TheThe education program at the El Paso Zoo is encouraging people to get involved with wildlife conservation, both locally and around the world. 

Over the past three years, zoo goers have donated hundreds of recycled cell phones to benefit the protection of endangered Sumatran elephant habitat in Indonesia and helped restore wetlands habitat at Rio Bosque Wetlands in El Paso’s Lower Valley.  Other projects include Pennies for Parrots where schoolchildren donate pennies to help endangered thick-billed parrots in Chihuahua, Mexico and Mexican wolf educational activities to help gain public support for Mexican wolf reintroduction in Arizona and New Mexico.

Recently, Zoo youth volunteers joined students in Columbus, Ohio on a special project to help schoolchildren in Rwanda.  Initiated by the Columbus Zoo Partners in Conservation in 2003, Project Knowledge was established in response to a request by Rwandan teachers to help them teach English.  The project involves making flash cards representing words in English and Kinyarwanda to facilitate children’s ability to read and write.  Over the past month, Zoo volunteers have been encouraging Zoo visitors and groups to help make the cards in the Cisneros Paraje classroom on the weekends and at special events.  For more information on how to get your group involved, call 521-1881.  The goals of this program are to initiate educational experiences that increase public awareness about the people, cultures and mountain gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic of Congo; and, raise money to benefit the indigenous people and wildlife.  In addition to the El Paso Zoo and the Columbus Zoo, Partners in Conservation members include the Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo, Cameron Park Zoo, Denver Zoo, Kansas City Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, Little Rock Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo and Pittsburgh Zoo.

Zoo visitor coloring flash cards for students in Rwanda

Typical Rwanda homes near the boundary of Virunga Volcanoes
National Park, home of the critically endangered mountain gorilla.
Photo by Rick LoBello
 

For For more information about the El Paso Zoo visit www.elpasozoo.org.