LSP Environmental Studies Community Event Reports

Jeffrey Biel
Current Event 1
Enviro. Studies
Prof. Schwartz

On Wednesday, October 15th, I went to the Bronx Zoo. Every Wednesday at the zoo is a “Donation Day” where admission is free, but a donation is expected, although not required. Obviously this is the reason that we picked to attend the zoo on the date that we did. The Bronx Zoo is located in the Bronx on Fordham Road and Bronx River Parkway. The zoo was not very busy, but the people that were present were mostly elementary and middle school students on class trips.

We began walking around the zoo and looking at the different animals and exhibits that the zoo had to offer. On each exhibit or cage, there was a description of the animal that lived inside and the general environment that the animal needs to survive in. There were also some “fun facts” and usually something about the animal being endangered or how zoo goers could donate funds to help that specific animal. This part of the trip was most worrisome for me. It appeared to me that barely any people actually read the signs that told about the animal or the need for donations. People merely looked at the animals and watched them in their environment, commenting on their actions. I was extremely surprised that even the teachers did not make the students read or look at the signs, being that this trip was supposed to be an educational experience.

The most interesting part of the trip for me was the Gorilla Exhibit. I learned that 2009 will be the year of the gorilla and the zoo has been working extremely hard to promote the Gorilla Exhibit and gorilla awareness. All of the information on the gorillas told of the Wildlife Conservation Society and their efforts to inform the public about protection of the gorilla habitat. The main threats to gorilla population is hunters and I believe that if the general population becomes more educated on the topic, perhaps the species can remain at the level it is currently at.

I decided to do a little further research into the Congo Gorilla Exhibit and the difficulties that the gorillas were facing. Astonishingly, I found out that the Wildlife Conservation Society is the only organization in the world that is working to protect and maintain all three subspecies of the gorilla, being the western lowland gorilla, Grauer’s gorilla, and the mountain gorilla. Although the gorilla is not considered an endangered species, they still face many hardships that could definitely lead to their extinction one day.

For example, gorillas have had their habitats reduced considerably by the human population. Humans are not only moving in and reducing their population by taking over the land, but they are also hunting gorillas, as I stated before. I had no idea that people hunted gorillas, but apparently gorillas fetch a hefty price in certain game markets. Obviously it is highly illegal to hunt a gorilla, but anytime there is a financial incentive, people will be willing to break the law. I think that the Environmental Protection Agency needs to do a much better job of patrolling the areas that the gorillas are in and ensuring that people do not have the ability to hunt the animal. Additionally, the Wildlife Conservation Society needs to do a much better job of informing the public and other agencies about this ongoing problem so that other organizations can begin working to protect the gorilla species.

Currently, the future of the gorilla species is really unknown. Most gorillas reside in Africa and the African population is continually growing and intruding on their land. There is also an issue in the Democratic Republic of Congo where people are starving and they are beginning to hunt gorillas (because of their abundance in the region) for food. The Wildlife Conservation Society has been working closely with the United States State Department to aid the people of the area and to protect the gorilla. I found it extremely interesting that the even the United States government has gotten involved in this situation, yet I have heard nothing about it through the media. I think the media could definitely be a successful way to inform about the problem. For example, once Al Gore got involved with using the media in his global warming campaign, many more people became interested in aiding his cause, whether it was through help or financially.

Overall, for me, the trip to the zoo was extremely entertaining, interesting, and most of all educational. The zoo does a tremendous job of presenting information to zoo goers about the animals and their habitats, as well as current protection methods that they are using; yet many people do not read the signs. Perhaps if the zoo made the signs interactive with videos or sound then more people would be apt to pay attention to them and then support their different causes. All of the exhibits were well done and maintained well, which allowed for zoo goers to really enjoy the experience.

Works Cited

http://congogorillaforest.com/congoconservationchoices/congogorillaconservation