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April 2012
Turtles in Trouble
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Register
WCS Run for the Wild
Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
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Attention, runners and walkers: There's still time to register for the WCS Run for the Wild at the Bronx Zoo on April 28! Last year's event sold out, so sign up now to guarantee your place at the starting line. Then, get a jump on raising funds for lions – all adult participants are required to raise at least $30.
Your registration includes:
• Free all-day access to the Bronx Zoo for all participants;
• Staggered starts for runners and walkers/families;
• Free t-shirt for participating children; and
• A host of great prizes for fundraisers of all levels, including a t-shirt, a soft plush lion, water bottle, gift cards, a gym bag, and an animal experience with a zoo resident.
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Staff Pick
Turtle Species Get New York Rescue
Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
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An article in the Wall Street Journal profiles WCS's efforts to rescue freshwater turtle and tortoise species on the brink of extinction. WCS recently began breeding four endangered turtle species, including the golden coin turtle shown here, at its wildlife parks in New York City. Eventually, the plan is to reintroduce some species to the wild and develop assurance colonies for others. WCS conservationists are also working in the turtles' native habitats to protect their wild kin.
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Spotted on Facebook
Expedition Galápagos
©WCS
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Our timeline is here! Check out photos and milestones from the archive, all the way back to our founding in 1895. Here's a sample: William Beebe, Curator of Birds at the New York Zoological Society (later renamed Wildlife Conservation Society), takes a beachside break during his 1925 expedition to the Galápagos Islands.
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Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
Turtles on the Brink
Turtles are in serious trouble. Though they have survived for about 220 million years and once roamed the Earth with the dinosaurs, half of all turtle and tortoise species are now threatened with extinction. Populations are shrinking nearly everywhere. No other vertebrate group – neither birds, nor mammals, amphibians, or sharks – are more endangered.
WCS is launching a global effort to save more than a dozen of the most imperiled freshwater turtle and tortoise species through its New York Zoos and Aquarium, and Global Health and Global Conservation Programs. But without your voice, many of these amazing survivors could vanish forever.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife Without Borders program manages the Critically Endangered Animals Conservation Fund, which supports projects by WCS and others to save turtles and tortoises around the world. Please tell your members of Congress that it's time to act now, by fully funding this vital program.
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Saving Wildlife
Wild Haven of Cambodia
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Luke Groskin ©WCS
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Birdwatchers from across Asia and beyond flock to Cambodia's forests for a glimpse of two of the world's rarest birds: the giant ibis and its cousin, the white-shouldered ibis.
Each year, the birders follow the birds to their nesting grounds at the outskirts of Tmatboey, a rural Cambodian village some 200 miles north of Phnom Penh.
Under the protection of the Tmatboey villagers, the ibises breed, nest, and raise their chicks. In return for their contribution to the birds' conservation, WCS worked with the community to develop an eco-tourism project. This partnership has helped bring the village a new perspective on their sacred forest.
Travel to Tmatboey for a glimpse of the ibises in this remarkable video, an official selection of the 2012 International Wildlife Film Festival.
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Photo of the Month
Good News for Guatemala
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Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
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WCS and partners have signed an agreement with the Guatemalan government to protect 80,000 acres of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, home to rare cats like this one.
The agreement increases enforcement to stop poaching of jaguars, ocelots, peccaries, scarlet macaws, and other endangered wildlife. It will also provide education, health, economic development, and fire prevention measures for local people.
In the past few decades, the reserve has faced growing threats from human activities, including illegal logging, slash and burn agriculture, and ranching in protected areas.
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