First Friday Update_ February Edition 2/1/2024

Posted on By Amber Suttmiller

Volunteer Updates and Opportunities

New Volunteer Opportunities:

There are several department who are recruiting new Volunteers for the upcoming 2024 season! If you are interested in adding to your volunteer resume, or looking to make a change, check out the new volunteer opportunities below. Click on the Applications do be redirected to the forms.

Remember, you can always see what Volunteer roles are available on our website:

Volunteer

Zoo Updates

Festival of Lights like you have never seen it before:

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CZBG in the News

Click Here to read a story about Middletown Students who spent the night with the Manatees.

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Horticulture Symposium

Click Here to Buy Tickets

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Education Team looking for Clothing Donations

As we gear up for our camps- we noticed our children’s clothing/underwear stash is growing low for our code yellows/code browns. If you could put a message out to our lovely volunteers to see if they have any gently loved children’s clothing that would be amazing! Girls pants/shorts, boys pants/shorts, socks, & a few smaller girls shirts from 3T-size 10 are what we are in need of. Any donations could be dropped off at the Education Registration Desk.

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ZooTales Podcast

Hear from Fiona’s keepers Jenna, Wendy and Mark on Fiona’s 7th birthday! What Taylor Swift Era is she? How much does she weigh? What is her favorite food these days? Find out all of this and more in this fun new episode that’s all about our princess Fiona! 

Click Here to Listen

Plant & Animal Updates

Fiona turned 7 – Check out the Highlights of her 7th year

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Animals in the Snow

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Dublin Elephants in the Snow

The two younger elephants from the four that came from Dublin have never experienced snow. The elephant team gave them a little time outside to give them a new experience.

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Maisy is 2 Weeks old

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Landscaping for Homeowners Event

Landscaping for the Homeowner

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Okapi Calf Up Close

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Blue Duiker Up Close

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Kuvua and baby Mokonzi

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Suri

Keepers say Suri the clouded leopard is very smart and always eager for training! DYK: Clouded leopards are able to climb down tree trunks headfirst, travel across horizontal branches while hanging beneath them, and hang from branches with its hind feet.

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New Face in the Cheetah Yard

Aging Gracefully: Cheetahs Savanna, Tommy T & Nia

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Ostrich

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain and is the largest eye of any living land animal, measuring five centimeters across.

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Snow Leopard

Guess who’s not complaining about the cold weather… the snow leopards. Renji and Nubo are built for these temperatures! Snow leopards have a large nasal cavity that passes cold air through and warms it. They have long body hair with a dense, woolly underfur, and a thick tail that can be wrapped around the body. Their huge paws have fur on the bottom that protects and cushions their feet. The wide, furry paws also give the cat great traction on snow.

Animal Excellence Highlights

Quarterly, each of the 14 animal care teams identifies 2-3 welfare priorities that they plan to work on over the 3-month period. These can be big or small, but they must be measurable, and they must be reasonably achievable without significant help from outside department. At the end of the 3 months, we review this list of priorities, celebrate the ones we achieved and discuss those that weren’t achieved yet.

Below are some of our teams’ successes in Animal Excellence from October-December 2023.

Conservation Corner

Round Up for Wildlife

Over 250 CZBG Staff Members voted on who to support for our Round Up for Wildlife Program. The top 5 coexistence organizations were chosen to receive support from the $25,000 raised for this initiative!  Shout out to our SSA & Visitor Experience teams that lead this work to raise funds and support our partners!

Reducing Conflicts Over Water with SORALO in Kenya

Our team is working to support SORALO on water storage capacity, water quality, and maintenance to support the community in making decisions on current and future water needs. We are continuing water quality testing in the next two weeks!

Lale’enok, which is named after the Maasai concept of “ele’enore” meaning the search for and use of information, started as a campsite for researchers in the region. It has now become a community resource center and serves as SORALO’s base and camp for visitors and students. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has supported SORALO in master planning and interpretive planning, and are continuing our efforts in water and solar resiliency. Lale’enok will be viewed as a model for the addition of community centers throughout the SORALO landscape. 

The South Rift Association of Land Owners (SORALO) is a group of communally owned and managed plots of land that supports the Maasai in their cultural values of coexistence of people with wildlife and landscape. Through community decisions and actions, they can manage and protect wildlife and natural resources while generating income that give directly back into the community.  

Coexisting with Mexican Wolves in the Southwest United States  

Largely as a result of conflicts with livestock, Mexican Wolves were almost extirpated in the U.S. There have been large successes, beginning with reintroduction efforts in 1998 throughout Arizona and New Mexico. Releases began in Mexico in 2011, contributing to a binational approach to the recovery of the species. Working towards a stable population of Mexican Wolves in the southwest U.S. must involve working closely with the ranchers that coexist with them. Mexican Wolf SAFE will continue to partner with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, along with a few additional partners to ensure successful reintroduction efforts!

Building Forest Pathways for Orangutans with HUTAN in Borneo 

Hutan is an organization based in Sabah, Malaysia. This group focuses on orangutan, elephant, and hornbill conservation through a co-existence model.  The “Round Up for Wildlife” project winner will focus on building forest pathways for orangutans in Borneo (the Malaysian island that contains Sabah). These throughways will act as corridors for orangutans, who rely on them as routes to viable habitats. These pathways are essential for dispersing males, who need to travel higher distances to establish home ranges! 

Cultivating Elephant & People Friendly Crops in Thailand 

Bring the Elephant Home (BTEH) is dedicated to the well-being and survival of African and Asian elephants, fostering socio-ecological resilience in communities seeking human-elephant coexistence, and striving for a world where both elephants and people can thrive. Our community-based conservation approach, developed since BTEH’s founding in 2004, emphasizes shared decision-making, sustainability, equality, and partnerships.

In 2020, BTEH launched the Tom Yum project: an initiative designed to mitigate human-elephant conflicts by assisting farmers in cultivating crops that are unattractive to elephants. The project not only reduces crop damage, but also aims to diversify local livelihoods and enhance biodiversity, creating a sustainable environment for both communities and wildlife.  

Looking for a small gift for a friend?

Consider supporting elephant-friendly products. 

Helping Dogs Save Cats in South Africa

Cheetah Outreach Trust, which is a community-based education program based in South Africa that conducts school presentations with ambassador cheetahs as well as teacher workshops. Cheetah Outreach also breeds Anatolian shepherd dogs and places them on South African farms to guard livestock in an effort to reduce conflict between farmers and predators. 

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Barrows Conservation Series

2024 Barrows Conservation Series is Back with an Exciting Lineup

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Coexistence Partner Webinars

These partners will present their projects, wildlife, communities, and conservation aspirations followed by a Q&A, where our partners will take questions from our CZBG community. Feel free to tune in from anywhere. These webinars are a chance to learn the stories of the conservation work the Zoo supports so you can share with our visitors and be advocates for the good work happening around the world. 

‘23-’24 Webinar Schedule

SORALO – Mercy Waithira

  • Tuesday, February 6 at 11:30am
  • Key topics: Coexistence, pastoralism, African predators
  • Zoom JOIN Link or Meeting ID 878 3271 2536 and Passcode 620935

International Elephant Foundation (IEF) – Julie Bates and Sarah Conley

  • Thursday, February 14 at 12am
  • Key topics: elephants, Sumatra, Conservation Response Units (CRUs)
  • Zoom JOIN Link or Meeting ID 822 1448 1140 and Passcode 359290

The Ohio Bat Lab– Dr. Joe Johnson, Ph.D.

  • Wednesday, February 21 at 12pm
  • Key topics: Native bats, local conservation, bat-human conflict
  • Zoom JOIN Link or Meeting ID 819 7944 5283 and Passcode 468822

Madtree Brewing & 1% for the Planet– Rhiannon Hoeweler

  • Tuesday, March 5 at 12pm
  • Key topics: Beer, 1% for the Planet, community partnership
  •  Zoom JOIN Link or Meeting ID 846 9937 5031 and Passcode 404270

Volunteer News

Off-Season Volunteer Shenanigans

What do CZBG Volunteers do in the off-season? Well, they still hang out together and enjoy tours at locations all around the tri-state. Below you will see photos of some volunteers enjoying Rumpke and Rookwood Pottery Tours.

Do you have any photos to share? Send them my way so I can share them in the next Volunteer Update!

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Goodbye to Dedicated Volunteer

Dean Froelich was a CZBG volunteer for over 30 years across several programs. Click Here to view his obituary.

In Case you Missed It

Save the Date_2024 Events:

We are so excited to announce the dates for the events during the 2024 Season! We could not pull off these events without WONDERFUL volunteers just like you! If you are interested in the 2024 events, please SAVE THE DATES!

  • May
    • May 9th – Toast to the Wild _ Bourbon Flights
      • Sign Ups will be sent via e-mail 4-6 weeks prior to the event
  • June
    • June 21st – ZooLaLa
      • Sign Ups will be sent via e-mail 4-6 weeks prior to the event
  • July
    • July 28th – Fiona Sundae Fundae
      • Sign Ups will be available in Better Impact and e-mail reminder will be sent
  • August
    • August 8th – Toast to the Wild _ Wild About Wine
      • Sign Ups will be sent via e-mail 4-6 weeks prior to the event
  • September
    • September 20th – Zoofari
      • Sign Ups will be sent via e-mail 4-6 weeks prior to the event
  • October
    • October 10th – Toast to the Wild _ Zoo Brew
      • Sign Ups will be sent via e-mail 4-6 weeks prior to the event
    • October 13th, 20th & 27th – HallZOOween
      • Sign Ups will be available in Better Impact and e-mail reminder will be sent
  • November
    • November 15th – *NEW EVENT* (Toast to the Wild Style event during Pre-FOL)
      • Sign Ups will be sent via e-mail 4-6 weeks prior to the event
  • December
    • December 31st – Happy Zoo Year
      • Sign Ups will be available in Better Impact and e-mail reminder will be sent