Overall Aim
Is to assist zoos to develop closer links with and support conservation
projects in the wild.
The
specific purpose of this initial project
Is to be a pivotal resource in the development of effective links and
support between zoos within the European Zoo Community and conservation projects
in the wild, in the biodiversity hot spots of South America.
Why is
“Zoos Go Wild” needed?
Conservation in the wild (in-situ) needs support. New European Zoo
Legislation makes it mandatory for zoos to support conservation in the wild,
biodiversity research and improve their education provision. Many Small to
medium sized collections are panicking about how they are to achieve this from
2002, when it will come into force.
By providing zoos with the information and resources required to make
effective links with in-situ conservation organisations, we will help them
improve the conservation outputs of both.
Why
South America?
We have chosen to run the pilot for this project in South America as:
-
The region contains many of the global Biodiversity hotspots most in need
of conservation
-
In-situ conservation there is particularly under supported by European
Zoos
-
It is relatively politically stable, so there is a real potential to make
positive changes now – BEFORE it’s too late
-
We have good contacts there
Timetable
We visited, worked with and described 42 of the 51 projects registered
with us.
All the projects we visited were in Colombia (17), Ecuador (17), Peru (2)
or Bolivia (10), the others registered with us were from Brazil (4) and
Argentina (1).
We left at the end of May 2001 and were away for 10 months. We are now back in
Europe, are currently writing up and promoting the work we have done and
preparing Resource packs for European Zoos.
Warning: fopen(/home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/cache/lastclean.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 41
Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 42
Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 43
Warning: fopen(/home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/cache/23d3ed0ddc7a9cd57e2856e6840a2ae0) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 128
Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 129
Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 130
Warning: fopen(/home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/cache/lastclean.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 41
Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 42
Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 43
Warning: fopen(/home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/cache/aa27c818ac3e2a69364dcb27d319de0f) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 128
Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 129
Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 130
Warning: fopen(/home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/cache/lastclean.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 41
Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 42
Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 43
Warning: fopen(/home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/cache/90b37ebd198fa1a2dce22e10d1226b60) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 128
Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 129
Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/deraquel/public_html/zoosgowild.com/exchange/ex_func.php on line 130
How we
choose the projects to link with
We visited as many of the projects that registered with us, as time and
finances would allow. We soon found out there is not enough conservation being
done anywhere to rule out even the smallest project. Where just one person is committed to conservation it is
worth giving support.
We will now be using new "Conservation Evaluation Guidelines" to help
us select the best projects from the ones registered with us, to make it easier
for the zoos to choose a project to support.
We will be selecting those that have the most effective conservation
outputs, that operate in the Biodiversity hotspots, that have community
education potential, that are based on sustainable development principles and
those which zoos can most effectively support.
TV
2/ JTV – our Television Sponsors
During
our planning meeting in Denmark, we received a professional digital camera from
TV 2 - Nord, (Danish regional TV) and training on how to use it! We sent back a monthly report to JTV who edited it and included
the footage in a 4minute piece in one
of TV2 - Nord's animal programmes.
Now we are back, we are able to use all footage taken to produce short promotion videos for
each of the projects we visited. These
will be used to promote the projects to the zoos and then the zoos can use them
to promote the projects to their visitors.
Resource Materials for Zoos and Schools
We are now producing a set of resource materials that will assist zoos in
making effective links with the projects we have described and set up
communications links with. The resource packs will consist of; natural and
cultural artifacts, photos, slides, posters, video and CD Roms. All of which
zoos can use in education, PR and fundraising, exhibit design, research and in
providing sustainable retail opportunities.
Handicrafts/
Biocomerica = Sustainable Retail Opportunities,
Helping Zoo Shops to support conservation too.
We are working with a Danish distributor to European Zoo shops to help us find,
import and promote a range of sustainably produced, traditionally made,
fair-traded handicrafts.
By selling these products, zoos will be offering their
visitors the chance to support conservation, by giving the producer communities
a fair price for their work; work that protects their environment and helps
conserve the animals in it.
We are currently developing a catalogue which will
be posted here when completed.
Schools linking projects…
Zoos, Education, Schools and Community
Our"
Schools linking programme" aims to link communities around zoos to
communities around the in-situ projects, through their local schools.
It can
involve running workshops in schools, in both communities, e-mail and
postal
communications and teacher exchanges.
We
are also preparing artifact packs for each country we visit, to be used by
the
European schools that get involved.
Funding
We raised 100% sponsorship for the data collections stage of this project –
however we still require some support to ensure all the information gathered is
freely available to all participating European zoos. If you can help, we would
be delighted to add you to our list of supporters and promote you through our
work (see “our supporters” page).
Partners

We are collaborating with and have the support of many major European Zoos.
We have the backing of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA)
Conservation Committee and of the Federation of Zoological Gardens for Great
Britain and Ireland and the Association of Danish Zoos and Aquaria. We are also
exploring links with the EAZA Research Committee.
Aalborg
Zoo - more than just a partner..
We would like to acknowledge all the staff at Aalborg Zoo for their support
with this project, particularly the Management for their generous sponsorship.
We would also like to thank the Director, Henning Julin, who kindly offered to
build and host this updated version of the website and without whom this project
would not have been so successful.