When Ron Magill came to work at the zoo over four decades ago, his focus was to help protect wildlife and wild places for future generations. That focus led him to creating the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment in hopes that it would serve as a conservation legacy for many years to come. The mission of the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment is to support organizations and programs dedicated to ensuring that wildlife can thrive in the wild environments where it is naturally found, while also investing in individuals committed to becoming future conservationists. To date, the endowment has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to these efforts and continues to provide tens of thousands of dollars annually, both locally and globally. This year, among many different grants, the endowment provided funding to Audubon Florida for the purchase of a new research van to support the Everglades Science Center as well as a new swamp buggy to support research at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples. A new vehicle was also purchased for Cheetah Outreach in South Africa to aid in cheetah research and rescue. In conjunction with Wildlife Rescue of Dade County, the endowment funded the installation of a nesting platform and high resolution cameras for a wild pair of bald eagles in Miami-Dade County. The Eagle Nest Cam has provided an intimate window into the world of these majestic raptors as they built their nest, laid eggs and raised their chicks while receiving international media attention. During the precedent-setting pandemic when fundraising was severely restricted, emergency funding was provided to organizations such as the Pan-American Conservation Association in Panama to assist in their rescue and rehabilitation of native tropical wildlife and to the Giant Anteater and Jaguar Conservation Programs in Brazil. In direct support of present and future conservationists, $5,000 “Ron Magill Conservation Scholarships” were awarded to a Conservation Teen Scientist at Zoo Miami as well as a graduate student at the University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Additionally, thousands of dollars in “Ron Magill Conservation Awards” were presented to field researchers through the Zoo Conservation Outreach Group and the Florida Association of Zoos and Aquariums working on conservation projects in Tropical America and the Caribbean.
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ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION
“Wildlife conservation is much more than simply protecting animals. It is about protecting the quality of life for humans as well. From the insects that pollinate the plants which provide us with our food, to the corals that help filter our oceans and protect our coastlines, to the rainforests that help produce the air that we breathe and the medicines that help cure our illnesses, the future of wildlife and wild places has a direct impact on the future for all of us. By conserving and protecting wildlife, we are indeed conserving and protecting ourselves.”
- Ron Magill
