2009 Annual Report

2009 ANNUAL REPORT Combining the efforts of individuals If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. –Betty Reese In the spirit of making the planet green, we took a new approach to an old tradition this year–a reusable annual report. Please note that on the reverse side of the report you will find some lovely and usable wrapping paper. Enjoy! DEAR FRIENDS OF THE INDIANAPOLIS ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: When we developed our Mission Statement, which proclaims The Indianapolis Zoo empowers people and communities, both locally and globally, to advance animal conservation, we knew we were preparing our organization, our friends, our visitors, and our staff, for an adventure the likes of which we have never seen before! It’s certainly ambitious to think that we can make the kind of difference we envision, but history is on our side. There have been many inspired individuals and organizations who managed to accomplish great things–hugely important things with monumental impacts. In the case of conservation, we certainly have learned that individual actions can and do make a big difference in outcomes. And when we combine the efforts of individuals into movements, “the power of one” can become the power of millions. Living up to our Mission Statement requires that we re-invent the concept of what a zoo is. Visitors to our White River State Park campus will still be able to have wondrous encounters with amazing animals from all over the planet, but we want that to be just the beginning of their experience. Our goal is to help people find ways to, in effect, “enter” the worlds those creatures inhabit, for it is there that the real excitement lies. We want to provide the opportunity for our guests to choose their own paths. One choice might involve simply sharing a special moment with an animal in which two beings, for a short time, are clearly aware of each other’s presence. Another might be learning about that animal’s life in the wild. A more complex path might involve understanding the actions a successful field conservationist is taking to ensure that a species and ecosystem remain sustainable. Sometimes that sustainability requires us to find ways in which we can lessen our collective impact by stepping more lightly upon the Earth. What we use up today is gone forever, but what we manage to save today continues to produce, multiplying the opportunities for tomorrow. Saving the world is a grand concept indeed, but our small actions, individually and collectively, are starting to add up to something really useful. Just how useful? An annual report is one way to review whatever progress has been made in the last twelve months toward our goal, which in the case of the Indianapolis Zoo is to advance our mission. As for progress, in a year that saw both transition and consolidation, our established programs bore fruit and new initiatives took root. We made significant strides in long-term planning for the collection that will have important impacts on conservation for years to come. We continued reaching beyond Indiana to support worldwide conservation projects in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. We provided pathways, both literal and figurative, so our friends, donors, visitors, members, and guests can make the connection between Indiana and the wild places of the Earth. We raised the level of our own commitment to the greening of our city and the slowing of global climate change. All of this was accomplished during a year that was difficult for so many economically. It is a testament of the highest order that the Zoo continued to receive the assistance of the people whose names are included in this report. It is to you that we pay homage for your generosity and unflagging support. Thank you. Michael I. Crowther Mike Wells President & CEO Chairman Indianapolis Zoo Board of Trustees Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc. SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN 2009 JUNE The Zoo began offering a free child-ID program that will help reunite children and families who become separated. Thanks to partner Revol Wireless, participating families receive a special wristband for their child with the child’s first name only and the parent or adult’s cell phone number on it. If a separation does occur, this allows Zoo staff to contact the parents immediately in order to bring families back together quickly and with minimal stress on the child. A UGUST The Indianapolis Zoo staff announced the death of female polar bear, Tahtsa. At age 35, Tahtsa was the oldest living polar bear known to scientists either in human care or in the wild. Polar bears may live into their early to mid-twenties, a bit longer if in human care. Tahtsa had experienced the complications of aging for a number of years, but her condition deteriorated on the morning of Wednesday, August 12, when she was no longer able to stand. After examination and treatment by the Zoo veterinarians in her holding area, it was decided to humanely euthanize her to prevent further pain and suffering. S EPTEMBER The Indianapolis Zoo initiated a new event in September–the Hispanic Heritage Fiesta celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month, which officially ran from September 15 through October 15 and highlights Hispanic culture and achievements. The Zoo’s Fiesta activities for guests of all ages included live music, crafts, piñatas, games, coloring flags from Latin American countries, meeting groups serving the community’s Hispanic population, and the challenge of a Zoo scavenger hunt. Hispanic Heritage Fiesta was sponsored in part by La Voz, Indiana Bilingual Newspaper. Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. –Author Unknown N OVEMBER The Zoo welcomed experienced zoo educator Norah Fletchall as Vice President of Conservation and Marion L. McConnell Fellow. Ms. Fletchall provides leadership for the Zoo’s conservation education programs, sustainability initiatives, and the Zoo’s conservation partnerships around the world. These programs are housed within the Polly Horton Hix Institute for Conservation and Research, which supports the Zoo’s current and future research and conservation programs. As the Vice President of Conservation, Ms. Fletchall leads a multi-disciplined team of educators, scientists, conservationists, and other Zoo staff to develop and implement an ambitious and far-reaching series of programs that will have a measurable, significant, and positive impact on wildlife and wild places around the planet and help transform the City of Indianapolis into a community that embraces environmental stewardship as a core value. Key among these is the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation, which will next be awarded in 2010. CONSERVATION AROUND THE WORLD ZOO VET WORKS WITH GORILLAS IN AFRICA In summer 2009, Dr. Jan Ramer, the Indianapolis Zoo’s Associate Veterinarian, was given a two-year leave of absence to take a job that T ARANGIRE ELEPHANT PROJECT she had always coveted–Regional Field Veterinary Manager for the Mountain Gorilla The Indianapolis Zoo has partnered Veterinary Project (MGVP) in Rwanda. The position manages seven veterinarians (known with Dr. Charles Foley and the as The Gorilla Doctors) in three countries Tarangire Elephant Project in Tanzania (Rwanda, Congo and Uganda) and 15 lay people to protect migration corridors from (guards, orphan gorilla caretakers) and facilitates Tarangire National Park to the the growing human health program in the area. Ngorongoro Conservation Area. For nearly 20 years, MGVP veterinarians Tarangire National Park is located in the heart have been helping mountain gorillas survive of Maasai land. The park is an important refuge by providing them with life-saving veterinary for animals during dry periods and home to care for human-caused or life-threatening the fastest-growing herd of elephants on the illnesses and injuries. With teams of experienced African continent, as well as wildebeest, zebra, personnel, MGVP veterinarians track ailing antelope and a host of carnivores. The Maasai gorillas and observe and treat them when are pastoralists and do not usually come into needed-inside their native habitat. conflict with the wildlife with which they share You can follow the work of Dr. Ramer and her their land, but in recent years, the Maasai have staff through three different websites. There is allowed other tribes to grow crops in their more information about the MGVP at traditional grazing range around the park. The www.gorilladoctors.org. From that site, there is result is that traditional migration routes used a link to Dr. Ramer’s field blog, which she will by the park’s animals have been disrupted update as she goes about her work throughout by human settlement and agriculture. The the next two years: www.gorilladoctorsblog.org. Tarangire Elephant Project is working to stop And finally, get the human side of the story with human encroachment into the last remaining the wonderfully insightful and very personal open migration corridors by providing local thoughts of Dr. Ramer herself on her blog: inhabitants with economic incentives and www.icantbelieveiminafrica.blogspot.com. providing protection to the animals when they leave the park. Without the MGVP, mountain gorillas might not exist today, and the Zoo is happy to “loan” the not inconsiderable skills of Dr. Ramer to the cause. Dr. Ramer’s participation in the program reflects the Zoo’s commitment to saving wildlife and wild places throughout the world. I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. –Edward Everett Hale T RACKING EXTINCTION The Indianapolis Zoo is partnering with The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), one of the world’s largest conservation networks.

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