Conservation Partners

Help save animals just by coming to the Zoo!

By purchasing a Zoo admission ticket and making donations, you are helping us help animals, both at the Zoo and in the wild. Conservation partnerships are essential for the implementation of species/habitat projects both in-situ (in native habitat) and ex-situ (outside native habitat i.e. in human care). Ex-situ conservation helps maintain biological diversity outside a species’ natural habitat. Through the careful management of targeted animal breeding, the genetic diversity of at-risk species can be maintained. In-situ conservation of ecosystems and species in their natural habitats as well as the maintenance and recovery of viable populations is the ultimate outcome of conservation. Efforts toward this end are the most important driver for conservation activities.

Niabi Zoo is always working to expand its participation with both ex-situ and in-situ efforts locally and abroad. Partnerships are an active working relationship to achieve conservation goals between the partners. Conservation partnerships are established based on factors such as the alignment with the overarching conservation goal of protecting biodiversity along with projects with which we are committed. Therefore, your support of Niabi Zoo supports the protection of animals and where they live.

Please scroll down to learn more about each of our conservation partners. If you have more questions about any of our partners, click the Learn More button after each section or email our team.

Save Snow Leopards with Snow Leopard Trust

As one of the charismatic species featured at Niabi Zoo, the story of the Snow Leopard has as much to do with education as it does conservation. The global population of this vulnerable species is estimated between 2,500 – 10,000 mature individuals. While poaching appears to have declined since the late 1990s, it is estimated that 221-450 Snow Leopards are still poached annually since 2008.

Niabi Zoo supports the Snow Leopard Trust which studies and tracks snow leopards in the wild and educates local people on how to live with and help snow leopards. In addition to funds raised through Coins for Conservation, consignment items from Snow Leopard Enterprises are sold in the Zoo’s gift shop to support the Livestock Insurance Program which compensates herders if a snow leopard takes one of their livestock, thus preventing retribution killings of snow leopards.

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Protect Painted Dogs with Painted Dog Research Trust

With field research as its guiding tool, PDRT is dedicated to the conservation of the endangered African Painted Dog. Research has been ongoing since 1989 by founder Dr. Greg Rasmussen, making his one of the longest studies of Lycaon pictus. Painted Dog Research Trust (PDRT) continues to construct a Conservation Ecology Center at their research site just outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The staff of PDRT has worked to establish an educational presence in their local area up to 20 km from their site. This has included bringing students from extension schools to the Conservation Ecology Center for on-site learning as well as sending an educator to local schools within 10 km for education outreach.

Niabi Zoo has provided the expertise required to advise PDRT staff in the development of an education strategic plan and materials needed to implement educational programming. This has had a direct impact on the conservation of the Painted Dog around the communities in which they live. Niabi also developed a new website for PDRT to help communicate their conservation efforts around the world.

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Support Whale Shark Research with Ch’ooj Ajauil (Blue Kingdom)

Just off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, north east of Isla Mujeres, gathers the largest aggregation of whale sharks in the world. Since 2002, Rafael de la Parra and his organization Ch’ooj Ajauil has led and coordinated whale shark research in the Mexican Caribbean. He and his team have tagged over 900 whale sharks, biopsied more than 200 whale sharks, published over 34 papers on whale sharks, and submitted over 5,800 encounters to the International Whale Shark Library. Yet, this has barely scratched the surface in understanding and protecting the world’s largest endangered fish.

In order to gather information on the whale shark population and habitat, brand new technology involving “real time” satellite telemetry and behavior tags is being employed. The production and implementation of this technology can be costly but the high return of data substantiates its value. These methods are being used to estimate the ecological behavior of whale sharks while analyzing the impact of tourism so as to improve the conservation practices for the species. Local, regional, and tour-based education programs are also needed to protect whale sharks. Niabi Zoo can contribute to greater understanding of the whale shark and the preservation of the unique marine habitat in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

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