Project Updates

On December 10, 2018, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the Detroit Zoo to officially open the Holtzman Wildlife Foundation Red Panda Forest. Detroit Zoological Society CEO Ron Kagan introduced Jonathan Holtzman, who cut the ribbon after giving an inspiring speech about conservation.

GRACE opens their Education & Community Center–their first facility dedicated to education and community initiatives. The space will function as a meeting place for onsite education activities, most notably their local visitor program. Read more here.

Thanks to a grant from Holtzman Wildlife Foundation, GRACE Center was able to purchase a reliable vehicle to ensure the safety and security of staff on Congo's rough roads.

GRACE Center partners with explore.org to set up cameras allowing people anywhere to watch their gorillas in real time. Check out the live cam here.

Red Panda Network organizes a four-day nature guide training–which includes trek leading, field safety, environmental education, birding and wildlife tracking and minimal impact practices–for 20 local youth in Gorkhe, Ilam.

The Jane Goodall Institute organizes their first ever World Chimpanzee Day on July 14. This global effort raises awareness to protect chimpanzees in the wild, and to improve their well-being in captive environments. Read Jane’s WCD message here:

Centre ValBio receives the Certificate of Recognition from Madagascar’s Minister of National Education during the country’s official Independence Day celebration in Ifanadiana.

GRACE Center works on a plant survey of their new 15-acre forest enclosure, helping to catalog the foods available to the gorillas.

The Red Panda Network releases their Biannual Stewardship Update allowing people to see what their support has allowed the organization to achieve in the first half of 2018. Read it here.

Jane Goodall Institute VP of Conservation Science Lillian Pintea talks about tools and technology used by the organization to help save great apes and their habitats while working in collaboration with local people. Listen to the podcast here.

The Red Panda Network organizes Roots and Shoots groups in schools throughout Nepal to educate people on red panda conservation and discuss solutions to local poverty and deforestation.

The Detroit Zoo expands their schedule of daily zookeeper talks, which give visitors a chance to interact with members of the animal care staff and learn about the animals that live at the zoo. Learn more here.