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News Release
| For Immediate Release |
Fort Worth Zoo honored with North American Conservation Award
Zoos across the nation providing toads second chance for survival
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The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) honored the nationally ranked Fort Worth Zoo with the North American Conservation award for the institution's ongoing work with the Puerto Rican crested toad this week at the AZA's 80th Annual Conference.
The award highlights the exemplary partnerships of more than 20 zoos that have successfully worked together to captively breed and then reintroduce the Puerto Rican crested toads to their native habitat, where less than 300 toads are known to exist. In 2003, the Puerto Rican Crested Toad Species Survival Plan (SSP) confirmed that adult toads, released in Puerto Rico over the past 10 years as tadpoles, have returned to constructed ponds to successfully reproduce for the first time.
The zoos, through the SSP, contribute to the protection of existing populations, the restoration of habitat, the construction of additional ponds to receive captive bred tadpoles, a scientifically managed captive population as a hedge against extinction, island-wide education and the resources to deliver education programming, training and transfer of skills and equipment to Puerto Rican partners, and funds scientific field research on genetics and habitat use.
The 23 AZA accredited zoos and aquariums that participate in the Puerto Rican Crested Toad SSP are: The Audubon Zoo, The Baltimore Zoo, Buffalo Zoological Gardens, Central Florida Zoological Park, Central Park Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Detroit Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Granby Zoo, Louisville Zoological Garden, Lowry Park Zoo, Miami MetroZoo, Milwaukee County Zoological Gardens, Oklahoma City Zoo, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, Saint Louis Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens, Sedgwick County Zoo, Toledo Zoo, Toronto Zoo and The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center.
The AZA presents the North American Conservation Award each year to recognize outstanding dedication to conservation issues and development of natural resources. The Fort Worth Zoo received the International Conservation Award in 2000 for its on-going conservation work with the highly endangered Jamaican iguana.
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For Further Information Contact:
Lyndsay Nantz, Communications Director, 817/759-7362
Tracy Sturrock, Communications Manager, 817/759-7360
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