EMERGENCY FUNDS IN ACTION The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium supported actions addressing immediate threats to wildlife by providing emergency grant funds to the following six projects: • Both the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the Zoological Association of America (ZAA) to support zoos in Ukraine • The Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP) to help replace a boat engine used for manatee monitoring efforts • The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) to provide assistance during the avian influenza outbreak and to help with the rescue of African penguin chicks • Cheetah Conservation Initiative to purchase tracking collars for African painted dogs as a part of a country-wide census in Senegal
POLLINATOR HABITAT TAKING FLIGHT
Guests arriving in the Columbus Zoo’s parking lot were immediately greeted by the sights of conservation in action. More than 11 acres at the Zoo and Safari Golf Club are being converted to pollinator habitats! The majority of this land is on the tall hills in front of the zoo along Powell Road. In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, our Grounds team has been working hard to prepare and seed the area with prairie grasses and wildflowers native to this area in Ohio.
Add to that 500 sq. feet in three small pollinator habitats at Zoombezi Bay, the butterfly waystation at Safari Golf Club, and much of the hundreds of acres of restored habitat at The Wilds—including the 12-acre Butterfly Trail—and you can see that we take helping pollinators very seriously. Pollinators carry pollen from flower to flower, which is necessary for plant reproduction. Not only can you thank the pollinators for crops and wildflowers, you can also thank them for fighting climate change due to their ability to store carbon from the air in their roots,
woody stems, and soil around them. Unfortunately, some pollinators are threatened with extinction, including the monarch butterfly, which was recently listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species™. Since different pollinator species arrive at different times of the year, the plant species also flower at different times of the year. Guests visiting us throughout the year can look forward to the lush colorful patches of habitat while also knowing we are doing our part to help protect important species.
PLASTIC FREE ECOCHALLENGE To continue our leadership in sustainability efforts, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium coordinated the international Plastic Free Ecochallenge initiative in July. Some our biggest successes include:
35,761 PLASTIC BOTTLES
18,276 STRAWS
73,181 PLASTIC CONTAINERS
PREVENTED FROM GOING TO THE LANDFILL
XX | 2022 IMPACT REPORT PAGE 9 | 2022 Impact Report
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online