AZA Connect

1 month ago | aza.org | Kate Silver

Concerns about climate change and the environment are harming our collective mental health. A study by Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans believe climate change is harming people in this country, and 63 percent expect things to get more dire in their lifetime. Young people, in particular, are distressed about the climate emergency. And for many people, the constant barrage of doom and gloom makes matters worse. They want to act—not react.

1 month ago | aza.org | Alina Tugend

feature From SSPs to SAFE min read When the Association of Zoos and Aquariums moved some species out of the Species Survival Plan® program and into SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction, the goal was to improve collaboration between conservation programs focused on specific species and highlight the needs and achievements of those programs. “Switching to a SAFE program is now allowing us to connect with partners with the same vision and mission,” said Kyle McAuliffe, the recovery program...

2 months ago | aza.org | Kate Silver

feature Empowering People to Save Animals From Extinction min read LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Since launching the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction in 2015, it has become increasingly clear that there’s an extraordinary amount of work that must be done to educate, inspire, and motivate people to join in conservation efforts, both inside and outside of zoos and aquariums. In AZA institutions across the country, messages and actions around wildlife...

Jan 22, 2025 | aza.org | Kate Silver

feature Improving Elephant Care Through Education min read Last winter, Mercedes Vigil felt a little nervous as she traveled from her home in Albuquerque, N.M., to Leesburg, Va. For the next week, she’d be attending the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Principles of Elephant Management I classes. Although she’d been working at ABQ BioPark Zoo in Albuquerque, N.M., as an elephant keeper for a few years, this would be her first formal classroom training about elephants, and she knew there was...

Nov 27, 2024 | aza.org | Lauren Howard |Dipl ACZM

Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus Thirty-two Asian elephants and nine African elephants have died from elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) in North America, and more than 200 elephants have died from EEHV across 12 Asian elephant range countries. The individual losses are heartbreaking, and the impact on our elephant populations is not yet fully understood.