WCS Annual Report 2012 - Wildlife Conservation Society

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wildlife conservation society Annual Report 2012
[ right ] WCS Washington
Office Director Kelly Keenan
Aylward joins U.S. Rep. José
Serrano as he is recognized
for supporting restoration
of the Bronx River.
Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation and
Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies,
Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and our Community
Access Program (CAP). Our local efforts
have gained the respect of community leaders,
created a political support system and raised
WCS’s profile among Bronx and Brooklyn officials.
Last spring, more than 110 community
organizations sent letters to City Hall urging
full restoration of City operating support to the
Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium.
Driving the Issues
Over the past decade, WCS has increasingly
engaged in the policymaking arena to further
its mission. Through our wealth of science and
expertise on biodiversity, wildlife health, animal
husbandry, and science education issues, WCS has
become a respected authority among policymakers.
In Washington, we have been working to
protect ecologically important areas of NPR-A
from drilling and to renew the Multinational
Species Funds Semipostal Stamp Act of 2010.
More recently, WCS has been working with the
U.S. Department of State and other NGOs to
raise awareness about wildlife trafficking. In
Congress, partisan gridlock has paralyzed even
the most benign federal legislation, prompting
WCS to reach across both sides of the aisle to
advocate for bipartisan causes such as the Vote
Bison campaign to designate the American
bison as the National Mammal.
In Brussels, WCS has received accreditation
from key European institutions to provide formal
input into the policymaking process and has
started to establish important policy linkages
with the European Commission and Parliament.
As a result, WCS is now regularly invited by the
European Commission to give its views on all
major issues relating to conservation. In November,
WCS met with the European Commission
and contributed its views on CITES (Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora). Most recently, the
European Commission development department
invited WCS to contribute to a new strategy for
protected areas in Central Africa. WCS has also
been reaching out to European Parliamentarians
on several issues, including a call for total cessation
of shark finning in the EU, which the European
Parliament endorsed in its latest report.
Beyond the United States and Europe, WCS
continues to advance its priorities among a
select group of bilateral and multilateral entities
and recently received significant foundation
support for a major campaign to list several
shark species at the next CITES meeting. Responding
to the crisis of elephant poaching in
Africa, WCS co-sponsored a major motion at
the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress
in September in Jeju, South Korea. The motion
calls on all African elephant range states to
prioritize the protection and conservation of
elephant populations, ensuring that appropriate
laws are implemented to achieve this goal, and
that incentives are in place to encourage local
communities to support conservation.
Vote Bison
This year WCS helped lead a new effort to
conserve and protect the American bison, a species
that has been tied to WCS since President
Theodore Roosevelt worked with Bronx Zoo
founding director William Hornaday to establish
the American Bison Society in 1905.
WCS, the National Bison Association, and
the InterTribal Buffalo Council are leading Vote
Bison, a growing national coalition of 35 organizations
and businesses from 16 states with the
goal of designating the bison as the National
Mammal of the United States. The campaign
showcases the American bison’s role in our
national heritage and emphasizes its economic,
cultural and historical significance. Toward
that end, U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and
Tim Johnson (D-SD) introduced The National
Bison Legacy Act on May 24. The bill attracted
bipartisan support from 18 senators.
The day after the legislation was introduced,
the Associated Press published a story on The
National Bison Legacy Act that was picked up
by hundreds of outlets nationwide. The New
York Times very favorably supported the bill
on its editorial page. Additionally, the following
outlets covered the campaign launch: Los
Angeles Times; MSNBC; American Public