Zoo Staff Conservation & Research Projects

Zoo staff participate in wildlife conservation and research projects locally, regionally and internationally.

Travel restrictions in 2020 affected planned staff participation in field projects. With support from the Zoological Society, zookeepers were able to travel to continue conservation projects for rock iguanas in the first quarter.

Later planned fieldwork had to be postponed or cancelled; approved projects focused on snakes, turtles, migratory birds, black bears and brown hyenas. Featured 2020 activities:

Jamaica Rock Iguana

ROCK IGUANA CONSERVATION

For 25 years, the Zoo and the Zoological Society have supported field conservation of iguanas in the Caribbean. This continued in 2020, when zookeepers participated in field surveys on Grand Cayman and Jamaica as part of recovery programs.

Jamaica iguanas were once believed extinct, and remain critically endangered, due to habitat loss and introduced predators. The Jamaica Iguana Recovery Program conducts nest monitoring, predator exclusion from protected nesting areas and head-starting hatchlings at Jamaica’s Hope Zoo. This year, a MCZ keeper participated in health checks for approximately 100 iguanas prior to their release, and spent time working with staff at the head-start facility.

Grand Cayman blue iguana populations have rebounded due to conservation interventions, but they remain endangered. This year, a MCZ keeper returned to Grand Cayman to spend time assisting at the head-start facility and conducting field surveys to estimate iguana populations of a protected area.

2006

Renovation of Giraffe Exhibit to Giraffe Experience

PAT GIVES BACK (PGB)

This keeper-driven program supports wildlife conservation, primarily in Belize. It includes Zoo-supported staff involvement in and support of in situ conservation and research, annual training workshops for Belize Zoo staff (home of the Jaguar Rehabilitation Program, former home of MCZ jaguar Pat the Cat), and public education about Belizean wildlife. In 2020, support for PGB came from private donors and “Round Up for Conservation.”

In January, MCZ staff again travelled to Belize. This trip included the fourth workshop for Belize Zoo staff and meetings with new conservation partner, Ya’axche Conservation Trust. Through this partnership, PGB is funding the salary of a conflict mitigation officer to reduce negative interactions between humans and jaguars in Belize.

This trip also brought 20 docents from MCZ and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to Belize. Participants visited the organizations that are funded by PGB, met a local farmer involved in the conflict mitigation program, and visited the Belize Zoo to meet keepers who cared for Pat the Cat before he came to Milwaukee. After January, all 2020 PGB programs were halted, postponing some scheduled field work for future trips.

2012