Zoo raises more than $103,000 for conservation, one quarter at a time
And the winner is .... the orangutan.
The orangutan — whose habitat in Borneo and Sumatra is being devastated by the clearing of forests for exotic wood and palm oil plantations — was the top vote-getter in the second year of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Quarters for Conservation program. But it isn’t the only species to benefit from the program. Year two of Quarters for Conservation raised more than $103,000 for conservation efforts around the world, zoo officials announced Friday morning.
Here’s how the program works: The zoo contributes 25 cents from each admission — or $2.50 from each family membership — to wildlife conservation projects. Half of the money goes to longstanding programs to protect black-footed ferrets, Mexican gray wolves and other species. The other half goes to a half-dozen projects represented in a display in the zoo’s entry plaza; visitors receive a token to vote for their favorite program, thus determining the percentage of funding each gets.
“Every time you come to the zoo, you help save wildlife,” said Bob Chastain, zoo president and CEO.
In the past year, projects in addition to orangutans included amphibians in Panama, North American bats, native skipper butterflies in Colorado, Andean bears in Ecuador and African vultures.
The Quarters for Conservation program runs from May through April of the next year. As the program enters its third year, there are three holdovers plus three new projects for zoo visitors to vote on.
The returning projects include orangutans, African vultures — whose populations are declining because of powerline collisions and other problems — and amphibians in Panama. Frogs and salamanders are dying around the world from habitat loss, pollution and the spread of chytrid fungus. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is a founding partner of an international effort to preserve amphibian populations in eastern Panama.
The three new projects are:
• Amur leopards. Poaching and habitat destruction are pushing Amur leopards toward extinction.
• Snow leopards. Poaching for wildlife trade and killing by herders threaten their survival. The snow leopards was also featured in the first year of Quarters for Conservation, and was the top vote-getter that year.
• African penguins. Commercial fishing and oils spills threaten black-footed penguins and other South African coastal birds.
OTTER UPDATE
Kitchi the otter remains on the loose, more than a month since he slipped out of his enclosure at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.
The North American river otter escaped March 25. Otter tracks were discovered in a culvert behind the Cheyenne Meadows King Soopers on April 7. There have been no confirmed sightings or solid clues since, though one woman was fairly certain she saw the otter in a pond off of Fountain Creek, said zoo spokesman Sean Anglum.
“We still feel he’s out there, and he’s fine in the wild,” Anglum said.
People who spot the otter, or evidence of him such as fish remains or otter tracks, are asked not to approach the animal, but instead call the hot line at 648-7348.
