Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Kerston Swartz, Public Affairs and Advocacy Manager Today Woodland Park Zoo and our campaign partners announced Initiative 1401 , a citizens’ initiative to strengthen laws banning sales of endangered species products in Washington state. In November, the people of Washington will be able to vote YES on I-1401 , and significantly decrease our state’s contribution to the current unprecedented rate of tiger, elephant, rhino and lion poaching. Pangolin: Boniface Osujaki/ Tarangire Elephant Project , a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife. African elephant: Peter Steward via Flickr. Malayan tiger: Razak Abu Bakar via Flickr. Rhino: Jim Frost via Flickr. These wild animals don’t roam our state, but parts of them certainly make their way into the U.S. and to our region. Washingtonians will not spot a lion stalking its prey on the San Juan Islands or see a rhino charging the wheat fields of the Palouse, but we might have the opportunity to buy an ivory trinket in Tac...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor End the ivory trade before it ends elephants. To stop the slaughter of elephants, we must stop the trade. To stop the trade, we must end the demand. Watch this video to see what's at stake: Click to play video. It's time to raise your voice and let Washington state leaders know you pledge never to buy, sell or trade ivory, and you want a moratorium on ivory sales here. Add your name to the list of thousands speaking up for wild elephants. Then on August 12—World Elephant Day—we'll deliver your pledges to our state leaders to make a big impression. Thank you! Video produced by Rebecca Whitham, elephant photo courtesy of Mustafa Hassanali/Tarangire Elephant Project, music by Tchakare Kanyembe.

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications There are 96 words in this paragraph. Each one represents an African elephant killed today for its ivory. It’s a grim figure, but there’s hope. Thanks to your support, rangers are on the ground deterring poachers and protecting populations. Now the work must continue at home with you. We need state by state ivory moratoria to close the legal loopholes that conceal black market ivory in the U.S. Take the pledge to let the elected leaders of Washington state know we will not stand for being a loophole. Join the herd to make your voice heard. Take the Pledge To stop the killing of elephants, we must stop the ivory trade. To stop the trade, we must end the demand. I pledge never to buy, sell or trade ivory, and I support a moratorium on ivory products in Washington state. Why does my signature matter? The United States has one of the largest markets for ivory in the world with legal markets providing a front for illegal...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Like these? Blooming plants at Woodland Park Zoo. Photos by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo and Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo. Then we need these: Photos from top, clockwise: Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo; Flickr user jeffreyww under Creative Commons License ; Flickr user leshoward under Creative Commons License .  At Woodland Park Zoo, we’re abuzz, aflutter and atwitter about the big news coming from the White House: the announcement of a new federal strategy for protecting pollinators . With a focus on honeybees and other essential pollinators like native butterflies, birds and bats, the strategy establishes a task force and goals for population restoration, habitat protection and public education to stem the losses from this blooming crisis. The White House makes a case for the economic importance of pollinators, which “ contribute substantially to the economy of the United States and are vital to keeping fruit, nuts, and...

Posted by:  Kirsten Pisto, Communications, with Katie Ahl, Giraffe Keeper Photos by Stan Milkowski  Giraffe soak up the sun on the savanna at Woodland Park Zoo. World Giraffe Day, June 21, is just around the corner and we are excited to proclaim our love for giraffe alongside Giraffe Conservation Foundation’s (GCF) inaugural event for this amazing species. GCF would like to highlight the tallest and longest-necked animal on the longest day (or night, depending on which hemisphere you live in) of the year! By raising awareness and looking at the challenges giraffes face in the wild, we can all help secure the future for these amazing creatures. Let’s celebrate these graceful, gorgeous animals with a closer look at our own herd at Woodland Park Zoo. Giraffe keeper Katie Ahl gives us the lowdown (err, the high up?) on our four tallest residents. WPZ: Katie, how long have you been working with giraffe and what is your favorite part? Katie: I've been at Woodlan...

Posted by: Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers Photo by Jodi Shaw. It’s almost time for the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK) annual rhino conservation fundraiser, Bowling for Rhinos. But this year, the Puget Sound chapter of AAZK is going to try something a little different. We’ll be curling for rhinos! WHEN: Sat., June 7, 4:30 – 9:30 p.m. We will have two shifts for curling; 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (choose one or the other) WHERE: Granite Curling Club of Seattle , 1440 N 128th Street, Seattle, WA. COST: $20 just to eat/hang out (party only) and watch the fun or $30 to curl and eat (plus a small online registration fee) This is your opportunity to demonstrate your support for endangered rhinos and the worldwide effort to conserve endangered species. Please remember that when these animals are gone, it's forever; there is no bringing them back. You can help the Puget Sound AAZK achieve its goal of raising $13,...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications On this Endangered Species Day, we celebrate nature's latest gift to us—a critically endangered Indochinese box turtle baby, newly hatched before our eyes and thriving. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Our zookeepers put long hours into incubating eggs, maintaining a warm, safe environment for those about to hatch. When they are lucky, they get to see the big payoff happen before their eyes! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. This month, we were there to greet an Indochinese box turtle as it hatched into the world. Using its egg tooth (the pointy tip you can see best in the photo below), it broke through the shell when it was ready to hatch after 78 days of incubation. At only about an inch and a half in length, the little fella is too small for any of the exhibit spaces we have in the Day Exhibit, so for now, it’s being reared behind the scenes. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Zookeepers are especiall...

Posted by: Laura Lockard, Public Affairs After many weeks of deliberation and receiving public comments and testimony, Seattle City Council voted unanimously to place a Seattle Park District on the August 5th ballot. Your calls, emails and testimonies made this happen—and for this we offer a deep bow of thanks. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. What a park district means for Seattle In August, Seattleites will have the opportunity to vote YES to fund critical maintenance projects for Seattle’s parks and the zoo, including structural seismic and building upgrades to our exhibits, and infrastructure improvements that will move us closer to our sustainability goals. If voters approve this measure, the major backlog of maintenance, upkeep and operations of the 6,000 acres of city parklands, including the zoo, would no longer be neglected due to budget cuts and competition with the city’s other important services. A Seattle Park District would create a dedicated funding sou...

Posted by: Laura Lockard, Director of Public Affairs and Communications Friends, we need your help! We have an opportunity to clean up Puget Sound by making a major difference here at the zoo—using green technology to keep hippo waste from overflowing into local waterways. It’ll take the support of the state legislature to get us there, so we’re asking you to raise your voice and let Capital Budget Chairs, Rep. Hans Dunshee and Sen. Jim Honeyford and their committees know you support this effort! Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Here is what’s at stake: Woodland Park Zoo is asking the state legislature to help with our commitment to sustainability and resource management in the Puget Sound area by requesting state capital funding for our priority sustainability project: reducing water waste from the zoo's hippo pool in the African Savanna exhibit. With an approximately $2 million state investment, completion of the hippo pool project would accomplish the following:...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We’re on the lookout for the wetlands version of a needle in a haystack: small beads, clumped together in tiny masses, hanging to the sides of sticks and logs, submerged under dark, muddy water. But the dozen wader-wearing volunteers in Carkeek Park on a Saturday morning are up for the task.  A trained volunteer wades into the wetlands at Carkeek Park. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. These are citizen scientists and they have studied and practiced for this—the search for amphibian egg masses in our own parks and backyards. Amphibians once occupied pristine wetlands across the Pacific Northwest. But now their marshy homes often flow into or crash up against urban and developing areas. Amphibians are closer than we often realize, and our actions impact them deeply. The endangered Oregon spotted frog is one of eight species the citizen scientists are monitoring. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. With their ...

Posted by: Kate Neville, External Relations Save the date! Next Thursday, June 23, the Seattle Foundation is promoting GiveBIG , a communitywide day of online giving to local non-profits. On this day, gifts to Woodland Park Zoo made through the GiveBIG event will be stretched by the Seattle Foundation. This is especially exciting because every dollar will go towards our Campaign for More Wonder More Wild that will not only support our ongoing commitment to animal care, conservation and education, but also help us to build a new, naturalistic exhibit complex for tigers and Asian bears. Our community needs more wonder. Our world needs more wild. Here’s how you can help make that happen: 1) On June 23, from 7:00 a.m. to midnight, visit the zoo’s page on the Seattle Foundation website 2) Click the red DONATE NOW button and make a donation to the zoo through our Seattle Foundation page (this is the only way your gift will count towards the GiveBIG event) 3) Funds...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications We're listening! Looking at the year of blogging ahead of us, we want to make sure that we’re telling the stories that you care about and find useful. So we added two buttons at the bottom of each of our blog posts that let you give us easy feedback when you find something interesting and you want “ More like this ” or when something is informational and you “ Learned something new .” We’ll use that feedback to help drive what kind of content we post, so please click to let us know what you think on future posts. Of course, you are also always welcome to give us feedback in the comments section of each post, discuss a post with us and other fans on Facebook or Twitter , or shoot us an email . Tip: If you are reading our blog via feed or email subscription, you may have to view the blog post online to access the feedback buttons. Ear photos by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Posted by: Dr. Deborah Jensen, President and CEO Animals shouldn’t come in limited edition, yet dwindling wild populations have one fifth of the world’s vertebrates teetering on the edge of extinction. This fall, we launched our Limited Edition art campaign to draw attention to the plight of endangered species, what we’re doing to conserve them, and how you can help. The campaign started with billboards around town showing artist renditions of six of the endangered species Woodland Park Zoo is working to save: Panamanian golden frog ; western pond turtle ; African wild dog ; Sumatran tiger ; golden lion tamarin ; and red crowned crane . The six works of art, shown above, were designed by prominent Pacific Northwest artists Troy Gua, Natalie Oswald, Fumi Watanabe, Don Clark, Fiona McGuigan and Jesse LeDoux. The numbers scribbled in the left-hand corner of the billboards—evocative of limited edition artwork—represent the number of individuals of that species remaining in the wild: 1,10...