Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Preparing for Amphibian Rescue Expedition to Panama
Nov 6, 2009Next week Cheyenne
Mountain Zoo President and CEO Bob
Chastain will lead a group from the mountain Zoo
on an expedition into the jungles of Panama in the first “on the ground”
phase of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project . Cheyenne
Mountain Zoo is a partner in an
international initiative to save amphibian species in Panama from the
encroaching chytrid fungus. An expedition to go into the jungles of Panama and collect living specimens of frogs not
yet in the death grip of this insidious fungus is embarking on Friday, November
13 from the United States.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will have five representatives on this historic
week-long expedition. The group will land in Panama and almost immediately hike
into a predetermined area of the Panamanian rainforest to begin their
collection. They will be four days in the rainforest working with other
individuals from the project’s participating institutions, in hopes of
gathering and safeguarding numerous frog species from the chytrid fungus. Other
times, the expedition will be at the “safehouse” established by the project
partners, gaining more information about the crisis and its effects on Panama’s and
the world’s amphibian populations.
Bob
Chastain has commented on the Zoo’s
role in this important initiative by stating, “This project shows that everyone
can make a difference and even our community zoo in the mountains of Colorado can make an
impact on something as colossal as the global amphibian crisis.”
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will have daily installments on the Zoo’s blog “In Between the Spots”
with daily written entries, photography and video from the wilds of Panama. This extensive expedition coverage is meant
to center on the dire importance this initiative has in the fight against the
fast spreading chytrid fungus and the future existence of amphibians on our
planet.
The
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(AZA) has challenged all AZA accredited Zoos
and Aquariums to take a leadership role during this amphibian crisis and save
at least one amphibian species. If this effort fails, one-third to one-half of
the world’s amphibians could go extinct.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, as a founding member of the Amphibian Rescue
and Conservation Project, is partnering with renowned national and international
conservation leaders to make a difference for frogs. The partners are Cheyenne
Mountain Zoo, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo,
Zoo New England, Houston Zoo, Africam Safari in Mexico,
the Summit Municipal
Park in Panama, Defenders of Wildlife and
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). The project partners are
collectively working to establish an amphibian
conservation breeding center in Panama
to house and facilitate research on 15-20 species that are in jeopardy of being
eradicated by the chytrid fungus. The Project centers on a small segment of
eastern Panama
that has been untouched by chytrid fungus to this point.
While
the selected frog species will be safe guarded in captivity, the Panama
Project’s partners will focus on their respective skills to lead the project
forward. Ideally the Project’s objective is to cure the fungus, prevent
impending amphibian extinction and eventually reintroduce the species they are
able to save back into the wild. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
brings its skills of “on the ground” work in collecting and, when that time
comes, releasing the saved frog species back into the wild.
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