My first heroes were animal people.  When I went to zoos my heroes were the zoo keepers and when I watched animal documentaries the researchers were my heroes.  We all need amazing people to inspire us and that is why the new book Wildlife Heroes is so wonderful. 

The book includes 40 people overcoming impossible odds to save endangered species all over the world.  If you are looking for real heroes for your children to look up to look now further! 

The unique stories in this book of local communities becoming involved in anti-poaching, education and research efforts for wildlife in their own back yard are immeasurably inspiring!  In one story a young boy, Thia grew up in Northern Vietnam watching his village hunt the very species he fights to save today.  His passion to help a unique species called the pangolin will warm your heart!
 
I have had the honor of meeting many of the heroes in this book (including the authors) over the years and they inspire me to move forward in my own wildlife conservation work.  These are real people making a real difference! 

This book introduces readers to pollinator and amphibian decline and other environment issues that continue to threaten our world.  But it also offers great messages of hope.  In the last chapter Jack Hannah suggests ways the reader can help, and the good news is that by purchasing the Wildlife Heroes book you are already helping- 100 % of the proceeds go to the projects featured in the book.  A win for everyone!

Hope to see you at the Houston Zoo for our Wildlife Heroes weekend May 19th and 20th!

In the summer of 2009, he led a University study team through countless rural communities in Rwanda working with 40 different sector veterinarians to visit over 450 families in Rwanda. The families that were visited had received cows from the Rwandan government in an effort to combat childhood malnutrition. In the “One Cow Per Poor Family” program, the cow is to provide milk and fertilizer in an attempt to increase the overall plane of nutrition for rural poor families in Rwanda. The concern is that the families were not experienced with animal husbandry and the project was designed identify areas of education that would help the families to better care for their livestock. The project was successful and Methode was recognized for his achievements.

Methode’s trip to the US is sponsored by Step One Foundation from Houston whose goal is to develop models for technology on farms that will improve animal welfare, farm productivity, and address environmental issues. This is Methode’s first trip to the US.

Not only did the Houston Aeros win 5 of those 6 home games, they also assisted the Houston Zoo in our most successful recycled cell phone collection drive ever! Just for general reference, the zoo collected nearly 1,200 phones in 2011. During the week of March 10-18 of this year – the Houston Aeros collected 758 phones before their games at the Toyota Center!

Looks like someone just recycled Edward from Twilight. Score one for Team Jacob

Help Wildlife in the Congo:

Cell phones have become a permanent fixture in our everyday lives. It’s one of the first things you look at in the morning, and the last thing you look at before sleeping. They keep us connected and help us in almost everything we do, but have you ever wondered about their impact on the environment?  

 Columbite-tantalite, or Coltan for short, is an essential element in the production of cell  phones,laptops, and many other electrical devices. This element is mined in the Congo, rapidly depleting the habitat of endangered gorillas and elephants.

In fact, eighty percent of the world’s known Coltan supply is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But fear not! There is something you can do to help. With technology constantly evolving, it is estimated that there may be around 500 million unused cell phones floating around the United States alone, with as many as 100 million added each year. Bring those outdated cellular devices to the Aeros game on Sunday, March 18 for Conservation Night and participate in our Cell Phone Recycling Program! Find the Houston Zoo table, turn in your old cell phone, and you will receive four tickets to the Aeros game on Sunday, April 15 and a kid’s pass to the Zoo!

Parts of your old devices can be reused to reduce the amount of Coltan that is mined in the Congo, preserving what is left of the depleted habitat of these amazing animals as well as reducing waste that ends up in landfills. You can also recycle old cell phones year-round by dropping them in our Cell Phone Recycling Bins at the front entrance of the Zoo! Not only will you be relieving yourself of some extra clutter, but the proceeds from all devices collected benefit the Houston Zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Fund. So come out and see us at the Aeros game on Sunday, March 18! We’ll see you there!

Have you ever asked yourself: What are all these broken cell phones doing in the  drawer?  And then your “other” voice says:  They are not really in the way, I’ll throw them out later.

I had a friend bring me a bag of 6 phones and chargers last week. They were in a box in his garage for 2 years. 6 phones? There are 2 people in his family! We cannot keep up with the cell phone revolution and our landfills should not have to either. To make matters worse, every phone not recovered and recycled is equal to minerals and resources coming directly out of the African Congo. Everyone says – “What can we do?”. Here is what you can do and it really makes a difference.

Bring your cell phone to the zoo for recycling and help save wildlfe, and people, in Africa. Civil wars and rebel groups thrive on the illegal trade in the resources which make our phones,  laptops, digital cameras, and video games run. There is a mineral in our phones called coltan and it acts as a capacitor in your phone. Armed groups in eastern Congo that control minerals, mines and trading routes generate an estimated $180 million each year by trading four main minerals: tin, tantalum (colton), tungsten, and gold.

And with these groups comes habitat destruction, illegal poaching and bushmeat, as well as the loss of human life due to the civil unrest. Something as simple as a cell phone has created a power struggle over resources. By recycling that resource so that it can be refurbished and re-used, we cut down on the amount of product imported, and hopefully slow down the trade.

Want to start a company wide collection program? Schools, Scout troops? Wildlife can use everyone’s help. Contact conservation@houstonzoo.org for more information.

Greetings. Valerie here.
Art of Conservation’s students are now more comfortable looking at maps and locating the country of Rwanda as well as the precise locations of the endangered mountain gorilla habitat!

With a colored pencil, Olive locates Rwanda and colors it in. Following Rwanda, Olive locates the East African Community country members which includes Rwanda: Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.

I begin our geography lesson with Planet Earth. Children discover the compasses on maps and globes representing north, south, east, and west. They locate and say over and over the names of the seven continents. I ask the kids what surrounds the continents… AMAZI they respond, which is water in Kinyarwanda. Earth is a water planet with its surface consisting of approximately 70% water. Together we locate the equator on the various maps now on the classroom walls and worksheets. Students learn that Rwanda is located 2 degrees south of the equator in the southern hemisphere.

A FEW WORLD FACTS
Although the source of the Nile River is and maybe always will be argued upon, we know it takes its source in or near Rwanda. Flowing from Central Africa it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Children color in the Mediterranean Sea on their worksheets with their colored pencils.

What’s the highest mountain in Africa? Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. What’s the biggest desert in the world? The Sahara. More coloring in on their worksheets.

I pass out visuals of the Nile River, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the Sahara Desert.

My big challenge is to teach the kids about the difference between the Democratic Republic of Congo and its capital Kinshasa with the ‘other’ Congo and its capital Brazzaville. That’s going to take some time to master!

This student is busy locating Mali, one of the many countries where the Sahara Desert is located.

I started BIG with a look at the world, then to the continent of Africa, and to end our lesson we study a map showing the endangered mountain gorilla habitat- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Virunga Massif. I want the children to realize that they live in a unique and important place in the world along side a rare animal species. With a better concept of this, they will gain a better understanding of why flocks of tourists travel here to climb the volcanoes day after day and what effects, both positive and negative, it has upon them.

Our students loved this lesson and now they can locate their place where they live on the globe.

Thanks Valerie and Art of Conservation for all their great work at the foothills of the Virunga Mountains, home to half of the world’s Mountain Gorilla population.

The World Conservation Union recently posted an article debating the issue. As the battle between poachers and park rangers escalates, what’s needed to protect the people who put their lives on the line for nature?

The article opens: Two AK-47 rifles and 30 rounds of ammunition; one ranger shot in the shoulder; three suspected poachers and five elephants killed: just another day for the Kenya Wildlife Service, in a nation where more rangers have been killed since the beginning of 2011 than in the same period of any other year. Further west, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at least 12 rangers are murdered each year protecting gorillas, reflecting a worrying increasing global trend in ranger deaths.

True conservation heroes continue to fight, and die, for the survival of their native wildlife. This is an open debate with comments welcome. Read the article and comment if you like : http://www.iucn.org/knowledge/publications_doc/world_conservation_debate/?7206

Turn in your cell phone at the Houston Zoo table by customer service in the Toyota Center on March 11th and receive 4 free tickets to the Houston Aeros/San Antonio Rampage game on March 19th and 1 free children’s admission to the Houston Zoo.

Booming chickens on prairies and adventures to find bear hair in the Big Thicket. Leech infested forests? Monsoons? Leg swallowing mud and Sea Gull poo? Wild Orangutans that use bridges and toads with implants.  Confused? Don’t be. Join us and interact with local and global conservation on our new Houston Zoo Conservation Facebook page. Keep up with the conservation department and our partners in the field, and don’t forget to comment along the way!

Link here and follow along: http://www.facebook.com/#!/houstonzooconservation

Here is a 3 minute video you should watch – come on, it’s only 3 minutes:Rwanda Schoolchildren speak about Art of Conservation

Rushubi Primary School, Rwanda

The new school year has just begun this month for both the Art of Conservation and schoolchildren in Rwanda. The Art of Conservation is not part of the regional curriculum but teaches one additional class every afternoon to two selected group of 50 students studying at Rushubi Primary School (5th grade) and one group of 50 students at Nyabistinde Primary School.

Innocent from AoC teaching students at Rushubi Primary School

Rushubi Primary School, Rwanda