ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PITTSBURGH

Conservation & Research The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium has a history of championing wildlife and conservation in Western Pennsylvania and across the globe. The mission of the organization orients our conservation work towards long term impact by working with our communities. Similarly, the vision for the organization is to provide effective conservation leadership by bringing collaborators together. In both its mission and vision, the Zoo commits itself to transformative and exemplary conservation programs. There's more going on at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium than meets the eye, especially when it comes to animal conservation. The International Conservation Center is operated under the auspices of the Zoo. It sits on 1,000 acres of rolling hills in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The Conservation Center is dedicated to African elephant conservation, education, training, breeding, and research. In 2024, we expanded our collection to include reindeer, bison, and Bactrian camel and welcomed visitors and educational groups to through programs and tours to learn more about all our species. Through the Sea Turtle Second Chance Program (STSCP), the Zoo accepts injured sea turtles and hatchlings who didn't make it into Gulf Stream waters and cares for them until they are healthy enough to be released back into the wild. The Zoo is an important participant in this program because it is an inland institution. Most of the aquariums participating in the STSCP are located along the coast, which allows them to take in turtles who can make a speedy recovery. Some hatchlings and injured turtles need long-term rehabilitation. These animals are transported to the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium for their extended recovery time, freeing up space for faster recovering turtles at the institutions along the coast and allowing many more turtles to be rehabilitated in the program. Through educational displays and meet-the-keeper sessions, visitors have the opportunity to learn about sea turtles, and how they can impact their care and survival in the wild. The release has been broadcast on the Zoo's social media to promote and raise awareness of this important conservation program. Beyond species-specific programs, several Zoo residents offer valuable opportunities for research that can be applied to their wild counterparts. The Zoo & Aquarium raises, often rehabilitates, and cares for animals in our park environment allowing the opportunity to research their behavior. This allows for valuable information to be collected that may not be available through research in the wild alone. The Zoo's operations also support conservation at a local level. Since 1995, volunteers from the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium have adopted two miles of Butler Street from the RD Fleming Bridge to slightly beyond the Highland Park Bridge. As a result of every scheduled cleaning, Zoo employees fill approximately 50 trash bags with garbage such as cigarette butts, soda bottles, and food wrappers. Cleaning this roadway just twice each year, we remove approximately 1.5 tons of trash. The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium's Green Team committee takes conservation and environmentally friendly practices to a new level. The Green Team's mission is to research and recommend how to use resources and manage waste efficiently and sustainably while operating the Zoo. The team strives to create a culture of conservation for Zoo staff and for the visiting public. Improvements made by the Green Team include upgrading to all green cleaning practices in Zoo facilities, advocating for energy-efficient infrastructure and green building design, implementing additional composting and recycling options, and establishing green partnerships with other cultural and entertainment institutions including Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the National Aviary, PPG Paints Arena, and the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. At the Zoo, most of the organic waste is recycled into compost and used in landscaping throughout the park. This keeps the waste out of landfills and it also helps us to plant and maintain a beautiful landscape. The compost-enriched soil reduces erosion, alleviates soil compaction, provides nutrients that help plants grow, and controls disease and pest infestation in plants. The composting program compliments other recycling programs at the Zoo, including water, cardboard, batteries, cans, bottles, paper, and cell phones. The Zoo hosted Electronic April with overwhelming success this past year where discounted admission was granted for guests who donated small electronics to the Zoo to recycle. This program was offered in cooperation with the AZA's Gorilla SAFE conservation program. The Zoo accepted devices (in any condition) which included: cell phones; tablets and eReaders; smart watches; digital cameras; MP3 players; GPS devices; and handheld gaming devices. Whether funding or participating in projects in the wild, conducting research with our resident animals, or implementing eco-friendly practices that make an environmental impact, conservation and research is an essential piece of everything we do at the Zoo.