CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOO STEPS UP TO SAVE PANAMA’S ENDANGERED FROGS
-- The Zoo’s New Frog Rescue Exhibit Also Debuts --
May 8, 2009 - What does America’s mountain zoo, nestled in the Colorado Rocky Mountains at 6800 feet above sea level have to do with the rescue efforts to save frogs from extinction in the country of Panama?
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is responding to the worldwide amphibian crisis by partnering with some renowned national and international conservation leaders to make a difference for frogs that have not yet been killed by a creeping fungus that is encircling the globe and endangering the very existence of amphibians on the planet. To put it in its simplest form, amphibians worldwide are expiring at an alarming rate by the spread of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or the “chytrid” fungus. This amphibian crisis spurred the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) to name 2008 as the “Year of the Frog,” and now continues to challenge all AZA accredited Zoos and Aquariums to take a leadership role during the crisis and save at least one amphibian species.
A national media rollout for the Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project took place simultaneously on Monday morning May 11th at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo President and CEO Bob Chastain was in attendance at the national announcement event as the grand initiative was introduced to the nation’s top science writers and media science reporters. View webcast of Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project.
WHERE: Amazonia Science Gallery, Amazonia Exhibit at the National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC
WHEN: Monday, May 11 from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. SEE LIVE WEBCAST HERE
Answering the call, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is a founding member of this rescue project and has partnered with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Zoo New England, Houston Zoo, Africam Safari in Mexico, the Summit Municipal Park in Panama, Defenders of Wildlife and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) to establish an amphibian conservation center in Panama to house and facilitate research on 15-20 species that are greatly in jeopardy of being wiped out by the chytrid fungus.
While these species are being safe guarded in captivity, the project’s partners will focus on captive breeding to ensure species survival and will also be working on a chytrid cure with researchers from James Madison and Vanderbilt Universities. Ideally the project’s objective is to cure the fungus, prevent impending amphibian extinction and eventually reintroduce the species they are able to save back into the wild.
To this end, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is taking its expertise and reputation of putting conservation “on the ground’ into the Panama project. CMZoo is experienced in captive breeding of endangered species and releasing significant numbers of these respective species back into the wild. This expertise extends to successful release programs with highly endangered species such as Wyoming toads, Mexican gray wolves and once the most endangered mammal in North America, black-footed ferrets.
One example is the Zoo’s Wyoming toad breed and release program. The Wyoming toad is the only amphibian species known to be extinct in the wild in North America. In the 2008 breeding season, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was the only Zoo in North America that released toadlets and tadpoles into the wild. The successful results of the 2008 release trips encouraged Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and helped it gain more confidence in its in-situ conservation programs. The Zoo’s successful Wyoming toad program drew the attention of other participating institutions such as the Central Park Zoo, the Detroit Zoo and the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. This “on the ground” reputation has now inspired Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to work on the Panama Project with other much larger conservation organizations to do something for the planet’s endangered frog friends.
So our local Zoo from Colorado Springs is now a major player among the big conservation giants as the Project’s partners bond together to plunge into the remote jungles of Panama and make a difference for the world. As Cheyenne Mountain Zoo President /CEO Bob Chastain states, “this project shows that everyone can make a difference and even our community zoo in the mountains of Colorado can make an impact on something as colossal as the global amphibian crisis.” A crisis that will have worldwide repercussions, even in the mountains of Colorado.
