conservation partnership<\/a> between Niabi Zoo and a nonprofit in Zimbabwe took local staff halfway across the world this winter, as two Niabi employees returned from weeks of hands-on education and research aimed at protecting endangered African painted dogs.<\/p>\nJoel Vanderbush, Niabi Zoo\u2019s curator of conservation and education, and Jessi Lench Porter, the zoo\u2019s lead carnivore keeper, traveled to Zimbabwe in November and December to work alongside Painted Dog Research, a field-based conservation organization Niabi has partnered with since 2018.<\/p>\n
Wild African painted dog populations have dropped from roughly 500,000 to fewer than 7,000 across the continent, largely due to habitat loss, disease and human conflict. Niabi Zoo has housed painted dogs since 2023, but Vanderbush said the relationship goes far beyond exhibits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started our partnership in 2018, but 2019 is when we really started contributing some of the expertise that we have to offer to their education team,\u201d Vanderbush said.<\/p>\n
Lench Porter, who made her first-ever trip to Africa, spent about two weeks in Zimbabwe, while Vanderbush remained for just over a month. Together, they assisted with field research, collected camera traps and helped lead \u201cbush camps\u201d which are multi-day conservation programs for local children.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe collected different camera traps to collect field research,\u201d Lench Porter said. \u201cWe also helped their bush camps, so we got to teach different children all about conservation and the different aspects of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those camps have grown significantly in recent years. Vanderbush said when he first traveled to Zimbabwe, Painted Dog Research had a single education staff member. Today, the organization employs 13 educators, many trained with guidance from Niabi Zoo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were running one bush camp per month throughout 2024,\u201d Vanderbush said. \u201cAbout 20 kids come for a three-day experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
With new grant funding from the Jane Goodall Institute, that effort has now doubled.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have upped that to two bush camps per month, and that\u2019s why we had to go and train more educators for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vanderbush emphasized that education is a critical part of long-term conservation success.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe field research is very important, but if no one knows anything about it and knows how important it is to help conserve endangered species, they won\u2019t do anything about it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the education side plays a huge part in making the conservation side really work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience also highlighted a key difference between conservation work in the U.S. and Zimbabwe: there are no zoos in the country. During one bush camp, Vanderbush and Lench Porter led a presentation explaining how zoos contribute to conservation in the wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the kids that were there had ever been to a zoo,\u201d Lench Porter said. \u201cTo show them different graphics and videos and stuff that we do with our painted dogs here about enrichment and different things, it was pretty cool to see the excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Vanderbush, one of the most memorable moments came around a campfire, when local students helped create a new tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized, you know what we need? We need a Painted Dog Research camp song,\u201d he said. \u201cThey wrote a camp song that had both their local language and English and combined traditional dances and lyrics into one song specifically for that bush camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lench Porter said simply seeing wildlife in its natural habitat was unforgettable.<\/p>\n
\u201cElephants and giraffes and anything from tortoise to lizards,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy just to be able to see all that in their natural habitat and know that we\u2019re making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanderbush said the work abroad helps strengthen Niabi Zoo\u2019s mission at home, especially as the zoo prepares to open its Conservation in Action exhibit this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people understand that the zoo is out there doing conservation work, it actually makes the ambassador animals that we hold at the zoo even more important to the story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While future international trips are already being planned, including projects in Zimbabwe, Mexico and Paraguay, Vanderbush stressed that conservation doesn\u2019t stop at the border.<\/p>\n
\u201cConservation happens right in your backyard too,\u201d he said, pointing to Niabi\u2019s ongoing pollinator and prairie restoration efforts across the Quad Cities.<\/p>\n
More information about Niabi Zoo\u2019s conservation programs and education classes is available on the zoo\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\nTune into The Current from 4 to 5 p.m. on weekdays to catch live interviews impacting you, your family and your hometown as well as all of the biggest headlines of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two of Niabi’s zookeepers are back from Africa after spending several weeks training students and conservationists working with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[106],"class_list":{"0":"post-8293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zimbabwe","8":"tag-zimbabwe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}