The Oceletter Feb/Mar 2019 Ocelots Dinner Program When: Thursday, Feb 14, 2019 Where: Zoo Party Area, San Diego Zoo Who: Eric Artzen What: A Cock-of the Rock Dance Off How to attract a mate when you're
Our Mission The Ocelots enthusiastically support the efforts of the Zoological Society of San Diego through active 5:45 to 6:15 p.m. Check-in outside at main gate. involvement, commitment to 6:00 p.m. Dining area open for seating selection. education, and 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. Cocktails and animal ambassadors. fund-raising. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dinner and program.
Adult male In This Issue Head Ocelot Report. 2 Mark Your Calendars . 3 A Review of Our Last Dinner Meeting. 4 Ocelots Pet Photo Contest. 7 Grants Program Update. 8 Grants in Action. 9 Winning a Seat at the Speaker’s Table. 10 30th Annual Employee Arts & Crafts Fair . 11 Elizabeth Ruth Wallace. 12 Opportunity Drawings. 13 Sub-adult male Adult female About the Ocelots. 14 Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 2
By Bill Kolb Head Ocelot Report Head Ocelot Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019 2018 was a very good year for the Ocelots. We had six interesting and informative dinner meetings, three at the Zoo and three at the Park, as well as a Special Event at the Birch Aquarium. The year was capped off with the December Holiday dinner in the ZPA tent with a great speaker, Nicholas Pilfold, talking about African leopards. Please refer to the article written by Laura Swauger on page 4 for all the details. At the end of 2018 several people retired from the Ocelots Steering Committee. Wes Potterton is the incoming treasurer this year, taking over from Marcia Schofield. Dee DeMoss and Charlene Krusas are the incoming Check-In Coordinators and will be taking over from Chris Campbell. Marcia and Chris have each given over ten years of dedicated and excellent service to the Steering Committee and the Ocelots organization. Other new Steering Committee members are Tabby Reed as Secretary, taking over from B. J. Phillips, and Alma Miller filling a new Steering Committee position as Grants Assistant. The other big news for 2018 of course is the great success of the Grants Program which funded a record number of grants and also awarded a record number of grant dollars. Please read the article by the Grants Coordinator Theresa Low on page 8 for all the details. The Steering Committee has been working hard to identify and schedule an interesting line up of speakers for 2019. Please refer to this year’s calendar on page 3 for the speakers’ names, topics, dates and scheduled locations. As mentioned before, there are three dinners scheduled for the Zoo and three for the Park in 2019. Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 3
Mark Your Calendars Zoo and Park
You won’t want to miss a single Ocelots event this year! Happenings
Feb 14: Eric Artzen—Cock of the Rock. ZPA April 6: Zoo Spring Events begin April 11: Tammy Batson—Grevy Zebra. Pet Photo Contest. ZPA at the Zoo June 6: Dean Gibson—Baboons. ZPA April 21: Zoo Spring Events end — Aug 8: Mindy Albright—Elephant Babies and the Herd. Photo Contest. Hunte Pavilion, Safari Park May 25: Summer Safari begins Oct 10: Matt Kinner—Vet Services CT Scanner. Hunte Pavilion, Safari Park at the Safari Park — Dec 12: Marcus Chischilly—Wounded Warrior Project. Hunte Pavilion, Safari Park June 13: Wild Niite Out at the Zoo June 15: R.I.T.Z. Please note that these dates, venues, speakers, and topics are tentative and are subject to change. There is construction scheduled for the Children's Zoo and our access to the Zoo Party Area (ZPA) may be affected. Our speakers are staff at the Zoo members of SDZG and their schedules may change necessitating a change in our programs. June 16: Nite Time Zoo begins at the Zoo — Aug 18: Summer Safari ends at the Safari Park Contact Us Contribute — The best way to reach a member of the Steering Committee is to use the following to the Oceletter! Sept 2: Nite Time Zoo ends e-mail at the Zoo address: [email protected]. We invite you to submit articles and photographs for Sept 21: Zoo Food Wine and the Oceletter. This e-mail account is monitored frequently, and questions can be routed to the Brew Celebration member of the Steering Committee who should handle them. All content should be — submitted electronically to the Dec 13: Jingle Bells begins The following people can be reached directly: Oceletter Editor, Paul Brooks, at the Zoo Bill Kolb–Head Ocelot (619) 955-5006 [email protected] at Theresa Low–Grants/Logo Wear (858) 391-8616 [email protected] [email protected]. Paul Brooks–Oceletter Editor (619) 889-9051 [email protected] Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 4 .. A Review of Our Last Dinner Meeting Three prehensile-tailed animal ambassadors greeted the members in attendance: the Virginia opossum, the South American tamandua (lesser anteater), and the Asian binterong. Kathy Morrison thanked outgoing Steering Committee members BJ Phillips (secretary), Marcia Schofield (treasurer), and Chris Campbell (check-in). Mark Stuart shared the news that San Diego Zoo Kids is now in 193 facilities across 38 states and eight countries. The program, made possible through the financial support of Denny Sanford, provides 40 hours of video on zoo animals and conservation to children in hospitals who can’t get out to visit their local zoo. Ollie Ryder explained his presentation from the World Zoo and Aquariums conference, “Designing the Destiny of Biological Diversity: Preparing for the Future of Preserving Species.” Spurred by the work of SDZG’s Frozen Zoo, the worldwide organization has passed a resolution recognizing the value of such a facility, and went on to state that all zoos should support an accelerated plan to protect the biodiversity of our planet by actively promoting the collection of samples from their collections. As an illustration of the value of such a program, Ollie explained that even though there are only two living northern white rhinos, the genetic diversity of the frozen cells is greater than that in the population of living southern white rhinos. Theresa Low announced the success of the Employee Arts and Crafts Fair, where each vendor provides an item for an opportunity drawing to benefit the Ocelots Grants Program. One Zoo veterinarian who has been learning to knit could not be there to set up a table, but donated enough items for five opportunity selections. After Theresa presented photos of some past grant items in use by Zoo animals, Jenny Kerch stepped up to announce that members can now make donations to the Grants Fund online at Sandiegozoo.org, using the dropdown item “Support Us” and then the Ocelots link. The feature presentation was titled “African Leopard: The Forgotten Big Cat.” Nicolas Pilfold works with large carnivores through the Population Sustainability Division of the Institute for Conservation Research, primarily with big cats and bears. Before delving into the main topic of his talk, Nick shared data on polar bears that was collected in part through Ocelots grants of an animal collar and helicopter time. Even though the Ocelots provided only partial financial support, that support inspired other donors to appreciate the value of the project that led to complete funding. Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 5
Cont. from previous page Leopards share their habitat with lions and cheetahs. Although similar in size and weight with cheetahs, that are daytime hunters, leopards are stockier and not as fast, and hunt primarily at night using stealth. Leopards are incredibly elusive, but as the most arboreal of the cats, are often seen resting in trees, where they also cache prey that is two to three times their body weight. Lions and cheetah have been studied enough that we know that their numbers in their natural habitats are declining, but with very little data the conservation status of leopards is unclear. The leopard's main competitors are lions and hyenas. Even though leopard cubs wean at three to four months, the mother cat may support their offspring for up to 35 months, but for shorter time if the impala population is larger. Even with that support less than 40% of offspring survive to independence. African animals face both direct and indirect threats to their survival. Direct threats include human/leopard conflict, indiscriminant killing (such as being caught in snares designed for hoofed animals), and poaching. Indirect threats include habitat loss and loss of prey species. Between 2008-2016 the largest range areas of Africa have dropped by 50%. Many of the people living in these range areas live a pastoral lifestyle, so their wealth is in livestock. Leopards that kill that livestock, often several in one attack, are affecting the humans’ livelihood. To determine how to protect the African leopard requires tracking and counting for accurate data collection, in Nick’s case within the 450 square kilometer Laikipia County in central Kenya. As a primary method to observe leopards in the field, Nick’s team has placed 60 camera traps for this data collection. The research is concentrated within a 45,000 hectares area, but each one of his 60 camera traps can cover only about 500 square meters, or about about three hectares total, which adds up to about 0.01% direct observation of that study area. The first step in collecting useful data is finding the best placement for the cameras. This requires looking for leopard scratch marks on trees from scent marking and tree climbing, and then placing cams at mid-knee to thigh height. The next step is to attract leopards to within viewing range of the cameras, which is done by mounting a scent-soaked carpet pad near the camera. Chanel #5 and Calvin Klein Obsession for Men have both proven effective for that job. Nail snags added to the carpet pads collect DNA from the observed leopards when they mark across that enticing scent. Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 6
Cont. from previous page Since each leopard has a unique spot pattern, flank views are useful in identifying individual leopards during data collection. Additionally, a rapid population assessment tool that provides genetic sequencing that plugs into the USB port of a computer will assist in population determination. The cost for the field equipment to collect the DNA samples and photos is about $5.00 per carpet snag and $200 per camera. Those pricey, yet effective scents are, of course, extra. There is still a lot of analysis to be done with the data that has been collected since this research started about one and one-half years ago. But the team is already seeing a change in attitude toward leopards by community members. Typically, when a young male leopard is discovered it is killed on the spot. But recently a call was made by a community representative to the Kenya Wildlife Service to report that a leopard that was alive but not moving had been discovered, and within three hours vets were on the scene. Although in this case the leopard could not be saved, it illustrates that the local people may have a beginning level of understanding of tolerance toward this big cat. Members can look for additional information and updates on Nick Pilfold’s research in the Zoonooz (both print and online) as will as on the Institute for Conservation Research’s website (https://institute.sandiegozoo.org/), and SDZG’s Facebook page. The evening closed with the opportunity basket drawings. Brenda and Jim Richmond, who had been the lucky winners of the drawing to sit at the speaker’s table for the December dinner, were equally lucky in winning the Visit-a-Job drawing.
Dinner Photos by Lonnie Kaufman Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 7
Ocelots Pet Photo Contest
We will be holding our 4th annual pet photo contest at our April dinner. The photo contest is just for photos of pets! Just like our other Photo Contest, all proceeds go to the Grants Program. Entry Instructions: 1. Photos of domestic animals or pets WILL HAPPILY BE ACCEPTED. 2. Photos should not be larger than 5 x 7 inch prints. 3. The entry fee is $10 per photo. There is no limit to the number of photos you can submit. 4. Please PRINT YOUR NAME on the back of each photo you submit. 5. Send your photos with payment no later than Wednesday, April 3, to: Marcia Schofield, .PO. Box 686, Solana Beach, CA 92075-0686. Checks should be made payable to ZSSD Ocelots. Contest Rules: 1. Photos will be displayed between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. at our April 11 dinner. 2. Each dinner guest will receive two voting tickets and will vote for their top two choices. 3. A prize will be awarded to each of the top three photographers receiving the highest number of votes. No more than one prize will be awarded per photographer.
4. Submit all questions to [email protected] Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 8
Grants Program Update By Theresa Low Grants Coordinator
Our Grants Program continues to grow! The 2018 “grants season” has officially come to a close and I’m excited to share what we accomplished.
- In 2018, 469 grant requests totaling just over $691,000 were received and set new records for both the number of requests as well as the total amount being requested.
- In 2017, 406 grant requests totaling just over $555,000 were received.
- In 2016, 337 grant requests totaling just over $431,000 were received.
With many thanks to you, Ocelots raised $81,723 for the Grants Program in 2018! This amount was combined with Mark Stuart’s generous 2 to 1 match and a very kind estate gift from the family of Elizabeth Ruth Wallace. For the first time, Ocelots awarded 50% of the grant requests across each of the three campuses, a more balanced distribution to the Institute for Conserva- tion Research (ICR), the Safari Park and the Zoo—totaling $345,090.
How does this positively impact San Diego Zoo Global (SDZG)?
- Animal welfare with enrichment items, medical devices, behavioral observation equipment, exhibit enhancement and maintenance, and weight scales.
- Plant care with tools for maximizing “home-grown” nutrition for our animal collection, guest education, and apprecia- tion for the beautiful grounds and exhibits.
- Conservation science here in San Diego county and around the globe in the field, lab, classroom, and community. In 2018 we were also able to provide grant awards to some areas of SDZG that had not previously benefitted from the Ocelots Grant Program. I look forward to sharing “Grants in Action” updates from grateful SDZG staff with you throughout the year.
Thank you for your passion for conservation and dedication to Ocelots. Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 9
Grants in Action
Primate Enrichment at the Zoo: There is always fun and excitement happening around the orangutan exhibit for both the primates and their guests! Here orangutans Karen and Aisha are investigating a “Looky Lou”— a tough, plastic molded frame with an attached mirror. It appears their animal care team has smeared something interesting over the mirror that the orangutans and possibly their exhibit mates, the siamangs, will manipulate BEFORE they discover a face looking back at them!
California Condor Recovery Program at the Safari Park: This is a beautiful Palo Verde tree that was purchased with a 2016 grant award. The Palo Verde will reach about 20 feet, can easily live over 100 years and thrives in the desert. Even the flowers can withstand temperatures reaching 100 degrees. The request was made to provide much needed shade in the condor breeding pen. The condor care team provided this photo when they shared their good news that the office furniture included in this year’s grants request listing had been purchased with other funds. The team is very grateful for Ocelots support over the years and wanted to remind us of the other wonderful grant requests for birds at the Safari Park. Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 10
Winning a Seat at the Speaker’s Table By Brenda Richmond
At the October 2018 Ocelots meeting at the Safari Park I was fortunate enough to win two tickets to sit at the speaker’s table for the December meeting! I was totally surprised.
What a thrill to be able to sit with the young scientist Nick Pilford. He is a Scientist in Population Sustainability for San Diego Zoo Global. I was interested in his work with Polar bears and African leopards, following my trips to the Northern Studies Center in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada and Namibia. He was very willing to share his knowledge of both. Despite the fact we did not see a leopard in Namibia; we were probably seen by a leopard!
Also at the table with Nick was his brother Matt visiting from Vancouver, Canada. Matt is also a scientist working in forestry in British Columbia. Nick’s girlfriend from Paris was seated with us also; they met after he responded to a science blog she writes.
The conversation around the table with these three young scientists and the other guests was lively and interesting. Ranging from Polar bears, African leopards, travel, wildfire and forest management in California and British Columbia, plankton, vacation stories, the convenience of Paris as a stopover in Europe and learning about our fellow Ocelots.
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our evening at the speaker’s table. Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 11
30th Annual Employee Arts & Crafts Fair
Thanks to everyone who visited the Zoo’s 30th Annual Employee Arts and Crafts Fair on 12/7/18 and supported our wonderful vendors and the opportunity drawing. You’re the engine that keeps us going! There was a combination of forces that put the impact of the 2018 Arts and Crafts Fair on another level. As always, the vendors were terrific and really showed off a variety of talents. We are so grateful for their generosity in donating items to the drawing in addition to their table fees.
I’m happy to report that this year’s proceeds broke precedent and was the highest in the Fair’s 30-year history! We wouldn’t be celebrating this without the wonderful support of the Ocelots who managed the opportunity drawing, and donated premium prizes as well. However, we have to take our hats off to Mo McGreevy and the Catering team for their contributions in making this the most economical event to date. We also thank the Operations team for allowing use of ZPA on an especially busy day and the Guest Ambassadors who helped at the gate.
In addition, when net proceeds from the Fair were transferred to the Ocelots for their grant program, we were thrilled to learn that this donation qualified for a 2 to 1 matching grant program. As a result, the Fair funded grant requests totaling almost $4,300!! Zoo departments that were awarded grants included: Veterinary Services, Animal Connections, Bird Department, Mammals/Africa Rocks, Mammals Elephant Odyssey/Mesa; Mammals Sun Bear Forest/Tigers; Primates; Reptiles; Horticulture; and a little bit of “Snow Day” for grizzly bears.
With much appreciation to all involved, Peggy Blessing and Erika DiVenti, Fair Co-Coordinators Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 12
Elizabeth Ruth Wallace
Elizabeth Ruth (Stadler) was born on April 23, 1924 in Taylor Creek, Washington. Her family moved to Alderwood Manor, Washington in 1928. She graduated from Edmonds High School in 1942. Between 1942 and 1949 she worked as a civilian employee for the United States Army in Seattle, Alaska, and Tokyo, Japan.
Shortly after her return to the states she met Bryan Walker Wallace and they were married on June 24, 1950 in San Francisco, California. They lived most of their married life in Mountain View, California.
Bryan was born on February 10, 1916 ten miles south of Connell, Washington. He graduated from Connell High School in 1934, moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. Bryan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree on June 10, 1939 and became board certified by the State of Washington within days.
In 1954 Elizabeth and Bryan opened their store, Bryan’s Drug on El Monte in Mountain View. For a short time they also had a drug store in Morgan Hill. Bryan’s Drug was sold in 1974. Bryan continued to work part-time as a pharmacist until his death in 1989.
Elizabeth worked in the drug store with Bryan. Just prior to Bryan’s passing she began working as a travel agent managing and owning several travel agencies in Santa Clara County. This allowed her to travel the world until her retirement in the late 1990s. She passed away on December 4, 2016 at her home on Marich Way in Mountain View, California. Visit our website http://www.sandiegozoo.org/society/ocelots.html Page 13
Opportunity Drawings
Visit the opportunity drawing tables before dinner – take a look and see what’s new!
*Karen Power has created three sweetly themed gift baskets specifically for February – Birds, Chocolates, and Valentine’s Tea.
Tickets are $5 each OR 5 tickets for $20
*Purchase a chance to win “Reserved Seating for Two at the Speaker’s Table” at April’s Dinner – Speaker Tammy Batson, Lead Keeper, and the Great Grevy’s (Zebra) Rally.
$10 for 1 ticket for two reserved seats
*COMING SOON! Ocelots logo merchandise and opportunities for you to sponsor a gift basket or special drawing!
Proceeds from the drawings benefit the Ocelots Grants Program supporting plant and animal care and conservation science. Please note we can only accept cash and checks, thank you.
Opportunity Drawing items from the December Dinner Meeting About the Ocelots
enjoy a special relationship with San Diego Zoo Global. While having fun at many educational dinners and other special events at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, Ocelots raise money to support the Ocelots Grants Program. Departments within the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research are eligible to apply for these grants.
the ocelot, pictured above, the ocelot, pictured above, Diego was purchased for the Dafyd lived at the San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo by the Ocelots in 2005. Safari Park in an enclosure funded by the Diego is a working member of the Ocelots in 2011. Education Department!