WCS Annual Report 2012 - Wildlife Conservation Society

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Cristián Samper and Ward Woods at Central Park Zoo’s Allison Maher Stern Snow Leopard Exhibit. Board of Trustees (December 31, 2012) Dr. Kate D. Levin Commissioner, Department of Judith H. Hamilton Brian J. Heidtke Honorary Trustees Mrs. Charles A. Dana, Jr. Officers Cultural Affairs, City of New York Rubén Díaz, Jr. John N. Irwin III Hamilton E. James William E. Flaherty Robert Wood Johnson IV Ward W. Woods Bronx Borough President Anita L. Keefe James M. Large, Jr. Chair of the Board Marty Markowitz Ambrose K. Monell Eugene R. McGrath Antonia M. Grumbach Brooklyn Borough President Mrs. Gordon B. Pattee Frederick A. Melhado Vice Chair Dr. Cristián Samper Ogden Phipps II Richard A. Voell Brian J. Heidtke President and CEO, Wildlife Alejandro Santo Domingo Treasurer Conservation Society David T Schiff Andrew H. Tisch Secretary Trustees Walter C. Sedgwick Caroline N. Sidnam Christopher J. McKenzie Frederick W. Beinecke Andrew H. Tisch Deputy Secretary Rosina M. Bierbaum Roselinde Torres Ex Officio Trustees Eleanor Briggs Audrey Choi Ronald J. Ulrich Ward W. Woods Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg C. Diane Christensen Barbara Hrbek Zucker Mayor of the City of New York John C. Liu Jonathan L. Cohen Katherine L. Dolan Life Trustees Comptroller of the City of New York Gordon E. Dyal Mrs. Edgar M. Cullman Christine Quinn Christopher J. Elliman Robert G. Goelet Speaker, New York City Council Thomas Dan Friedkin Howard Phipps, Jr. Veronica M. White Bradley L. Goldberg Julian H. Robertson, Jr. Commissioner, Department of Paul A. Gould Mrs. Leonard N. Stern Parks and Recreation, City of Jonathan D. Green Mrs. Richard B. Tweedy New York Antonia M. Grumbach
dear friends, A tiny animal experienced a gigantic milestone in 2012 deep in the forests of Tanzania. The Kihansi spray toad, no bigger than a fingernail, may have beaten extinction. For the first time, an amphibian has been reintroduced into nature after it was declared extinct in the wild. The habitat of the Kihansi spray toad had been altered by the construction of a hydroelectric dam that eliminated the heavy natural mist – necessary for the animal’s survival – from the spray zone of the Kihansi Falls. At the request of the Tanzanian government, staff from the Bronx Zoo’s Department of Herpetology went to the Kihansi Gorge to collect the last remaining wild toads in November 2000. The toads were brought back to the United States, where the Bronx and Toledo Zoos worked out elaborate husbandry protocols with specific environmental parameters designed to meet the unique requirements of the toads. As the Tanzanian government set up artificial misting systems to replicate the animals’ original habitat, WCS’s Bronx Zoo and the Toledo Zoo bred toads in specially designed biosecure facilities in New York City and Toledo with the hope that they could one day be returned to their African home. It was zoological science and husbandry at their best. At 2 p.m. on October 30, 2012, close to 2,000 Kihansi spray toads were reintroduced back into the wild. In a truly extraordinary and historical moment, a missing piece of nature’s puzzle was put back into place. The story of the Kihansi spray toad is key to understanding what differentiates the Wildlife Conservation Society from other conservation organizations. Since our founding in 1895, we have harnessed our expertise in zoological husbandry, conservation biology, and veterinary science to save wildlife and wild places. Now well into our second century, WCS continues to excel in all three disciplines to get the conservation results that count. Indeed, our history is packed with stories describing how we have combined our many strengths to fulfill our mission. In addition to our work this year to protect the Kihansi spray toad, we launched a bold strategy to save the 25 most endangered turtle species and we continued efforts that date back to the early 1900s to protect the American bison. We also continued our efforts to protect large wild places across the globe in areas as varied as Afghanistan, the Arctic, and Africa. As recently as December 2012, we celebrated a major conservation success when the U.S. government, using WCS research and data, announced a final management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that balances wildlife conservation and energy development in the biggest public landscape in the United States. This effort will help ensure that the most important Arctic wetlands and wildlife corridors for caribou and migratory birds will be protected from development. WCS continued to address the global crisis in wildlife trafficking on several fronts. In Mozambique we negotiated an agreement with the government to co-manage the Niassa National Reserve to combat elephant poaching in that country’s largest protected area. In multiple landscapes, we deployed a new wildlife protection initiative, SMART (the Spatial Monitoring and Recovering Tool), which helps park and community rangers fight trafficking by identifying poaching hotspots, improving rapid response measures, and calculating anti-poaching efforts in order to maximize results. At the same time, WCS conservationists have been successful in places like Zambia in helping former poachers find alternative livelihoods that generate income for their families while relieving pressure on local fauna. We love to tell stories describing how WCS’s components complement one another. We are especially pleased to explain how zoos are more important than ever as partners in global field conservation. As wild landscapes shrink and disappear, the knowledge and skills we have developed in our zoos are vital to the care and management of wildlife forced to live in ever smaller spaces. The Bronx Zoo has been a leader in developing this know-how as zoos evolve into scientific powerhouses and strategic settings to raise assurance colonies of threatened species. Other distinguishing characteristics of WCS have been the vision, commitment, and creativity of our leaders through the decades – beginning with New York Zoological Society founding director William Hornaday and continuing to the present. This year marked a major transition for WCS as Dr. Steven Sanderson retired after leading our organization for more than a decade. During his tenure, Steve expanded our global conservation program fivefold and shepherded a magnificent renaissance at the Bronx Zoo. It was his leadership that helped knock down the walls between our zoos/aquarium and our field work – enabling us to take on challenges and create amazing success stories like the Kihansi spray toad. We take inspiration from our past as we recommit ourselves to protecting our threatened planet for generations to come. We invite you to join us in this effort. Ward W. Woods Chair of the Board Cristián Samper President and CEO 7 president/ceo & chair LEtter
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WCS Annual Report 2012 - Wildlife Conservation Society

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