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The Akron Zoo has ramped up its conservation efforts over the past decade. Here are some milestones:
2005 Endangered Waterfowl Center
The Akron Zoo and Hiram College partnered to conserve the endangered white-winged wood duck and the once thought-to-be-extinct Madagascar teal. Hiram built the Endangered Waterfowl Propagation Center where students care for the endangered waterfowl. They acquire ducks, monitor breeding, provide veterinary care and collect data about the species.
2007 Komodo Kingdom LEED Certified
The Akron Zoo’s Komodo Kingdom Education Center received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for its geothermal heating and cooling, motion-sensor and LED lighting and automatic low-flush toilets, to name a few features. Komodo Kingdom was the first LEED-certified building in any zoo east of the Rockies and the first in Summit County.
2010 Gulf Oil Slick Support
One of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history occurred in 2010 when a BP oil rig exploded and spilled oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The Akron Zoo took action by sending funding to help wildlife biologists and environmentalists with degreasing birds and other wildlife impacted by the spill.
2011 Launch of Zero-Waste Initiative
In partnership with Summit/Akron Solid Waste Management Authority and Rosby’s Resource Recycling, the Akron Zoo developed a composting program, launching the zoo’s zero-waste goal. The zoo’s horticulture, animal care and food service teams began collecting food scraps, plant debris and animal bedding to turn into compost. These efforts prevented 3.6 million pounds of material from entering landfills, saving enough energy to power 14 homes for a full year.
2012 Green Cafe
The Akron Zoo’s Komodo Kingdom Café, which provides patrons compostable flatware, purchases local products, recycles its fryer grease and practices other sustainable efforts, was awarded four stars by the Green Restaurant Association, making it the first four-Star Green Restaurant in Ohio and in any zoo in the country.
2014 Grizzly Ridge: LEED Silver-Certified
Mike & Mary Stark Grizzly Ridge, which opened in July 2013, received the LEED Silver certification for its on-site renewable energy, water-efficient landscaping and stormwater management system.
2016 Species Reintroduction
Caring for and breeding Partula snails since the late 1990s, the zoo has one of only a few colonies of the snails. The species became extinct in the wild and only lived in zoos and aquariums. As part of a reintroduction program, the Akron Zoo was able to send 60 snails to Fiji to be released back into the wild, helping to restore a nearly extinct species.
2017 VaquitaCPR
The Akron Zoo, along with other zoos and aquariums, conservation organizations and the U.S. and Mexican governments, participated in the VaquitaCPR initiative with a goal to save the last 30 vaquitas, small porpoises, in the Gulf of California. Funds were used to build sea pens to safely house the vaquita.
Global Aid
In an all-hands, -wings, -flippers and -paws on deck effort, the Akron Zoo staff are on a painstaking mission to save wildlife through these worldwide initiatives.
- The chirps of spring peepers assure Education Specialist Carrie Bassett that frogs are nearby in Greater Akron wetlands. As a Frogwatch USA coordinator, Basset records calls of frogs and toads, and the absence of a call or a change in the location could indicate a species decline or environmental hazard. Her and others’ data provide clues about the health of frogs and toads’ environments and populations, which are shrinking in the U.S.
- On the coral reefs of Florida, Pete Mohan, former director of animal operations, collected fertilized egg bundles that developed into mobile coral larvae, which allow coral species to disperse over the reef. In a healthy ecosystem, this ensures that species are widely distributed, and more coral growth means greater resiliency.
- Kim Cook, senior director of life sciences, traveled to Northeast India, one of the last strongholds of the white-winged wood duck. The Akron Zoo funds efforts to understand the current status of the white-winged wood duck in Assam and conserve them in the future.
- Wild Animal Keeper Vicky Croisant increased the reproductive success of the endangered Humboldt penguins by helping them nest in Punta San Jan, Peru. Humboldt penguins nest in seabird excrement, which has been limited because people harvest it. Croisant works to curb harvesting of the excrement so the penguins can thrive.
- Linda Criss, vice president of communications, went to the Arctic to study the impact of climate change on sea ice formations negatively affecting the survival of endangered polar bears.
- Wild Animal Keeper Mark Schneider helped with a study that monitored for small felid (wild cat) species and looked for evidence of the bobcats in Toledo. Schneider also went to Florida to investigate signs of the jaguarondi, a small wild cat native to southern North America and South America.
