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WildCare Institute 2015 Annual Report Humboldt penguins are the focus of conservation work in Peru. 2 At a time when conservation news may reduced human-animal conflict in areas where roam often leave us in despair, the story of the in Africa; rising numbers of vulnerable Humboldt penguins WildCare Institute reminds us that together in Peru; the creation of Armenia’s first conservation we can make a difference. breeding facility dedicated to saving that nation’s endangered reptiles among many others. We believed in 2004, when we founded the You can read about these Institute, that focused conservation of wild successes and other news in this populations would help save endangered report which covers 2015 species. By extending our reach beyond the conservation projects. We also list ’s fence to places like Madagascar and those who have contributed in the Sahara Desert and closer to home in 2015 and all the partners who were the Ozark area of , we have closely involved in center projects during connected the work we do at the Zoo to the year. For a complete list of conservation in the wild. all partners, please visit The hallmark of our Institute is our desire to stlzoo.org/wildcare. work with others in places where animals In closing, let me stress that we are threatened by shrinking habitats, have never lost sight of the fact that poaching and disease. We also wanted to the very future of the animals in capitalize on the significant expertise of our our care and in the world can only veterinarians, researchers, scientists and be guaranteed through dedicated animal division professionals in managing research and conservation, through our field conservation programs. collaboration with a range of Over the past 12 years, we have won several national institutions and with the support of people who care. conservation awards, but the proof of our success lies Thank you for your interest in the WildCare Institute and in in what is happening in the wild where we work with our saving wildlife and wild places. many partners. In the past year alone, we can report some major successes: the return of scimitar-horned oryx to the wild, nearly three decades after their extinction; 2,115-plus Ozark hellbenders released in Missouri rivers; the discovery of American burying beetle offspring Jeffrey P. Bonner, Ph.D. from four earlier reintroductions in Southwest Missouri; Dana Brown President & CEO

3 An endangered Ozark hellbender, bred and raised at the Saint Louis Zoo, now calls a Missouri Ozark stream home thanks to the work of the Institute. 4 Collaboration. Cooperation. Conservation. strategies and conservation actions by all responsible parties for all populations of a species, whether inside or These three principles have guided the outside their natural range. This involves connecting the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute’s mission welfare, care and breeding of animals in the Zoo with the since its inception in 2004 and helped it fulfill protection of animals in the wild. That model is evident its mission of “…creating a sustainable future when American burying beetles from for wildlife and for people around the Saint Louis Zoo are reintroduced the world.” into Missouri and when Zoo-bred Collaboration is evident in the hellbenders are returned to Missouri WildCare Institute’s 180 partners from rivers to augment existing populations non-governmental and governmental there. organizations, universities and communities Collaboration. Cooperation. around the world. Collaboration weaves the Conservation. These principles contributions of all of our partners into a are critical to addressing the many richer fabric that creates a holistic approach difficult conservation concerns we to conservation and markedly extends the face now and in the future. As some WildCare Institute’s ability to affect change. institutions seek sole “ownership” in Cooperation is evident when we work individual programs, we believe that with local communities to fulfill their the WildCare Institute’s approach of needs so that they can better protect their collaboration is a better approach, environment and wildlife. Cooperation is a model of how teamwork can most effective when we support researchers from the University effectively advance conservation. For of Missouri-St. Louis and Washington University in St. when collaboration and cooperation drive our actions, Louis, as well as Oxford University (UK) and others to fulfill then conservation is the winner. research needs. Conservation is the backbone of our goals, preserving species and species diversity for future generations. Eric Miller, DVM, Dipl., ACZM It is evident when we use the “One Plan” approach Director, WildCare Institute for conservation. The One Plan approach to species Senior Vice President Director of Zoological Operations conservation is the development of management Saint Louis Zoo

5 Polar Bears Box Turtles Missouri Native Species Hellbenders Pollinators American Burying Beetles Mountain Vipers

Horned Guans Birds

Amphibians Orangutans Grevy’s Zebras Galápagos Birds, Tortoises Asian Elephants Humboldt Penguins

WildCare Institute Centers Lemurs Locations of organizations the WildCare Institute supports Camels Partula Snails , and Okapis Saharan Wildlife

About the Saint Louis Zoo’s In This Report… WildCare Institute 2015 – At a Glance ...... 7 Endowed Funds Support Launched in 2004, the WildCare Institute is Protecting Species ...... 13 Conservation Across the Globe ...... 30 committed to wildlife management and recovery, Finding the Answers ...... 14 2015 Honor Roll ...... 32 conservation science and support of the Gala, Crowdfunding Initiative and human populations that coexist with wildlife in Educating Future Scientists...... 17 Change for Conservation conservation hotspots around the globe, including Heading Home ...... 18 Exceed Expectations ...... 33 several in Missouri. Coming Together...... 21 Conservation Partners/Grants...... 34 The WildCare Institute Also Supports .....22 You Can Help...... 39 How is the WildCare Institute Funded?...26 Institute for Conservation Medicine...... 29

6 American burying beetles 2015 – At a Glance

Over the past decades, have worked The Saint Louis Zoo also provides hard to preserve habitats, conduct leadership in educating the public about research and increase awareness of the such issues as habitat destruction, plight of endangered animals among the pollution, disease threats, loss of people who live with exotic animals and biodiversity, the impact of climate change those who visit zoos to see them. The Saint and human-animal conflict. These pages Louis Zoo’s researchers, veterinarians, offer highlights of a few of the Institute’s curators and keepers participate in many projects. conservation projects around the globe and throughout Missouri. Center for American Burying Beetle Conservation

** Saving this important insect helps the ecosystem because this beetle removes dead and decaying animals naturally

** Reintroducing Zoo-born beetles —a first for an endangered species in Missouri

** Researching genetics and breeding helps species recovery

Conservationists celebrate the return of scimitar horned oryx to Chad, where they vanished in 1989.

7 Center for Avian Health Center for Conservation in the Galápagos Islands in Forest Park

** Protecting rare island birds for more ** Addressing the need for than a decade greater exposure to nature for urban children ** Training Ecuadorian scientists and rangers to recognize and test for ** Focusing on preserving and diseases studying native wildlife

** Assisting more than 30 students to ** Visiting classrooms, offering field earn graduate degrees trips to Forest Park

** Creating a pollinator garden and nature play area Center for Conservation of Carnivores in Africa

** Gathering baseline data on carnivore health, numbers and ecology

** Reducing conflicts between wildlife and livestock through community education

Galápagos Hawks ** Relocating endangered animals to game reserves Emerson Children’s Zoo Keeper Ben Woodruff brings ** Increasing genetic diversity in turtles to inner-city schools to help children get close cheetah populations to nature.

8 Hellbender keeper Amanda Pedigo prepares to release an animal bred and raised at the Saint Louis Zoo. Critically endangered horned guan Center for Conservation in the Horn of Africa

** Supporting programs in Kenya and Ethiopia

** Working to save the Grevy’s zebra, mountain nyala, hirola, African elephant, black rhino and Ethiopian wolf

** Building capacity among villagers living near wildlife Center for Conservation Ron Goellner ** Re-establishing animals’ historic of the Horned Guan Center for Hellbender migratory corridors and creating in Mexico Conservation wildlife-friendly areas ** Working to save guans in the wild ** Breeding Ozark hellbenders in where only 1,000 to 2,000 remain captivity—a first in the world for this salamander ** Conducting research and advocating for increasing the ** Serving as home to 4,000-plus protected area for guans Ozark hellbenders—75 percent of the world’s population of this ** Teaching habitat-friendly species ways to farmers

** Releasing more than 2,115 head- ** Strengthening community started animals into the wild conservation participation (This is a combination of Zoo-bred ** Maintaining a genetically viable animals and those hatched from captive conservation population wild-collected egg masses.) Grevy’s zebras in Kenya ** Monitoring the movement, health and survival rate of released animals

9 Monarch butterfly Center for Conservation Center for Conservation in Madagascar in Punta San Juan, Peru

** Supporting the international ** Helping create a network of consortium, Madagascar Fauna protected areas along the and Flora Group, based at the Zoo Peruvian Coast The Saint Louis Zoo was a founding member in 1988 ** Taking annual Humboldt penguin censuses to monitor ** Conserving biodiversity in population size Madagascar through research, education and capacity building ** Conducting health Center for Native assessments, collecting ** Studying the health and genetics of biological data on penguins endangered lemurs and endemic Pollinator Conservation carnivore communities ** Supporting sustainable guano ** Developing pollinator roadside harvests to protect breeding areas habitat with multiple Missouri state agencies

** Increasing monarch butterfly habitat by encouraging planting of milkweed

** Spearheading creation of honey bee/pollinator health coalitions

** Establishing the Bumblebee Specialist Group to save species

Madagascar’s ring-tailed lemurs Punta San Juan wildlife

10 Saharan red-necked ostrich Camels in Kenya Center for Conservation in Western Asia

** Using radio telemetry to study viper spatial ecology and habitat preferences

** Forging a multi-national coalition to address population declines of Armenian vipers and other species

** Championing expansion of reserves Institute for Saharan Wildlife and establishment of a sanctuary Conservation Medicine and national park Recovery Center ** Addressing the challenge of growing interconnections between ** Saving the biggest bird on the human and animal health planet, the Saharan red-necked ostrich, through captive breeding in ** Studying box turtle health and Niger to support their reintroduction movement in the St. Louis area to the wild and tortoises within and outside Galápagos National Park ** Helping the Environmental Agency- Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) ** Developing outreach and education and Sahara Conservation Fund programs to save turtles and tortoises return the extinct-in-the-wild ** Studying endocrine disrupting scimitar-horned oryx to Chad compounds’ impact on fish, reptiles ** Supporting the development of Armenian viper and mammals the Termit & Tin Toumma National ** Assessing the health of Nature Reserve in Niger, the largest dromedary camels used for protected area in all of Africa milk in northern Kenya

** Developing the One Health initiative in the St. Louis area

11 The total African population, estimated at about half a million at the beginning of the 20th Century, now numbers around 20,000. 12 Protecting Species

Answering questions about animals’ foraging behavior may sound ranging from fossas to mouse lemurs can die directly from eating like a strange way to save penguins. these poisonous invaders. But the impact ranges across the food chain as Asian toads outcompete other animals for resources. But tracking animals using electronic tags (biologging) helps Researchers, students and communities are now testing capture researchers determine the direction, distance and depth of penguin and trapping techniques and possible chemical control methods to foraging trips. Biologging is a new tool to investigate how these rid the island of the toads. endangered penguins and other wildlife are using their marine environment. The results of this study will inform conservationists • Also in Africa, the WildCare Center for the Conservation of how to better design marine protected areas, like Punta San Juan, Carnivores is working with Conservationist Dr. Amy Dickman in Peru, where one of the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Centers has worked Ruaha National Park in south central Tanzania, where 10 percent for 15 years to save the Humboldt penguin. Similar studies use of lions left in Africa now live. Having disappeared from Southwest telemetry units placed on other top predators, such as fur seals and Asia and 22 countries in Africa, lions, which were estimated at sea lions. about half a million at the beginning of the 20th Century, now number around 20,000. The Ruaha Carnivore Project works with its These are only some of the tools WildCare Institute staff and partners partners to gather baseline data on carnivore numbers and ecology use to protect endangered animals. and to reduce human-carnivore conflict by educating the villagers • In Madagascar, Zoo scientists provide husbandry and veterinary on the value of lions in their lives. services and advice, bring supplies and train staff at Parc Ivoloina, where lemurs are protected and bred. Madagascar, the home of • In Peru, the Center for Conservation in Punta San Juan and its th unique and globally important species, is a biodiversity hotspot. partners participated in the 13 comprehensive census of the The Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group (MFG) was formed in entire Peruvian Humboldt penguin population. The 2015 census 1988 to address Madagascar’s loss of animal and plant species showed that the number of penguins continues to grow; however, at an alarming rate. The Zoo became a founding member of this it is still a tiny percentage of the population first discovered in th international consortium of 31 institutions, now including the Perth the beginning of the 19 century along the same coastline. This Zoo, which in 2015 became MFG’s newest member. year, the Center also tested the use of drones as a potential tool to count penguins in areas that are hard to reach and see. The • Based at the Saint Louis Zoo, MFG in 2015 led a consortium of Center has purchased two drones for use in future years. Using conservation groups in developing a plan to eradicate a potentially drones helps scientists more closely determine estimates of an catastrophic menace—a plague of invasive toxic Asian toads. From entire penguin population. The Center also initiated the primary directly poisoning wildlife to affecting international trade, these steps in establishing the first distance learning center in a Peruvian amphibian invaders have the potential to wreak havoc among protected area. Once developed, the learning center could reach Madagascar’s people and beloved animals. Toad-eating animals thousands of classrooms throughout Peru and the world.

13 Finding the Answers

Turtles are serving as sentinels for health issues in humans. • On another campus, research scientists continue to try to find That’s right. A chemical found in Missouri’s rivers and streams can the host for avian malaria. At the University of Missouri-St. Louis, influence the sex organs of developing turtles, making males more scientists test the thousands of blood samples students and their like females—so reported a group of researchers from the Zoo’s leaders have gathered from birds on the Galápagos Islands. In the Institute for Conservation Medicine (ICM), the University of Missouri, Parker Lab (named for Dr. Patricia Parker who directs the Institute’s Westminster College and the U.S. Geological Survey. Center for Avian Health in the Galápagos Islands), the search for the diseases that are killing birds there has become even more urgent. To address the challenges associated with the growing This disease poses a major threat to the native bird populations interconnections between the health of humans and the animal on these islands where the isolated location, volcanic activity kingdom, ICM focuses on research like this to determine the and tropical currents combine to create nature’s own laboratory. consequences for both humans and animals. Studied by naturalist Charles Darwin, these islands are home to • Turtles are perfect creatures for this type of study because their sex species found nowhere else in the world. There scientists work is determined by the temperature of the environment during their with park officials to protect native wildlife threatened by a range of development in the egg. In 2015, a Zoo, university and government factors from human contact that introduces new diseases to climate research team published findings that show the synthetic chemical change. The Parker Lab scientists’ published articles are helping Bisphenol A—or BPA, which is known to mimic estrogen and disrupt the Galápagos National Park craft management policy to conserve hormone levels in animals — can alter a turtle’s reproductive these beautiful birds for future generations. system after exposure in the egg. Meanwhile, ICM continued to forge links with universities to promote One Health—the understanding that the health of animals and people and the viability of ecosystems are inextricably linked and that only with scientists from multiple disciplines working together can we protect the health of all species—and the environment. In 2015, medical, veterinary and ecology students came to the Saint Louis Zoo to talk about health with the thousands of visitors who typically come to see animals on a Saturday in spring. With Zoo staff members, these young scientists from around the world stand before a range of other creatures to tell everyone from young to old about a concept that extends back to ancient times, now expressed in a single phrase: One Health.

14 The Institute for Conservation Medicine works with turtles, which serve as sentinels for health issues in humans. 15 This lowland nyala is a relative of the mountain nyala that Institute-supported conservation and research are working to save in Ethiopia. 16 Educating Future Scientists

Armed with a Ph.D. in biology and years of conservation research • The Center for Conservation in the Horn of Africa supports an experience, Dr. Levon Aghasyan arrived in St. Louis, Missouri from organization called MELCA-Ethiopia (Movement for Ecological Armenia in late 2015 seeking yet more knowledge. Learning and Community Action). In 2015 MELCA-Ethiopia celebrated the 10th anniversary of its annual Mountain Nyala Day, Funded by a Fulbright Scholarship, he is spending eight months where thousands gathered to learn about the need to conserve this learning vital husbandry techniques at the Saint Louis Zoo. species through drama, poems, songs and exhibits. Historically, Shadowing Zoo animal professionals will help this experienced the mountain nyala roamed throughout the highlands of southeast scientist run Armenia’s first conservation breeding facility dedicated Ethiopia, but its numbers have dropped significantly as a result of to saving that nation’s endangered reptiles. The WildCare Institute’s human encroachment, agriculture and sport hunting. Center for Conservation in Western Asia is supporting creation of this facility to help save amphibians and reptiles that are vital to In Ethiopia a decade ago, the Bale Mountains National Park was Armenia’s culture and ecosystem. Thirty of the nation’s 58 species established, and now more than 70 percent of remaining mountain are listed as threatened. Eleven are declining rapidly. Without human nyala live there. With support from the WildCare Institute, MELCA- intervention, they could go extinct. Ethiopia was able to initiate a park program called SEGNI (Social Empowerment through Group and Nature Interaction). SEGNI • Another bright young scholar also came to St. Louis from afar strengthens the school’s environmental club activities and creates thanks to a collaborative scholarship program funded by the an effective outreach to thousands who live near mountain nyala. Saint Louis Zoo and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Dr. Fidisoa Rasambainarivo • In 2015, the Institute for Conservation Medicine (ICM) marked is a Ph.D. candidate studying conservation science in the University the third year students tracked box turtles in Forest Park and at of Missouri-St. Louis graduate program. He followed Allonso Washington University in St. Louis’ Tyson Research Center. ICM Busalleu, from Peru, who earned a master’s degree in 2013 documents box turtle movements and their health status in through the same program. Dr. Rasambainarivo is a Malagasy urban and rural areas to better understand environmental factors veterinarian who has worked a number of years with the Zoo, the affecting turtle, other wildlife and human health. ICM is also Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group (MFG) and the WildCare Center connecting young people in St. Louis and the Galápagos Islands for Conservation in Madagascar. through a common interest in conserving box turtles and iconic giant tortoises. • Young students are introduced to the importance of saving species simply by visiting the 1,371-acre Forest Park where the Zoo is a major attraction. The WildCare Institute’s Center for Conservation in Forest Park staff works with teachers interested in providing a field trip experience aimed at helping children better understand and care for native Missouri wildlife.

17 Heading Home

Picture this: A group of teens willingly paired and “notched” At SCF’s request, Saint Louis Zoo staff attended the initial planning hundreds of beetles’ hard wing covers and then on a hot June day on session in United Arab Emirates (UAE) to identify potential release a prairie in Southwest Missouri, dug holes and placed the carcass of sites and sources for oryx, as well as to outline the logistics a quail and a pair of notched beetles in each cavity. necessary for success. The Zoo also funded the participation of Chadian delegates and later helped underwrite a stakeholders’ The Center for American Burying Beetle Conservation, working with meeting within the Republic of Chad itself. nearly a dozen members of the Zoo ALIVE teen volunteer program, reintroduced this endangered species for the fourth year—bringing to The reintroduction, led by the Environmental Agency-Abu Dhabi 1,500 the total number of beetles that have been reintroduced to that (EAD) in UAE, was inspired by the conservation legacy of the late prairie. Sheikh Zayed, ruler of UAE. Now under the guidance of HH Sheikh • Since 2012 and again in 2015, the Institute’s Ron Goellner Center Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of EAD, 25 captive-born for Hellbender Conservation worked to augment populations of scimitar-horned oryx have been transported from UAE to the the endangered Ozark hellbender. Working with the Missouri Republic of Chad. When the rainy season begins in September, Department of Conservation, the Center has released more than these animals will be fitted with satellite telemetry collars and 2,115 head-started hellbenders into Missouri rivers. released to roam wild over the full 77,950 square kilometers of the reserve, an area larger than the state of South Carolina. Data In 2015, the 7th Biennial Hellbender Symposium, co-sponsored by collected about animal movements, associations and habitat use the Center and the Missouri Department of Conservation, attracted will be used to fine-tune future oryx releases and maximize their 116 scientists from all over the world. Saint Louis Zoo staff, who successful adaptation to the wild. were responsible for the world’s first captive breeding success in 2011, were instructors for sessions on hellbender husbandry, • In 2015, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) honored the egg incubation and early stage larval rearing and propagation Saint Louis Zoo and its many partners with the AZA International techniques for endangered hellbenders. Conservation Award, for their collaboration to create and support SCF. The first-ever non-governmental organization dedicated • Since 2009, the WildCare Institute’s Saharan Wildlife Recovery exclusively to conservation in the Sahara and surrounding Center, in partnership with Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF), has Sahel, SCF is recognized worldwide as a model for a zoo-driven been quietly working toward one of the most ambitious wildlife conservation movement. reintroductions ever: the return of scimitar-horned oryx to the wild, nearly three decades after their extinction. This antelope once roamed the breadth of Africa’s sub-desert belt, but now exists only under human care in zoos, private collections, and a few small fenced reserves in Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal. Relentless pressure from overhunting, drought and habitat loss caused the last wild remnants of oryx to vanish in Chad in 1989.

18 Scimitar-horned oryx, long extinct in the wild, were recently reintroduced to their natural habitat in a game reserve in Chad thanks to help from the WildCare Institute. 19 An Institute-supported organization, Grevy’s Zebra Trust, is working to save this species which has declined to fewer than 2,200 in the wild. 20 Coming Together

By some estimates, wildlife trafficking is the fourth largest Also in 2015, NRT worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Lewa international crime and is almost as lucrative as transporting Wildlife Conservancy to expand black rhino habitat and increase and selling illicit drugs. rhino populations; 20 rhinos were moved to a sanctuary within Sera the community—marking the first time in East Africa a local In the face of horrific animal losses from poaching and habitat community has assumed responsibility for the protection and destruction, conservationists are fighting back by turning to management of the endangered black rhino. NRT also announced local communities for help. For more than a decade, the Center in 2015 a 75 percent increase in the number of the world’s rarest for Conservation in the Horn of Africa has helped multiple antelope, the hirola. There are now 83 hirola in the predator-proof organizations provide both education and opportunity to help Ishaqbini Hirola Sanctuary. native people play a role in protecting endangered animals in • Closer to home, the Center for Native Pollinator Conservation is their homelands in Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. working state-wide with the Missourians for Monarchs Collaborative • One of the Center-supported organizations, Grevy’s Zebra Trust to develop and implement a Missouri-wide conservation and action (GZT) is working to save a species that has declined to fewer than plan for monarch butterflies and pollinators. Since 2014, the Center 2,200 individuals in the wild. In Kenya, GZT enlists community has now planted over 24 miles of pollinator and monarch-friendly support and trains community-based field teams (scouts, roadside habitat in partnership with the Missouri Department of ambassadors and warriors) to monitor multiple regions to protect Transportation. this species. This Center is also working with the Monarch Collaborative, a group In 2015, the Center supported a law enforcement workshop to convened by the Keystone Policy Center to identify and implement combat poaching by offering its local teams training at the Kenya solutions to address the declining monarch butterfly population, Wildlife Services Law Enforcement Academy in southern Kenya. while meeting agricultural productivity and habitat conservation Academy experts joined with local police to train the residents in goals. This organization is supporting cultivation of additional new conservancies so that members of these communities could milkweed (where monarch butterflies lay their eggs) and creating help stop poaching. nectar sources in rural areas. The collaborative is also promoting awareness among a range of audiences about how farmers, • The Horn of Africa Center also strongly supports Northern ranchers and land owners can support, conserve and enhance Rangelands Trust (NRT), which for more than a decade has habitat to ensure a sustainable monarch population. helped an ever-increasing number of communities establish conservancies, set up democratic management structures and The Center has distributed over 1,500 milkweed plants with attract conservation and development funds. The largely pastoralist Monarch Watch for local restoration programs, and in 2015, communities practice natural resources management and non- began to work overseas when it was awarded a grant to develop a violent conflict resolution. They also develop tourism and nature- comprehensive biodiversity inventory of bee pollinators and their based enterprises. The number of NRT conservancies has moved associated flora in Amboseli National Park and the surrounding from 6 in 2004 to 33 in 2015. agro-ecosystems in Kenya. Kenya is one of seven nations singled out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to identify practices and build capacity for better managing pollination services.

21 The WildCare Institute Also Supports: The Institute has supported many Andean Bear Conservation Alliance. Andean bears are an important flagship species for the unique and organizations since its founding in 2004. fragile Tropical Andes ecosystem, the richest and most Here is a summary of 2015 activities for biologically diverse region on earth. Currently listed some of those organizations. as vulnerable, the species faces a number of threats including habitat reduction and fragmentation, high mortality caused by humans and insufficient scientific knowledge on the distribution, threats and trends in bear populations. Since 2012, the WildCare Institute has supported the Andean Bear Conservation Alliance. It was established in 2011 by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and . The Alliance has been working to produce an accurate and updated assessment of the distribution and status of the remaining Andean bear populations. From 2011 to mid-2013, Alliance activities focused on conducting research, building capacity in communities near bear habitat and developing monitoring techniques using occupancy estimators. From mid-2013 to 2015, these tools have been applied in five natural national parks and surrounding areas in Colombia. By 2015, there were four institutions involved in the Alliance—Wildlife Conservative Society, Cleveland Metroparks, the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute and Global Conservation Connections. Ecuadorian Amphibians. With the world’s amphibian populations in drastic decline, the Institute has long supported the amphibian conservation and sustainability initiatives of Luis Coloma, Ph.D. Dr. Coloma founded Centro Jambatu de Investigacion y Conservation de Anfibios (Jambatu Center for Research and Conservation of Amphibians) in 2011. Centro Jambatu’s staff and students manage over 24 species of amphibians, 15 of them listed as critically endangered. Eleven of the 15 have reproduced at Centro Jambatu—making their assurance population of amphibians one of the most significant and largest in Andean bear

22 the western hemisphere. Saint Louis Zoo amphibians play such a vital role in the elephants and raise awareness of the Zoological Manager Mark Wanner routinely Earth’s ecosystems. benefits of elephants to the local economy goes to Ecuador to assess the strength of Elephants—Asian and African. Elephants are and ecosystem are critical for success. The amphibian populations in the wild and endangered in both continents due to loss of WildCare Institute and other accredited provide advice on husbandry techniques for habitat, human-animal conflict and poaching. institutions and donors support the Northern amphibian species. The WildCare Institute supports the work Rangelands Trust in building community Ecuador is unique in having 70 percent of of the International Elephant Foundation, conservancies to protect elephants. the world’s flora and fauna species within its which fosters partnerships to provide long- Okapi Conservation. The Saint Louis Zoo is boundaries, including 448 known species term support to wildlife programs around a participant in the AZA’s Species Survival of amphibians. Rising temperatures, habitat the world. Since 2004, the WildCare Institute Plan® for okapi—the endangered tropical destruction and the spread of the deadly has provided more than $320,000 to Asian rainforest ungulate that is an iconic species amphibian chytrid fungus have wiped out elephant field work, supporting projects in for Democratic Republic of the Congo and multiple amphibian species in recent years. Sumatra, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Cambodia. as elusive as it is beautiful. The Institute Amphibian chytrid fungus has quickly spread In Africa, the long-term survival of elephants supports the Okapi Conservation Project, across the planet; it affects amphibians’ is inextricably linked to the support of local begun in 1987, to secure a protected area skin—a vital organ they use for drinking communities that share the land with this for okapi in the wild, while preserving the and breathing. Scientists are working to species. Involving local communities in biological and cultural dynamics of the find a cure for this deadly disease because the ongoing work to protect and monitor Ituri Forest. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group has announced a 10-year strategy to combat threats to okapi. The strategy focuses on protecting okapi in core habitat, namely the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, which occupies one fifth of the Ituri forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The reserve has come under threat in recent years and continues to be plagued by political instability in the region, making it difficult to assess the strength of populations in the wild. The new global strategy provides a clear roadmap for joint action to bring okapi back from the brink of extinction, tackling the threats of poor security and economic impoverishment to focus on specific actions to better manage and monitor okapi.

African elephants are the focus of Northern Rangelands Trust, which the WildCare Institute supports.

23 Golden white-eye In 1988, the Saint Louis Zoo became a leader in creating a breeding plan to save these snails, and the Zoo contributed 140 individual snails to the shipment of 243 that went in 2015 to . There they received a thorough health screening, before being placed on a flight to Tahiti. The snails were greeted with fanfare and a ukulele tune as field scientists headed to a reserve to reintroduce them. It was noted that of all the species shipped, the Saint Louis Zoo snails, the Partula nodosa, were the ones that fared best on the journey from London to Tahiti. Conservation. Concerned about the rising threats to polar bears in the wild, the WildCare Institute forged a partnership with Polar Bears International (PBI)— a non-profit organization dedicated to worldwide conservation of the polar bear and its habitat. The Pacific Bird Conservation Program. monarchs and Saipan bridled white-eyes Since 1994, the Saint Louis Zoo has been from Tinian to the conservation island of a member of this conservation program Guguan. (formerly known as the Mariana Avifauna Partula Snail Reintroduction. In 2015, Conservation Program). This collaborative one of the most ambitious Institute- effort, that includes U.S. Fish & Wildlife supported initiatives involved a snail. Service, the regional Department of Aquatic Almost 30 years after going extinct in the and Wildlife Resources and several AZA zoos, wild, 243 Partula snails were returned home has focused on the development of captive to the Papehue Valley on the Tahiti island of protocols for six threatened and endangered French Polynesia. These rare snails, raised in bird species and the translocation of zoos across the world, were all descendants three species from Saipan/Tinian to two of snails collected in Tahiti in 1984, when conservation islands within the archipelago. three scientists realized that some of the In 2015, two Saint Louis Zoo bird keepers species of Partula snails in that area had traveled to the Mariana Islands chain vanished. They were victims of a predator to continue work on the Pacific Bird snail introduced by humans. Conservation Program. They worked with other zoo professionals to translocate Tinian Partula snails

24 The WildCare Institute has been actively involved with PBI in providing education programs to inspire, inform and empower people to make a difference by reducing carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Typically, educational programs happen on International Polar Bear Day each February. However, in 2015, the Institute helped fund production of video journals created by Alaska native youth, whose Iñupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik cultures live with, and rely upon, polar bears. In June 2015, the Saint Louis Zoo opened McDonnell Polar Bear Point featuring an Alaskan orphan bear. Interpretative features for Polar Bear Point include the videos developed by the Alaska Native youth who through interviews with community members tell the story of life in their villages. The Institute has also supported a PBI maternal den study conducted by scientists on the Alaska North Slope to document the denning behavior of polar bear mothers who are choosing to den on land, possibly sensing that the sea ice is too unstable for their dens. PBI scientists are observing bear mothers and cubs to determine when they emerge from their dens, how long the families remain at the den sites before heading to the sea ice to hunt seals and how sensitive they are to disturbances. Study results help wildlife managers and governing authorities develop plans to protect and preserve polar bears for future generations.

Kali, our rescued polar bear

25 How is the WildCare Institute Funded?

Fulfilling the WildCare Institute’s ambitious mission to “Create a sustainable future for wildlife and for people around the world,” requires not only a great deal of work, but financial support, as well. Support for the Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute includes not only our passion for conservation, but funding to pursue critically important activities. The WildCare Institute has five primary funding sources; two were new in 2015—the Animals Always Gala and Make Change for Conservation. It is important to note that none of the funds for the WildCare Institute come from tax revenues contributed by St. Louis City and County residents and distributed by Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District. The Institute’s financial support comes from the following sources: $750,000 The harvest from the endowment that $ 84,000 Make Change for Conservation offers Zoo was created in 2003 by a $16,000,000 guests an opportunity to donate an extra gift from the Saint Louis Zoo Friends dollar to support conservation with every Association (now the Zoo Association). purchase. The program was budgeted for An additional anonymous $100,000 gift $70,000, but generated $84,000 thanks to plus unspent WildCare funds from the first the diligent work of the Saint Louis Zoo’s four years of the Institute’s operations front-line staff in food service and in the gift have been added to the endowment. shops and the generosity of our visitors. Therefore, a base of $16,450,000 has grown to a value of $20,589,962. $ 67,000 The inaugural Animal Always Gala to benefit the WildCare Institute was held on $350,000 Proceeds from the Mary Ann Lee October 8, 2015. This event was budgeted Conservation Carousel go to conservation. to generate a net of $25,000, but thanks Through her generous donation to build to generous underwriters and attendees, the carousel, Mary Ann Lee’s gift has not the final amount that came to the WildCare only delighted thousands of children of Institute was $67,000! all ages, but it has also supported field conservation around the globe. $105,000 Donations from individual donors and foundations are used to support either general or specific Center donors requests. Notable donations include an anonymous donor for American burying beetles and the Edward K. Love Conservation Foundation’s support for hellbender breeding and conservation.

26 Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute

Income Expenses .9% 1.1% 1.7% 4% 6% 4.7% 8% 4% 7.4%

57% 25% 80.2%

Endowment Make Change for Conservation Direct support for conservation activity Director Support

Carousel Donations Overhead to Zoo Graduate Student

Gala Conservation Memberships Other

Program support

27 How the WildCare Institute allocates its resources: $1,087,100 Over 80 percent of the WildCare Institute’s $54,500 Program support includes evaluation budget goes for direct support for workshops ($5,000), marketing ($17,000), conservation activity in the field, small equipment for field work ($4,000), or directly related to the field; e.g., a part-time assistant for the WildCare breeding hellbenders for release. Institute Director ($20,000), support for These funds support the conservation a genetics lab ($4,000), visiting scientist centers, in addition to conservation of support ($2,000) and phone and postage Ecuadorian amphibians, Asian elephants, costs ($5,000). okapi, Marianas’ avifauna, Andean bears and others. $23,500 This includes start-up funding for a conservation technology initiative ($20,000) and support for the Saint Louis Zoo’s Conservation Award ($3,500). $100,000 When the WildCare Institute was established, each Conservation Center $14,500 WildCare Institute Director support director was expected to spend 25 percent includes membership fees in professional of his or her time managing a center. organizations and travel expenses. This percentage amounted to a total of $100,000 in salary costs. However, $12,500 This item covers 50 percent of the that amount does not include the salary funding needed by a graduate student of the WildCare Institute Director or other at University of Missouri-St. Louis, who staff support. is connected to one of our Conservation Centers (see page 17 for a discussion of $67,000 Conservation memberships reflect the these scholarships). The other 50 percent Zoo’s and WildCare Institute’s membership comes from a generous gift by Anna Harris in and support for conservation to the Harris World Ecology Center. This organizations. Examples include the funding currently supports a scholar from International Union for the Conservation of Madagascar (see page 17). Nature (IUCN), the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), the International Elephant Foundation and the Conservation Federation of Missouri.

28 Saint Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine

Income Expenses

.5% 6.4% 2.4%

40% 39.7%

90.1%

16.7% 3%

Zoo Operating Donations Travel Support

Grants Partners Membership Conservation Science

29 for outstanding service to the development Endowed Funds Support of the city. The couple are entrepreneurs at heart, first Conservation Across the Globe in business and now in the community. Bob Fox founded NewSpace Closet Interiors in 1984, the first of its kind in WildCare Institute Fund the St. Louis region. Maxine Clark is well In 2004, the Saint Louis Zoo moved its known as the founder of Build-A-Bear conservation efforts to a new level with the Workshop. Under Clark’s leadership, establishment of the WildCare Institute. Build-A-Bear Workshop has grown to more To help fund the Institute’s operations, than 400 stores worldwide. In addition to the Saint Louis Zoo Friends committed its retail success, the company has been $19 million—$3 million for the first four recognized for several years as one of years of operations and $16 million to FORTUNE’s Best Companies to Work For. the Zoo Endowment Trust for ongoing In June 2013, Maxine Clark stepped down support. Additional funds have been from her role as Chief Executive Bear leadership in wildlife conservation and generated from ridership on the Mary Ann to focus her entrepreneurial skills and conservation medicine. “If we want Lee Conservation Carousel and gifts and passion on improving K-12 education and healthy human beings, we need healthy grants from individuals, foundations and helping women and minority entrepreneurs ecosystems,” said Bob Fox. “Animal, plant corporations as well as non-profits and our grow their businesses. She serves on a and human health are interconnected, and conservation partners. The Zoo anticipates number of corporate and nonprofit boards, all are critical to maintaining biodiversity the WildCare Institute’s endowment including Teach for America, Washington and the web of life on our planet.” will continue to grow—along with the University, Nine Network of Public Media, program’s important work—through Bob Fox’s interest in the WildCare Institute Beyond Housing, and Parents as Teachers. additional outright and deferred gifts. grew as he served on the Zoo Board of Trustees from 2008-2014. He is involved Since its establishment, the WildCare in a number of other local and national Susan W. Dexter Institute has invested $1 million per organizations, focusing most of his energy year in local, national and international Conservation Fieldwork Fund on improving access to health care and conservation projects. For more than 30 years, Sue Dexter was a educational opportunities for immigrants dedicated Saint Louis Zoo volunteer and and other underserved populations. supporter. She and her husband Phil both Maxine Clark and Bob Fox Fox is the founder and board chairman started out in the Emerson Children’s WildCare Institute Fund of Casa de Salud, a not-for-profit health Zoo. “Phil was the one who really enjoyed Maxine Clark and Bob Fox decided to and wellness center for new immigrants being a docent,” Sue said, “and I was more establish an endowed fund for the that opened its doors in 2010 and serves interested in travel and seeing animals WildCare Institute because they wanted thousands of patients each year. Bob was in the wild.” For many years Sue served to support its outstanding work and the 2011 recipient of the St. Louis Award as co-chair of the Zoo Travel Committee

30 Harvard K. Hecker African Wildlife Conservation Fund Mrs. Patricia G. Hecker and her family have endowed a named fund in memory of her late husband, Harvard K. Hecker, to honor his love of African wildlife and commitment to conservation. As an endowed fund providing support in perpetuity, the Harvard K. Hecker with fellow volunteer Hazel Darlington. African Wildlife Conservation Fund will She also contributed to the Institute benefit the WildCare Institute’s work in for Conservation Medicine and the Southern and East Africa. Center for Conservation in the Horn of Africa. Not only did Sue Dexter help plan The future of the Zoo’s conservation and coordinate Zoo-sponsored travel efforts in Africa will be all the more adventures, she went on a number sustainable because of the Hecker of trips herself – to Kenya, India, family’s $750,000 named fund. The Zimbabwe, South Africa and Tanzania. Heckers visited Africa more than 10 times, with Mr. Hecker filming hours Through her bequest gift to the Zoo, of safari adventures. Their vote of Sue’s Conservation Fieldwork Fund was confidence and financial support created within the Zoo’s Endowment to the Zoo’s conservation mission Fund to help pay for staff travel has been consistent over the years, expenses. Her endowed fund is a complemented by their rich legacy of tremendous resource for the WildCare volunteer leadership. Most recently Institute and our efforts to save animal Mrs. Hecker chaired the Animals Always species and their habitats. Gala with former Zoo Director Charlie Sue Dexter died in May 2015, but her Hoessle. As conservation advocates love of wildlife continues on through with a deep love for African wildlife, the her family and her endowed fund. Heckers have trusted the Saint Louis The Dexter family’s support is also Zoo to carry forth their legacy well into recognized at a drinking fountain the future. given in Phil’s memory in the Emerson Children’s Zoo and with a bench at the Edward K. Love Conservation Foundation Cypress Swamp exhibit in the 1904 Flight Cage.

Site manager Maimounatou holds a red-necked ostrich chick at the Kelle, Niger Ostrich Recovery Center, founded by the Saharan Conservation Fund, which has been working to save the ostrich for years. 31 2015 Honor Roll

Major Gifts Seneca Park Zoo Society James L. & Lisa W. Nouss William M. & Julie M. Gerlach Mrs. Anita M. Siegmund Novus International, Inc. Dean A. & Nancy C. Graves $249,999 - $100,000 Frederick Pitzman Fund Dr. & Mrs. Gordon L. Haycraft Estate of Sue Dexter $4,999 - $2,500 Rosamond Gifford Zoo Mr. & Mrs. J. Philip Hellwege Edward K. Love Conservation Akron Zoological Park Mr. & Mrs. William C. Rusnack Mr. & Mrs. Thomas A. Hutton Foundation Kaye A. Campbell-Hinson & Phillip D. , Inc. Edward W. & Kay Jastrem Hinson Mr. & Mrs. Scott Schoettley Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Jones Special Gifts Dickerson Park Zoo William T. & Darlene Skaggs Mr. Steven B. King $50,000 - $25,000 Duke University St. Augustine Alligator Farm James L. & Mary Kroll Mrs. Maureen K. Hamilton Zoological Park Elizabeth Green Diane & Dane Kull Mark & Becky Humphrey St. Louis AAZK Kansas City Zoo Kent P. & Kathleen E. Lannert The Phoenix Zoo Stoneage Arts Inc. Mr. Rex & Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield Mr. & Mrs. James P. Leonard Ms. Ingrid J. Porton Mrs. Sarah Trulaske of San Diego Joseph O. & Carolyn Losos Reid Park Zoological Society Thomas A. & Betty Tyler Dr. Jay & Dr. Susan Marshall $24,999 - $10,000 Sacramento Zoological Society Mr. & Mrs. Virgil Van Trease Ms. Judith A. McNamara Sedgwick County Zoological Mr. & Mrs. Mahlon B. Wallace, III Mrs. Ann L. Case Mr. & Mrs. Charles L. Merz Society, Inc. Woodland Park Zoo Chicago Zoological Society Ken & Angie Nettleton South Carolina Aquarium The John R. Woods Foundation Omaha Zoological Society Columbus Zoological Park Association Mr. Clarence A. Zacher Conservation Endowment Fund Grant Ms. Lois Raimondo $999 - $250 Mr. & Mrs. Jerry E. Ritter - Association of Zoos $2,499 - $1,000 and Aquariums American Association of Zookeepers Ms. Andrea P. Schankman Michael T. & Patricia T. Abbene Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. Little Rock Chapter Dr. Robert R. & Mrs. Marsha A. Mrs. Patricia G. Hecker Mr. A. Dale Belcher Ms. Kathryn A. Aschenbrenner Schlueter Pat Jones Mrs. Walter F. Brissenden Mr. & Mrs. Scott Bazoian Annemarie & Matt Schumacher Lemur Conservation Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Bill Dennler Mr. & Mrs. Richard E. Beumer Scottish African Mrs. Maurita E. Stueck Mr. & Mrs. William Forsyth Ms. Elizabeth A. Biddick Ms. Linda Shahinian & Mr. Herb Schiff Weiss Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Harvey A. Harris Ms. Nancy Birge & Dr. Keith J. & Mrs. Virginia L. Smith Mr. & Mrs. Charles H. Hoessle Dr. Patrick Osborne Edward A. & Viola J. Striker $9,999 - $5,000 Mark & Becky Humphrey Penelope A. Bodry-Sanders Mr. & Mrs. Grenville G. Sutcliffe Ms. Vicki L. Brown Brevard Zoo Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth A. Johnson Ms. Patricia Taillon-Miller Build-A-Bear Retail Management, Inc. Detroit Zoological Society Stephen C. & Jody C. Jones Ms. Sarah Terrace & Mr. Alfred Michael W. & Joyce E. Bytnar Mr. & Mrs. Drew Franz Mrs. Deborah S. Manne Henneboehle Ms. Karla Carter Mrs. Karen A. Goellner Dr. Charles I. & Mrs. Frances R. Mr. Lyle Timmerman Mannis Mr. & Mrs. James F. Conway Dr. Virginia Hermann Virgil & Sandra Van Trease Dr. Todd Margolis Mark A. & Barbara E. Doering Jacksonville Zoological Society Washington University in St. Louis Maryland Zoological Society, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Derick L. Driemeyer San Francisco Zoological Society Ms. Deborah K. Werner Mr. & Mrs. Patrick J. Moore Mrs. Michael Farroll Timothy J. & Carol A. Wilson

32 Gala, Crowdfunding Initiative and Change for Conservation Exceed Expectations

Gala, A Major Success First Venture Into Crowdfunding The inaugural 2015 Animals Always In October 2015, the Zoo launched its Gala attracted more than 200 guests first-ever crowdfunding initiative to who contributed more than $67,000 to help the WildCare Institute Center for the WildCare Institute and its programs. Conservation in Western Asia and its The evening included a strolling partners purchase and repurpose an supper reception, an auction and existing structure in Yerevan, Armenia, an inspirational presentation by Joel to breed imperiled species of reptiles Sartore —photographer, speaker, and amphibians (see story on Page 17). author, teacher and 20-year contributor Several thousand dollars were raised to to National Geographic magazine. help renovate the structure, expected to Sartore’s assignments have taken open in mid-2017. him to every continent and to the world’s most beautiful and challenging Make Change for Conservation environments. Simply put, he is on a mission to document endangered Exceeds Expectations species and landscapes to show a In 2012, the Saint Louis Zoo announced world worth saving, and at the Gala he a program to involve its 3.2 million offered background information about annual visitors in supporting the logistics and the inspiration for his conservation. With signs headlined impressive collection of photographs “Make Change for Conservation,” the that focuses on vanishing species. Zoo asked visitors to add $1 to their purchases at participating gift shops His impassioned plea to join him and food service locations. Donations in protecting and saving these to the Make Change for Conservation endangered animals was answered by program directly benefit the WildCare Gala attendees who bid on a variety of Institute. The program was budgeted auction items and contributed through to raise $70,000 in 2015—it raised the “fund-a-need” board. $84,000!

National Geographic Photographer Joel Sartore was the keynote speaker at the Gala. 33 Conservation Partners/Grants A truly unique international collaboration has been formed that brings an unprecedented level of conservation. WildCare Institute Partners number over 180. Below are partners for each of the 13 centers for the year 2015.

The Center for American The Center for Conservation Burying Beetle Conservation of Carnivores in Africa The Missouri Department of Conservation Ruaha Carnivore Project Missouri Department of Transportation Tanzania Carnivore Program The Nature Conservancy Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute Roger Williams Park Zoo Tanzania National Parks Association U.S. Army (Fort Chaffee, AR) The Zoological Society of London U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia Forest Service Cheetah Conservation Botswana Action for Cheetahs Kenya The Center for Avian Health Kenya Wildlife Service Endangered Wildlife Trust South Africa in the Galapagos Islands Painted Dog Conservation Zimbabwe Charles Darwin Research Station Wildlife Conservation Society Des Lee Professorship in Zoological Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis The Center for Conservation The Galápagos Conservancy in Forest Park Galápagos National Parks Academy of Science Genetics, Pathology, Epidemiology Forest Park Forever Laboratory of Galápagos Missouri Department of Conservation Leeds University Saint Louis Art Museum Nature Study Center, University of Vilnius, Lithuania St. Louis Department of Parks The Peregrine Fund Washington University in St. Louis The Swiss Friends of Galápagos The Zoological Society of London

The reintroduction of the American burying beetle involves a range of volunteer groups who place the carcasses of quails, with a pair of notched beetles in each cavity, in the earth. The Center for American Burying Beetle Conservation completed its fourth reintroduction at a Southwest Missouri prairie, where 1,500 beetles have now been reintroduced. 34 Ron Goellner Center for University of Wyoming University of Missouri – Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine Hellbender Conservation Wildlife Conservation Network Zebra Pen University of Missouri – Columbia Masters of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Public Health Missouri Department of Conservation Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri State University The Center for Conservation St. Louis Missouri University of Science and Technology of the Horned Guan (Pavon) in Westminster College U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mexico University of Missouri-Columbia. Africam Safari Park/Mexico The Center for Conservation in AZA Galliformes Taxon Advisory Group Punta San Juan, Peru Center for Conservation in The BirdLife International Acquario di Cattolica, Italy Horn of Africa The Cloud Forest Ambassadors Program Akron Zoo AZA Antelope & Giraffe TAG, Conservation Grant Instituto de Ecologia Alteris, Netherlands Fund, Equid TAG, Grevy’s Zebra SSP The International Committee for the Areas Costeras y Recursos Marinos (ACOREMA) Brevard Zoo Conservation of the Horned Guan AZA Humboldt Penguin SSP and its Habitat Columbus Zoo and Aquarium AZA Penguin Taxon Advisory Group IUCN: The Cracid Specialist Group Communities of northern Kenya The Brookfield Zoo The Nature Conservancy Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Centro Para La Sostenibilidad Ambiental Fundacion Natura Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program , Britain Grevy’s Zebra Trust Dallas Zoo Isaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy Institute for Harewood Bird Garden, Britain IUCN Antelope Specialist Group, Equid Conservation Medicine The Harris World Ecology Center Specialist Group Heredia University Kalama Community Wildlife Conservancy Charles Darwin Foundation Ecology Project International Kansas City Zoo Kenya Wildlife Service Moody Gardens Liz Claiborne-Art Ortenberg Foundation ESF State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Sedgwick County Zoo Merrill Lynch Forest Park Forever Woodland Park Zoo Minnesota Zoo Fontbonne University Northern Rangelands Trust Galápagos National Park MELCA-Ethiopia Houston Zoo Phoenix Zoo International Livestock Research Institute Princeton University Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Reid Park Zoo Mpala Research Centre Reid Park Zoo Teens Saint Louis University School of Medicine Sacramento Zoo Tyson Research Center at Washington Global University in St. Louis St. Louis AAZK Chapter United States Geological Survey University of Oslo

35 Milkweed for Monarchs – a St. Louis City-sponsored initiative to stop the decline of monarch butterflies – has involved planting milkweed in gardens across St. Louis. The Center for Native Pollinator Conservation is deeply involved in this project. Monarch butterflies cannot survive without milkweed; their caterpillars only eat milkweed plants. 36 The Center for Conservation in Contributing Members ($2500/year) North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Madagascar Akron Zoo Pollinator Partnership Saint Louis University Madagascar Fauna Group Allwetter Zoo, Munster, Germany The Nature Conservancy Missouri Botanical Gardens Cango Wildlife Ranch, South Africa Tohono Chul Park (Tucson, Arizona) University of Antananarivo Dickerson Park Zoo (Springfield, MO) Isle of Wight Zoo (UK) University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign, University of Missouri St. Louis Whitney R. Department of Entomology Harris World Ecology Center Seneca Park Zoo (Rochester, NY) USDA – Agricultural Research Service (ARS) – South Carolina Aquarium University of Missouri - Columbia (Veterinary Logan Bee Lab College and Animal Nutrition Department) The Living Rainforest (UK) The Xerces Society for Invertebrate University of Tamatave Tropical Butterfly House (UK) Conservation Washington University in St. Louis Ueno Zoo (Tokyo, Japan)

Thirty-one Madagascar Fauna and Flora Friends of the MFG (<$2500/year) Saharan Wildlife Recovery Center Group member Institutions in addition to Saharan Wildlife Recovery Center the Saint Louis Zoo: Maryland Zoo Milwaukee County Zoo AAZK-Dallas Zoo Managing Members ($10,000/year) Sacramento Zoo AAZK-Kansas City Zoo Cologne Zoo Wellington Zoo (New Zealand) Abilene Zoo Duke Lemur Center Addax & Oryx Foundation Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort Lemur Conservation Foundation The Center for Native Pollinator Missouri Botanical Gardens AZA Conservation Endowment Fund Naples Zoo Conservation AZA Ratite Advisory Group Ameren Missouri Perth Zoo AZA Antelope & Giraffe Advisory Group Chicago Zoological Society (Brookfield Zoo) San Antonio Zoo Bamberger Ranch Preserve City of Florissant, MO San Diego Zoo Berlin Zoo City of Saint Louis, MO Taipei Zoo Beyond Motion Productions Forest Park Forever Zoo Zurich Brevard Zoo Gateway Greening Zoological Society of London Bronx Zoo IUCN SSC Bumble Bee Specialist Group Brookfield Zoo Sponsoring Members ($5000/year) Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Buffalo Zoo Technology, Nairobi Kenya Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Calgary Zoo Kenya Wildlife Service Greenville Zoo Missouri Botanical Garden Indianapolis Zoo Cincinnati Zoo Missouri State Beekeepers Association Convention on Migratory Species Missouri Department of Conservation Utah’s Hogle Zoo Dachser Logistiks Missouri Department of Agriculture Zoo Leipzig Disney’s Animal Kingdom Missouri Department of Transportation Dublin Zoo Museum of Natural History, London Emirates’ Center for Wildlife Propagation National Museum of Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya) Erie Zoo

37 European Union WAZA Exotic Endeavors Nurnberg Zoo West Midlands Safari Park Exotic Wildlife Association Oklahoma City Zoo WildCRU Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial Oregon Zoo Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium Fossil Rim Wildlife Center Peace River Wildlife Refuge Woodland Park Zoo Philadelphia Zoo Zoo Atlanta Gilman International Conservation Plzen Zoo Zoo d’Amneville Houston Family Republic of Tunisia Zoo de la Palmyre Houston Zoo Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Zoo Hannover IGF Sacramento Zoo Zoo Miami John Ball Zoo Safari Enterprises Zoo New England Kansas City Zoo Safari West Zoo Osnabrück Kolmarden Zoo Sahara Conservation Fund Zoo Praha La Fondation Internationale pour Saint Louis AAZK Zoo Zlin Lesna la Gestion de la Faune Saint Louis Zoo Docents Zoological Society of London Le Pal Zoo San Antonio Zoo Lisbon Zoo San Diego Zoo Global The Center for Conservation in Living Desert Sedgwick County Zoo Longleat Safari Park Smithsonian National Zoological Park Western Asia Steadfast Engineering The Ministry of Nature Protection – Republic of Armenia Marwell Wildlife Stuttgart Zoo National Academy of Sciences – Mohamed bin Zayed Species The Living Desert Republic of Armenia Conservation Fund Toledo Zoo Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology Mulhouse Zoo The Wilds Nashville Zoo The Russian Academy of Sciences

38 You Can Help

As you have seen through this report, the Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute has accomplished a great deal in 2015. This vital work has been undertaken and completed through strategic partnerships, staff expertise, and passionate donors. We simply could not have done it without your help. 2016 brings new opportunities to protect wildlife in wild places. Old threats remain, and new challenges must be addressed if conservationists across the world are to succeed in saving threatened species and vulnerable ecosystems. All of us have been entrusted to preserve and safeguard these animals and their habitats today and for future generations. Together we have the chance to make a lasting investment in preserving unique species and their native environments. By using the enclosed response envelope, you become a champion for conserving wild things in wild places. The WildCare Institute offers you an opportunity that many others do not—a way to support programs that help save wildlife directly—and cost effectively. It also offers many choices: You can give to a species that caught your eye, a story that made sense, or a Conservation Center that connected with your desire to see things made right—for an animal, an ecosystem or our world. Your gift to the Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute will make a difference today and for future generations. For more information on contributing to the work of the WildCare Institute, please visit stlzoo.org/wildcare or contact the Zoo’s Development Office at(314) 646-4691.

Photos by Kyle Ulmer, Saint Louis Zoo Zoological Manager of Pinnipeds, traveled to Punta San Juan, Peru to participate in pinniped health assessments on wild South American sea lions and fur seals. Nine sub-adult male sea lions and eight fur seals were immobilized and examined during the project. 39 Today. Tomorrow. Together. Animal Always.

Our Mission The WildCare Institute is dedicated to creating a sustainable future for wildlife and for people around the world.