Wild Conservation – A Houston Zoo Blog

On Saturday and Sunday, November 5-6, 2011, come and join us at the Houston Zoo, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days.  We’ll  be hosting Lion Fun Days at the same time as the events described in our blog post below will take place in Mozambique!! 

For Lion Fun Days at the Zoo, enjoy numerous keeper chats, craft stations, and games.  Items will be sold to raise money for the Niassa Carnivore Project.  Please plan on visiting the Zoo on the first weekend in November to learn about how you can help the African lion. 

My name is Angie Pyle, and I am a Carnivore keeper at the Houston Zoo.  My favorite animal is the African Lion.  Unfortunately African Lion populations are dropping at a devastating rate.  During the 1950’s there were an estimated 500,000 Lions in Africa.  Today they estimate 20-30,000 Lions in all of Africa. 

Dr. Begg and some local villagers

 
After hearing that one of the Houston Zoo’s fall lecture series speakers was going to be Dr. Colleen Begg (researcher and conservationist for African carnivores), I began to research the Niassa Carnivore Project.  The Niassa Carnivore Project has been working since 2003 exclusively in the Niassa Reserve.  Researchers have been tracking animals, vaccinating animals, educating the locals, and working with the locals on how to safely live with Lions.    One of the methods for community outreach and education that the project was involved with was “Lion fun days.”  The entire Niassa Carnivore project team got together and came up with activities, games, and puzzles for the children of Mbamba, Mozambique to take part in.  The idea is to teach the children about the importance of Carnivores in their ecosystem through fun and engaging activities.  The children painted animal masks, ran relay races, acted out plays,  just to name a few of the activities.  They also participated in a special eco-system tug of war. ”The majority of people in Niassa believe their lives would be better without lions, elephants and leopards. We wanted to spark some thoughts on what the consequences might be if these animals were all to disappear from Niassa. Would it matter if all the lions or elephants were gone? We divided the children into two teams for a ‘tug of war” using our tow rope with each child representing different elements of the ecosystem – lions, leopards, elephants, honey badgers, eagles, bees, trees, grass flowers, fish, sunlight, rain etc. One side was the reserve and the other an unprotected area. Initially the tug of war was equal but as more and more elements disappeared, some connected to each other resulting in a cascade of effects, the unprotected team started to fall apart while the Reserve team was still strong and pulling together. ” At the end of the day the children bring home solid conservation messages to their parents from these activities and crafts. 

We organized a “Lion fun day” here at the Houston Zoo on November 3rd – 4th and was a great success.  I thought it would be great to have Lion fun days at the Zoo in conjunction with Mozambique’s.  We could teach the same principles, and let American and Mozambique children know that children around the world are learning about their role in conservation. 
After discussing the idea with the Houston Zoo’s Conservation department, we set our sights even higher and decided to include the Velasquez Elementary School on the project.  Children from the Velasquez Elementary School raise money annually for cat conservation.  Last year the school donated $1,000 to the Houston Zoo’s conservation department for Small Cat conservation, focusing on Ocelots.  This year the school donated $1,000 to be given to the Niassa Carnivore Project.  As a reward for the classroom that raised the most money, we invited 18 kids from Velasquez to the Zoo on March 22, 2011. 

Kids coloring lion masks infront of lion exhibit

The children participated in a condensed version of Lion fun days, we tried to duplicate a few of the activities they do in Mozambique.  The children colored lion masks, played a special eco-system game of tug of war, made hand prints next to their take home Lion paw prints, and all the while learned about African Lions.  At the end of the activities the children got their class picture taken in front of our Lions at the training window.

Kids playing eco-system tug of war

Later on this fall when Colleen Begg visits the Zoo for her lecture, she will be taking some of the pictures and film we took of the Velasquez elementary children engaged in their Lion Fun day activities back with her to Mozambique.  The children in Mozambique will be delighted to see that kids in Houston are participating in the same activities as them.  We hope to create a partnership/connection between the Houston Zoo and the villages of Mozambique.  Maybe together we can make a difference in the future of Lions. 

By Angie Pyle

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