The untimely death of Harambe the gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is being grieved around the world. However, few harbor the pain as greatly as those who have dedicated their lives to caring for animals and saving them in the wild. These are the employees and volunteers of accredited zoos, including those of us at the Denver Zoo.
Our mission is clear: to secure a better world for animals through human understanding. Strengthening the public’s understanding of the important role accredited zoos play in animal welfare, science education and species and habitat conservation is paramount in moving forward with our mission.
The zoo strives to inspire a love of science and to educate the more than 2 million visitors each year around the issues surrounding and the importance of animal conservation. According to national studies conducted by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), visits to accredited zoos and aquariums prompt people to reconsider their role in environmental problems and conservation action, a critical step for saving the world’s animals.
For more than 120 years, the Denver Zoo has been an integral thread in the fabric of the lives of children and families in our region, where memories are made daily and generations return to both relive their experience and engage their families and friends in their own journey.
The Denver Zoo’s animal care team has devoted their careers to providing the best care of our residents. Our animal care and veterinary staff has more than 1,000 cumulative years of experience in caring for these species. From ensuring the best nutrition options to top-notch medical care through onsite, board-certified veterinarians and interactive exhibit-enrichment programming to engage our animals, we have much to celebrate in our holistic approach to care. The Denver Zoo holds licensing and accreditation from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the AZA, and we receive oversight at the national, state and local level. Fewer than 10 percent of those zoos that are managed by the USDA are AZA accredited.
Additionally, ours is the only zoo in the Western Hemisphere to achieve the highest international distinction for our environmental, health and safety management systems and protocols. We have a comprehensive safety program that covers all aspects of our day to day work, as well as our interaction with the public and the animals. Further, our team manages multiple emergency animal drills each year to prepare staff members throughout the zoo, from zookeepers to non-animal personnel. Our culture is focused on safety every day.
The Denver Zoo is also passionately committing expertise and resources to saving animals worldwide. From pikas in the Rockies to Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys in Vietnam, our projects focus on helping people in local communities conserve animals in their natural habitat. Since 1996, the zoo has participated in more than 600 projects in 62 countries on six continents. We now commit more than $2 million annually to field conservation. In fact, accredited zoos and aquariums in the U.S. have devoted $160 million annually to support species survival in the wild.
While we mourn the loss of Harambe, let his life serve as a reminder of the importance of the work that zoos are doing both at home and in the world. The next time you visit the Denver Zoo we hope you’ll remember the depth and commitment we have to animal welfare, safety, science education and conservation. Zoos make a difference in the lives of animals and people, here in Denver and abroad every day.
Simply put, you do your best to protect what you love. And we love our individual animal residents at the Denver Zoo and inspire millions of visitors to care about protecting species across the globe.
Shannon Block is president and CEO of the Denver Zoo.
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