient #3 - Javan and Sumatran Rhinos - International Rhino Foundation
Finalist #4 - Education Center - La MICA Biological Station
Finalist #5 - Golden Lion Tamarins - Associação Mico Leão Dourado
Finalist #6 - Oregon Spotted Frog - Woodland Park Zoo

Recipient #1

Snow Leopard Conservation in Mongolia

Snow Leopard Trust
Species Focus: snow leopard
Country, Continent: Mongolia, Asia
$15,000.00 requested

The snow leopard is a majestic big cat that has been called “the spirit of the Himalayas.” Snow leopards are uniquely adapted to life in the mountains of Asia: roughly seven times bigger than your average house cat, their large paws act like snowshoes; dense fur up to five inches thick keeps them warm in -30° F weather; and their long tail, one of the longest tails in the cat family (nearly 3 feet) helps them balance along rocky cliffs. As a top predator, snow leopards are an “umbrella species” and protecting them is an effective way to conserve mountain habitat and hundreds of other interdependent species. Poaching and other conflicts with herders have reduced the world’s snow leopards to as few as 3,500 individuals, making the snow leopard as endangered as the tiger and giant panda. 
    
A donation from the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund will help continue Snow Leopard Enterprises, a small business and training program that offers herders an alternative to poaching. The program’s twin goals are to 1) protecting snow leopards, and 2) improve the standard of living for people in snow leopard areas. Snow Leopard Enterprises helps impoverished herders turn raw wool into beautiful products, like rugs and clothing, and then sell them internationally. Through the program, herders are able to increase their income. In turn, they pledge to refrain from poaching snow leopards and their prey. This donation will secure anti-poaching contracts with 400 herders in Mongolia, and to help these herders sell over 13,000 crafts worldwide, including the Zoo Boise gift shop, to raise awareness for snow leopard conservation.   

Recipient #2

Supporting Anti-Snaring Activities to Protect the Thornicroft's Giraffe

South Luangwa Conservation Society
Species Focus: Thornicroft's giraffe
Country, Continent: Zambia, Africa
$24,024.50 requested

The project is aimed at protecting the Thornicroft’s giraffe, found only in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park. The giraffe has long been recognized as one of the most charismatic wildlife species and is becoming an increasingly important large mammal, whose presence in its natural environment generates income for local communities. The giraffe in the local language is affectionately referred to as "Nyamalikiti," which directly translates in to "the animal which limps," due to the way they walk. The South Laungwa National Park is a 9050 square kilometer unfenced protected wilderness with over 100 species of mammals, 470 bird species, and is regarded as Zambia’s flagship national park.

Historically, local Zambians in the Luangwa Valley have not hunted giraffe due to a traditional belief that they will become infected with ‘spots’ after eating the meat. This has meant that the giraffe population has been able to increase at a healthy rate since the 20th century. However, during the past ten years, tourism in South Luangwa and Zambia in general has increased dramatically resulting in an increase in the human population just outside the national park. Consequently an increase in human animal conflict has occurred, an increase in demand for bush meat and therefore an increase in poaching using guns and wire snares to trap animals. Giraffe, like many other animals, are not targeted by poachers but tend to get caught in snares regularly and subsequently die unless we are able to help them.

A donation from the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund will help the SLCS and their Anti-snaring Awareness Campaign with the following goals: To raise awareness about snaring amongst the local community and change the public’s attitude from supporting or neutral to opposing snaring, to remove some of the wire used for snaring from the community and to reduce snaring and finally, to provide an interactive and friendly forum for the community, SLCS, the Zambia Wildlife Authority and the Community Resource Boards to interact.


Recipient #3

Protecting Critically Endangered Sumatran and Javan Rhinos From Extinction

International Rhino Foundation
Species Focus: Javan and Sumatran Rhino
Country, Continent: Indonesia, Asia
$25,000.00 requested

The critically endangered Javan and Sumatran rhinoceroses are 2 of the rarest and most threatened mammal species in the world. Fewer than 225 Sumatran rhinos and 50 Javan rhinos exist in the wild. Both species could easily become extinct within our lifetimes if we do not take proactive measures to protect them. The viable Javan rhino population is essentially confined to one national park in Indonesia, while the viable Sumatran rhino population is spread across 3 major parks. These national parks contain some of the most critical remaining tropical forest habitats in Indonesia – they are each home to numerous threatened species and provide critical ecosystem services for local populations. Each of these parks is also under extreme threat – up to 30% of their area has already been lost to illegal encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture. And the unique species living within these parks, including Javan and Sumatran rhinos, are declining due to poaching and habitat loss. 
    
The International Rhino Foundation funds and operates Rhino Protection Units (RPUs) in these parks, to prevent poaching and encroachment, and to monitor and protect threatened species and the overall habitat. RPUs are highly trained four-person anti-poaching teams (made up of local community members) that intensively patrol key areas within national parks, deactivating traps and snares; identifying and apprehending illegal intruders, including poachers; and investigating crime scenes, thus preventing or reducing the loss of wildlife. The RPU program has essentially helped put a halt to rhino poaching in these three parks. The successes of these units have kept Javan and Sumatran rhinos from extinction and remain critical for their continued survival.
    
A donation from the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund would benefit the RPU (Rhino Protection Unit) program, whose efforts are long-term, and with increasing human populations and decreasing resources, will likely need to be expanded. This amount would partially support the RPU program from January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010. If anti-poaching and other direct protection and prevention efforts of rare and endangered species with a high economic value cannot be sustained for as long as necessary, it will only give a temporary respite and will not prevent the target species becoming extinct. For the foreseeable future, intensive protection by RPUs will need to be continued while the threats from poaching, habitat degradation and habitat loss are resolved by means of public education, economic development and other long-term civil processes.


Finalist #4

Education Center

La MICA Biological Center
Species Focus: Bats, monkeys, sloth, tapir, 5 felines, 360 species of birds, 60+ species of amphibians, 75+ species of reptiles
Country, Continent: Republic of Panama, Central America
$19,415.00 requested

Education is an essential key to conservation. In an effort to enhance the conservation efforts for the remarkable cloud forests of central Panama, this project aims to construct an environmentally-friendly Education Center in conjunction with La MICA Biological Station, located in El Copé, Coclé, Republic of Panama. The region is home to many amazing animals and plants, such as jaguars, Baird’s tapirs, 360 species of birds including trogons, hummingbirds, and parrots, endangered frogs, rare orchids, to name only a few. 
    
The Education Center will provide facilities for students and researchers from around the world, but also a place for learning for the local school children. The advancement of our scientific knowledge about the area and the local flora and fauna will help to develop conservation and management plans. Educational opportunities for the local people will help to shift viewpoints towards of consideration and consciousness of conservation. Furthermore, the employment of local people for this project will provide sustainable work that is conservation-oriented. The proposed Education Center of La MICA Biological Station promises to make immediate positive changes towards conservation of the cloud forests of central Panama.
    
A donation from the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund will pay for the building and construction costs and pay the employees to erect the Education Center. The proposed opening date for this center is Spring 2010.
  

Finalist #5

Connecting Forest Islands to Conserve Golden Lion Tamarins in Brazil

Associação Mico Leão Dourado
Species Focus: golden lion tamarins
Country, Continent: Brazil, South America
$25,000.00 requested

Golden lion tamarins (GLTs) are squirrel-sized, red-gold monkeys native to remaining fragments of Brazil's Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro state. This region of Brazil was the first to be colonized and has since developed into the agricultural, industrial and population center of the country. With less than 2% remaining in lowland forest, this is one of the world's most endangered biodiversity hotspots. Unless we do something to stop it, GLTs will go extinct in the near future. The good news is that we can prevent the extinction of this primate. With two decades of work by a dedicated and effective Brazilian conservation organization, the Associação Mico Leão Dourado (AMLD), the number of GLTs has increased from a few hundred in the 1960s to approximately 1,500 now. In fact, the conservation status of GLTs was upgraded from "critically endangered" to "endangered" in 2003. However, much still needs to be done to protect the GLTs from extinction.     
    
Unfortunately, the remaining forest patches are too small and isolated to hold a viable population of GLTs. AMLD has a clear and achievable plan to ensure that GLTs will continue to survive in nature for decades to come. In partnership with local communities, AMLD is planting forest corridors connecting these isolated forest fragments, monitoring GLTs and their habitat, and moving GLTs to and from smaller forest patches to increase genetic diversity. 
   
A donation from the Zoo Boise Conservation fund will help achieve the goal of ensuring a viable population (estimated at 2,000 GLTs) living in at least 25,000 hectares of forest that are connected and protected. Funding will be used to support AMLD in their efforts to save GLTs by paying salaries of two wildlife managers from the local community, professionals who monitor and move GLTs among forest fragments.


Finalist #6

Oregon Spotted Frog Project

Woodland Park Zoo
Species Focus: Oregon spotted frog
Country, Continent: USA, North America
$15,000.00 requested

Frogs and other amphibians are a very old group of animals… they were around even before the dinosaurs! But today more than half of all amphibian species are facing extinction. Habitat loss, pollution, climate change, and a deadly disease called chytridiomycosis are causing this decline. Scientists believe that at least 122 species have already gone extinct since 1980. 

Despite its name, the Oregon spotted frog isn’t just found in Oregon. In fact, they were once common throughout the Pacific Northwest. Scientists consider them endangered in Washington; they may soon qualify for listing under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife considers spotted frogs a high priority for conservation and has enlisted Woodland Park Zoo to help.

This project consists of three parts: 1) raising frogs in captivity and reintroducing them into the wild once they reach a target weight of 15-20 grams, 2) monitoring frog populations in the wild and 3) complete Washington State’s Oregon Spotted Frog Recovery Plan. Woodland Park Zoo is helping boost wild populations of a local species, the endangered Oregon spotted frog.

A donation from the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund would help save this species from extinction by assisting Woodland Park Zoo raise as many as 2,000 frogs for release into the wild, as well as develop methods that could help save other frog species around the world.  We hope Zoo Boise "leaps" to help these frogs!