Projects & Fellowships

ANIMAL Conservation and Education Projects

As a member, you receive more with your membership than unlimited zoo entry, wild benefits and activities. You also have the knowledge that by being a member you have helped fund directly the zoos' vital conservation and education projects.

The conservation projects you have funded are varied; they can be from new animal enclosures, animal enrichment equipment and Zoo Friends Fellowships.

Overall, since we began in 1983, the zoos have received over $13 million from Zoo Friends memberships.

Projects MADE POSSIBLE BY ZOO FRIENDS

The following are the Conservation projects your membership has funded in 2007:

• $400,000 towards our $500,000 committment to the Silvery Gibbon exhibit and ongoing conservation breeding program at Taronga Zoo.
• $8,000 towards a new chimp feeding platform at Taronga.
• $20,000 for staff from both zoos to attend the 2008 ARAZPA Conference which supports the Zoos in their conservation goals.

Examples of other conservation projects you have funded include:

• $400,000 to give the Australian birds a new rainforest aviary home at Taronga
• $75,000 to give the Wombats an exciting new home at Taronga.
• $250,000 for the wonderful creatures of the Wollemi Exhibit at Taronga
• $250,000 so the Bongo can have a new home at WPZ
• $100,000 for the Lion Exhibit Renovation at Taronga
• $100,000 for Walkthrough Kangaroo exhibit renovation at Taronga
• $80,000 at WPZ for the Siamang Exhibit
• $50,000 at WPZ for the Lemur Exhibit
• $16,667 for Animal Watch and Enrichment Program
• $10,000 for Mobile X-ray machine for WPZ
• $10,000 for Microscope for Veterinary Centre
• $2,000 for reproduction skulls for use on touch tables at Taronga and touch trailer at WPZ

ZOO FRIENDS FELLOWSHIPS

As a Zoo Friend, you can be very proud that you are a major supporter of the Zoos, particularly in relation to its conservation and education efforts.

The great aim of the Zoo Friends Fellowships is to provide financial assistance to zoo staff for specific study and research in their various specialised fields.

As a Zoo Friend you have helped zoo staff undertake projects linked to major ZPB programs, both within Australia and overseas.

Through the Fellowships, you have encouraged zoo staff to invest their skills and talent in the future of both Zoos, to the benefit of conservation and education.

2007 Fellowships have been awarded to:

• Keepers to conduct in-situ research and field survey into existing populations of the Corroboree Frog.
• A keeper to attend  an Elephant reproduction workshop
• A keeper to attend a Six week volunteer supervisor internship at the endangered primate rescue centre
• Keepers to work in-situ researching endangered rock wallabies
• Keepers to work in-situ researching the wild populations of Norfolk Island Green Parrot
• The development of a conservation and awareness DVD for Fijian schools and the ZPB
• A keeper to attend  an International Gorilla Conference
• A keeper to attend the 39th annual meeting of the Society for the study of reproduction and training
• A Keeper to work in-situ researching Parasite levels in free ranging Fijian Crested Iguanas
• Keepers to research Australian Native Nocturnal Houses
• Keepers to research Ungulates in open range Zoos
• A keeper to attend the 2nd International Zoo Keeping congress and
• A keeper to attend a animal seminar at John Shredd Aquarium
  

Examples of past Fellowships awarded include:

• The Taronga Aboriginal Education Officer to travel to various communities throughout NSW to research dreaming stories and gain approval from Indigenous elders to use the stories in presentations at Taronga Zoo
  
  “Gaining a Zoo Friends Fellowship means a lot to me personally as it gives me the opportunity to further develop my knowledge on Aboriginal culture. As a recipient of the scholarship I am ever grateful for the opportunity that Zoo Friends has given me to further develop my understanding of Aboriginal culture and share that knowledge for educational purposes.
  
  The Zoo Friends Fellowship will allow me to visit different Aboriginal communities and gather stories which will be used for workshops delivered at Backyard to Bush.”

• A keeper has to work in - situ with the Northern Hairy - Nosed Wombats (NHNW) Research.

  “There are less than one hundred Northern Hairy-nose Wombats left in one small population in Queensland.
  
  I tell this to visitors every day, and yet the sentence still goes around in my head like I am hearing it for the first time. How did the word 'extinct' so casually become a part of my every day vocabulary?
  
  Traveling to Epping Forrest National Park will be somewhat of a personal journey for me. This Fellowship will give me the opportunity to see this exceptional animal's habitat, and to experience and understand the challenges the dwindling population is facing. But most of all, I want to act, because I feel compelled to protect an important piece of Australia's rich and unique species diversity. Communication and sharing information between the organisations working with wombats is absolutely essential, and the contacts I am making on this trip are already proving to be invaluable to Backyard to Bush's own hairy-nose wombat Breeding Action Plan.”
  
  

• A keeper to attend the 7th International Conference of Environmental Enrichment in New York City, in August 2005. The conference being on "Unifying the Art and Science of Animal Enrichment".
  
  
• A keeper to attend the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust - summer School, Jersey, UK. Topics such as; conservation breeding techniques, Environmental enrichment, small population biology, education role of zoos will be covered.
  
  
• A keeper to work in Melbourne Museum invertebrates section.
  
  
• A Horticultural Technician to travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand, to provide technical assistance to the Zoological Parks Organisation and Chiang Mai night safari in horticulture and browse plantation for Koalas.
  
  
• Zoo Veterinary Nurses to attend a Veterinary Nurses Conference in April and various training courses, seminars and workshops throughout 2005.
  
  
• A keeper to attend an internship in Texas, USA in relation to Bird training and also a one week workshop on "Bird Training and Show Production for Professionals"

• Travel to Uganda to assist at the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre, the associated Nagamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary and in designing buildings and enclosures at the Mgatunga Gorilla National Park community.

• Travel to Zimbabwe to study the African Wild Dog.

• A review of the captive component of the Norfolk Island Green Parrot recovery program on Norfolk Island. This study was to establish the viability of bringing birds to Taronga Zoo as a major recovery effort to prevent the extinction of this critically endangered species.
  
  
• Field work in Western Australia with the Department of Conservation and Land Management to work on the release programs for Bilby, Spinifex Hopping Mouse, Malleefowl and Brush-tail Bettongs.
  
  
• Attendance at the International Embryo Transfer Society Conference and associated wildlife meeting in the United States.
  
  
• Study of wild Siamangs in Sumatra.
  
  
• Community-based awareness programs to protect native fauna living in the Terry Hills/Duffy's Forest area.
  
  
• The presentation of a paper on Taronga's Frog Focus Program at the South East Asian Zoos' Association Conference held in Vietnam.
  
  
• Rehabilitation and post release monitoring of the Eastern Snake Neck Turtle.
  
  
• Ongoing study of the Fijian Crested Iguanas as part of a major conservation project to protect these threatened animals.