Caring about elephants seems to come naturally to people. It is that care and commitment to the future of elephants that led to the creation of The National Elephant Center, a new model for collaboration and wildlife species conservation.
I’m pleased to report that after months of planning, research and persistence, the Center has an established home, broad support from the conservation community, and a mission that is critical to the future of elephants. We are now poised to become a world leader in elephant population management, conservation, scientific research, training, and elephant care.
It is a commitment to wildlife that brought together The National Elephant Center with our corporate collaborator, Waste Management, which is providing the Center support and a 345-acres site in Okeechobee, Fla., that is perfect for elephants. The Center will be adjacent to property that Waste Management maintains as a natural area certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council. This is a unique model in which nonprofits and corporations join forces to address critical conservation challenges – in this case to ensure the future of elephants. We are grateful that they share our vision and invest in it.
The idea of creating a national elephant center is the result of an Association of Zoos and Aquariums Elephant Management Strategic Planning Meeting. It brought together many leading elephant experts, including members of the Elephant Taxon Advisory Group/Species Survival Plan (TAG/SSP). Early in this process, dozens of AZA-accredited zoos donated critical funding support to explore options for establishing a center, which will be an important tool in elephant management and conservation.
Clearly, we could not have reached this milestone without the help of many supporters, including our tireless, volunteer board members, who paid their own expenses and contributed countless hours to this long process. Together we want to thank those who have provided services and support including CLR Design for preliminary design services; AZA Executive Director Kris Vehrs for her counsel; members of the AZA elephant TAG; Audubon Institute and its staff for their hospitality during the site assessment phase; Waste Management for its hospitality during the site assessment phase; Houston Zoo and its director Rick Barongi for introducing the magnificence of elephants and zoo conservation work to Waste Management thus making the collaboration possible; and a special thank you to Barbara Nussa, Waste Management’s Corporate Director of Community Relations & Public Sector Services, for her enthusiasm and support of this project and for her love of elephants.
We also acknowledge the directors and staff of the 77 AZA-accredited zoos that have elephant programs in North America. Every day they work to provide the best care for elephants and help support more than 85 conservation programs in the wild.
Finally, we want to acknowledge the leadership and steadfast commitment of the late Clayton Freiheit, President/CEO, Denver Zoo who lost his battle with cancer last fall. A founding board member, Clayton believed The National Elephant Center would be critical to the future of elephants, and until his death, he worked to make this project a reality.
In the coming year The National Elephant Center will break ground, build an infrastructure to aid in the care of the elephants staying there, and begin fulfilling our mission to make an impact on the conservation of elephants around the world. Your support and interest are key to our capacity to tackle this important endeavor.
Respectfully,
Mark C. Reed
Board President
The National Elephant Center
