Education: Homeless dogs and cats benefit from Wild Lights crafts

January 18, 2016January 23, 2016 / detroitzoo / 1 Comment

A big thank you to all who participated in our humane education craft during Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo! We offered an opportunity for guests to make a fleece blanket or kitty play toy that would, in turn, be donated to local shelters. I’m happy to report that many homeless dogs and cats are currently benefitting from your generosity.

I recently dropped off eight large bags to the Humane Society of Huron Valley and many more will also be donated to the Michigan Humane Society in the coming weeks. Once the animals are adopted, their new guardians will be able to bring the blankets and toys home with them. This allows the companion animals to have something familiar in their new surroundings and can help with the transition into their forever families.

Our craft projects are purposefully designed. They are often centered around being kind to animals and the planet – not only does this instill a sense of joy, but there’s research that shows when you’re kind to others, it helps to foster empathy within.

Simple acts of kindness can make a big difference! Want to get started right now? You can find additional ideas on how to help animals at www.detroitzoo.org, www.hshv.org and www.michiganhumane.org.

– Lisa Forzley is the humane education manager for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the Berman Academy for Humane Education.

Notes from the Field: Passion for Peru

December 21, 2015February 2, 2017 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

The fall trip to the Peruvian Amazon as part of the Detroit Zoological Society’s Adopt-A-School program has come to a close. Over the course of two weeks, our team of 21 staff members and volunteers were able to visit all 53 communities involved in the program. Even though each of these communities is facing challenges, they have shown their commitment to protecting the rainforest. The families clearly see the value of their children’s education.

To accomplish the evaluation for all the Adopt-A-School communities in a two-week period, we rely on volunteers from the city of Iquitos. Volunteerism is not a common practice in Peruvian culture; however the concept is growing. The volunteers this year included people in the fields of education, environmental sustainability and agriculture. The team was enthusiastic and dedicated, which was evidenced by the smiles of the children and hugs from community leaders. Their passion shined in the schools where they sang songs, told jokes and played games to help ensure students were comfortable with them before the evaluations began.

Volunteers support this program throughout the year, and now that the evaluations are complete, we are beginning to focus on our plans for next year. The Adopt-A-School program would not be able to function without the support of our volunteers from around the world. Without them and their contributions, we wouldn’t be able to deliver the donated school supplies to the communities at the beginning of the Peruvian school year. Our program volunteers contribute financially through a mandatory trip donation as well as providing their physical support and presence while they are in Peru.

If you’d like experience these beautiful places and meet some incredible people, consider volunteering with the Adopt-A-School program and join us in our travels to the rainforest in the spring: http://conapac.org/2016AmazonRainforestiBookletShort.pdf. If traveling to the Amazon is not for you, and you would like to contribute in a different way, please find a link to donate here: http://detroitzoo.org/support/give/adopt-a-school/.

– Carla Van Kampen is a curator of education for the Detroit Zoological Society. The Adopt-A-School program provides donated educational materials and supplies for schools in rural Amazonia. The DZS has partnered with Conservacion de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru (CONAPAC) in this conservation and education program since 1999.

Notes from the Field: Visiting Schools Along the Napo River in Peru

December 7, 2015February 2, 2017 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

We’ve traded in the “mototaxis” for boats as we moved from Iquitos into the rainforest at Explorama’s Explornapo Lodge along the Napo River in Peru. It’s interesting – when you look straight down at the water, it is a milky shade of brown, but when looking further out, the reflection of the clouds and blue sky give the impression that the Amazon River is actually blue, which it is not. The scenery is green and lush, as we expect, but now that the water level is lower, we can see how aggressive it is when the river rises. We know how fierce yet resilient nature can be. The mud is sculpted like artwork in places high above the current water line. In many places, green plants have taken over the steep mud cliffs, growing where water stands for months of the year. Birds are flying around checking out the water below, and there is a sense of tranquility from the wind and noise from the boat as we travel from place to place.

All of this boat travel means that we’ve completed the first week of evaluations, having visited 29 schools as part of the Detroit Zoological Society’s Adopt-A-School program. We can’t all visit each of these communities in this time frame, so we spread out and meet up every night for a recap of what is happening in each community. Common issues that come up revolve mostly around water. Due to flooding, some schools weren’t able to hold classes for up to four months of this school year. Some don’t have enough time to grow crops between the flooding, and almost all communities are having trouble with proper trash disposal. Being here in the rainforest and immersed in this environment leads me to question what is the best solution for this situation. There aren’t garbage boats that come through these communities to pick up trash, so what are they expected to do with it? This is one of the reasons why this program is so important – we focus on education, including education about sustainability and preservation of the environment.

I’ve enjoyed visiting many communities this week, but Canal Pinto was one of the most impactful experiences for me. It was obvious the two teachers in the community had everything under control. You could tell by looking at the students, the classrooms, and their interactions with students that this community was in good hands. As I looked around the beautiful kindergarten classroom, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen elsewhere. Recycled plastic bottles, cut and painted, neatly labeled with student names. Inside each cup was a toothbrush. Hanging on the shelf next to each toothbrush was a washcloth. The students are learning to take care of themselves and to reuse items they have around them. This shows these children – at a very early age – the importance of helping to conserve items and take care of themselves, hopefully habits that will help them and the environment for years to come.

We have a few days left of reviews before we head home. We will be soaking in the heat and humidity while we can before coming back to the much cooler north. Adios for now!

Greenprint: Understanding Green Literacy

November 30, 2015November 25, 2015 / detroitzoo / 1 Comment

Would you support the expansion of the Michigan bottle deposit law to include bottled water? How about requiring our public schools to include environmental education at all grade levels? Or requiring companies to use only recyclable packaging with their goods? According to a recent survey carried out through the Detroit Zoological Society’s Greenprint, these are just a few of the efforts that Detroiters support to improve our community’s environmental efforts.

Through this survey, we sought to understand “green literacy” in the community, and conducted it in partnership with local environmental organizations, educational institutions and other groups. Our goal was to determine how greater Detroit residents view and understand environmental and conservation issues. Not surprisingly, the survey highlights a community with a personal commitment to environmental concerns that is supportive of public policies to protect our environment and resources.

Michele Arquette-Palermo, program director of the Clinton River Watershed Council and one of our partner organizations on the survey, said that as an environmental educator in southeast Michigan for the last 15 years, she’s very happy to see evidence that reaffirms that environmental education influences attitudes and actions.

The survey also suggests that our community would like to have greater access to public transit, at home recycling programs and access to food with the environment in mind.

The online survey was carried out by Belden Russonello Strategists, a Washington, D.C.-based public opinion research firm, and was completed by 1,000 residents ages 18 and older who reside in a four-county area that includes Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne.

In addition to the DZS and the Clinton River Watershed Council, other partners include Kurt R. Metzger, mayor of Pleasant Ridge and director emeritus of Data Driven Detroit, DTE Energy, Lawrence Technological University, The Nature Conservancy and Wayne State University, among others.

To read more about this survey, including all of the questions presented, please visit: http://dzoo.org/greensurveyreport.

– Beth Wallace is the manager of sustainability for the Detroit Zoological Society.

Education: Adopt-A-School in Peru

November 20, 2015February 2, 2017 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Most days don’t start with a walk through a construction site and a “mototaxi” ride to get into the office, but today it did. It also included watching an iguana outside of the office window as it rested against the tree branch soaking in the Amazonian heat.

Currently, I am in Iquitos, Peru, preparing for evaluations in 53 rural communities along the Amazon and Napo Rivers. This is part of our Adopt-A-School program that the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) supports in conjunction with an organization called Conservacion de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru, A.C. (CONAPAC), based out of Iquitos.

We work together to bring conservation awareness to these communities as well as provide opportunities for education. Each spring, the DZS leads groups of volunteers down to Peru to deliver school supplies to these communities. In the fall, as the schools wrap up their school year, we send DZS staff to attend these evaluations to check in with communities on how well they are using their supplies, how well the students are learning and how well they are maintaining the environment around their communities. That’s what DZS Education Specialist Adam Dewey and I are here to accomplish.

Although I’ve attended the school deliveries in the past, this is my first opportunity to be here for the evaluation component. I’m looking forward to seeing what the communities look like without the festivities that the school supply deliveries bring. We will see students in school, see how they learn and all that they’ve been able to accomplish this past year. We will talk with leaders within the program to see how well they’ve maintained and supported the service projects that have been completed within their communities. We will also see the new water filtration systems in use in each of the schools. Clean drinking water has been an additional project for CONAPAC, and one that has helped to keep children in these communities healthy, so I am especially looking forward to seeing this in action.

Soon, we will be heading down the river to rustic lodges in beautifully remote areas, where hot water isn’t an option, and electricity is only found in the dining hall. I am looking forward to being immersed in the rainforest for the next two weeks, spending time in these communities and visiting with the amazing people that live here. Check back soon to hear more about the program and our upcoming adventures in the communities!

– Carla Van Kampen is a curator of education for the Detroit Zoological Society.

Education: Compassion Footprint

November 13, 2015November 25, 2015 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

“Every product, every action and every lifestyle decision can be a choice to harm less.” – Zoe Weil

Every day we make choices. We decide what to wear, what to eat and which products to use. Each of these actions has an impact with implications we may not immediately think about.

Much like we can minimize our ecological footprint and reduce our impact on the planet by making greener choices, we can also work to increase our compassion footprint by making kinder choices.

We can consider the impact of our decisions by exploring two questions:

What are the effects of this item or activity, both positive and negative, on animals and the environment?
Are there any alternatives that may be less harmful or even provide some benefit?

For example, upon examination, we discover that conventional coffee is grown in areas of the rainforest that have been “clear cut”, which means that the trees have all been removed, which negatively impacts ecosystems and inhabitants. Alternatively, shade-grown coffee is grown under the canopy layer of trees, which not only preserves native trees, this method also conserves habitat for many animals.

When we take a moment to examine the products we’re purchasing, it enables us to make the best choice possible for people, animals and the planet. This enables us to make knowledgeable decisions on how to walk softly and treat the Earth’s creatures gently.

Whether we choose to purchase cruelty-free products, adopt a companion animal or attend an animal-free circus, there are lots of ways to increase our compassion footprint. How have you expanded your compassion footprint by being kind to animals? Share your stories with us!

– Lisa Forzley is the humane education manager for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the Berman Academy for Humane Education.

Education: Humane Horticulture with Children’s Village

October 15, 2015November 25, 2015 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

For more than six years, the Detroit Zoological Society’s Berman Academy for Humane Education has led a gardening program with Oakland County Children’s Village that helps to instill reverence and respect for wildlife and wild places with the 12-17-year-old boys residing there. Children’s Village provides a safe, structured environment for youth that includes secure detention, residential treatment and shelter care services. While there are approximately 16 to 20 teens that participate in the garden program at any given time, the resident population changes regularly, so we’ve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of boys through the course of this program.

The boys implement the garden from start to finish, and I work right alongside them with Claire Lannoye-Hall, a DZS curator of education. We incorporate a number of projects throughout the year, in addition to cultivating a fruitful harvest. A lot of emphasis is placed on how we can humanely interact with the wildlife that we find in and around the garden, which includes implementing measures that humanely deter wildlife from eating our cherished produce. For example, we’ve built a fence, made wind chimes out of discarded DVDs, and used cayenne pepper flakes to discourage the resident groundhog from nibbling on our plants. The young gardeners learn to avoid some conventional deterrents that are not humane, like predator urines for example, as the urine is often harvested from animals that reside on fur farms in deplorable conditions.

While this program mainly takes place in the summer months, we still visit the boys on a regular basis throughout the rest of the year. It’s important for us to have a consistent presence – for the boys to know that they can depend on us showing up. One of our favorite winter projects is making fleece toys for dogs that reside in local shelters. After the boys finish, I deliver the toys and take pictures of the dogs having fun with their new playthings. The boys take great delight in seeing the pictures and knowing they’ve brought some joy to these pups. Another project we’ve done for the past few years is making Valentine’s Day cards for pediatric patients at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, using pressed flowers from our garden. It’s quite heartwarming to see how thoughtful the boys are when crafting their messages and designing the cards. Our projects are often centered around being kind to others, as there’s research that shows when you’re kind to someone else, it helps to foster empathy within.

One of our favorite projects is our photography project in which the boys take pictures of the garden and surrounding area. It’s amazing to see them take a picture of a bee resting on a sunflower that they’ve planted from seed or a tiny tree frog climbing on the side of a raised bed that they made with their own hands. There’s a lot of delight and wonder that comes from observing nature from behind the lens of a camera.

As you can imagine, our garden program is always one of the highlights of my week. I look forward to see how it continues to unfold in years to come.

Lisa Forzley is the humane education manager for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the Berman Academy for Humane Education.

Education: Summer Camp to Remember

September 30, 2015September 30, 2015 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Were there any summer camp experiences that changed your life? For one 8-year-old attendee of the Detroit Zoo’s Summer Safari Camp, the world is a lot bigger, his voice more strong.

The Detroit Zoological Society offers many education programs for children of all ages, and Asher, 8, had a particular interest in what is known as the Eco Camp. His mom, Amy, said that while Asher has always been empathetic towards animals, having the opportunity to learn more about the Zoo and the animals residing there was exciting to him.

David Gakure, Detroit Zoological Society education specialist

One aspect of camp in particular stuck out the most for Asher: storytelling time. Education Specialist David Gakure, who was born and raised in the Republic of Kenya, encourages children to find their voice. He aims to create a place where children feel comfortable to speak up and share their stories. David uses a variety of methods to help children feel comfortable and bring out their voice. He encourages children to share stories about animals and nature by prompting them with questions. Every time the opportunity arose to tell a story, Asher always raised his hand. At the end of camp, David encouraged the children to go out and write down their stories. Asher took the idea and ran with it, writing a 12-page short story, titled “The Fox in the Stormy Night”, as well as a book of 14 animal poems, called “The Marching Lion”. He mailed copies of his work to the Detroit Zoo, much to the delight of staff. Asher’s mom, Amy, said he has written 10 more short stories since.

Amy was thrilled with Asher’s experience at the Zoo.

“Asher has always had a natural talent for writing, but his time at the Zoo really helped to bring the talent forward,” she said. “He had an unstructured space to share his stories; it encouraged him to share them in a way where he always felt comfortable. He wasn’t shut down.”

Finding your voice and sharing it with others is not always easy, especially for children. Asher didn’t realize how big his voice truly was until his experience at Summer Safari Camp.

Click here to learn more about the Zoo’s education programs.

Education: Making Thoughtful Pet Choices

September 17, 2015 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Lisa Forzley is the humane education manager for the Detroit Zoological Society and oversees the Berman Academy for Humane Education.

The Detroit Zoological Society frequently receives calls from people who have purchased an exotic animal such as an iguana or a parrot and have discovered that they are unable or unwilling to provide the specialized – and often expensive – care the animal needs. In 2014, we received 84 phone calls or emails regarding reptiles alone! We hear comments such as, “I didn’t know that a parrot could live to be almost 100 years old” or “I had no idea that an iguana could grow to be more than 5 feet long.”

Unfortunately, the ever-growing exotic pet trade creates situations that signiﬁcantly compromise the animals’ welfare and result in people turning to the Detroit Zoo for help. Although we wish we could provide sanctuary for all animals in need, we are unable to accept them in nearly all cases.

Making a good pet choice is important – both for you and for the animal you will potentially be bringing into your home. Here are a few questions to get you started before adopting an animal:

Am I able to meet the animal’s physical and psychological needs for his or her entire life?
Do I have the time and the money needed to properly take care of this animal?
Do local ordinances or laws prohibit owning this kind of animal?
Will my veterinarian be able to provide his or her medical care?
How much am I able to spend on veterinary costs?
What will I do if there is a problem?
Will this animal get along with animals that are already in my home?

Remember that dogs and cats have changed over several thousand years of living with humans and are the best nonhuman companions for us. Humane societies and rescue organizations are great resources to ﬁnd a dog or cat for your family. If you’re ready to adopt, join us this weekend at Meet Your Best Friend at the Zoo, one of the nation’s largest off-site companion animal adoption events, where hundreds of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens will be available for immediate adoption to loving homes. You can also visit http://www.petﬁnder.com to ﬁnd rescue organizations located nearby. They’ll be able to support you in ﬁnding the perfect companion animal for your family!

– Lisa Forzley

Veterinary Care: Educating Future Vets

August 19, 2015August 18, 2015 / detroitzoo / Leave a comment

Dr. Ann Duncan is the chief veterinarian for the Detroit Zoological Society.

Earlier this month, the Detroit Zoological Society’s veterinary team had the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of seventh graders, as we helped them explore their interest in veterinary medicine. This was the second summer that we’ve worked with our talented education department to offer this very special Summer Safari Camp experience. During this particular weeklong camp, the students learn about zoo medicine in general, hear stories about the babies we’ve cared for in our nursery, and practice placing a bandage on a limb (of a stuffed animal). They also spend some time in our laboratory to see how blood, urine, feces and other samples can provide valuable information about an individual’s health.

To put into practice what they learned during camp, we challenged the students with a weeklong (pretend) case involving a female otter. The students met with a zookeeper to gather a complete medical history, and then helped develop a diagnostic plan, interpreted bloodwork and radiographs and ultimately made the decision that the otter needed surgery. To prepare for “surgery”, the students practiced their surgical and suturing skills on bananas. On the last day of camp, we invited the students to the surgical suite in the Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex. There, we showed them how they would prepare themselves and their patient for surgery and how to carefully handle surgical instruments. After our student surgeons made a delicate abdominal incision on our stuffed otter “patients”, each student was able to explore the abdomen to find a coin foreign body. Then, each student placed several sutures in both the deep “tissues” and “skin”, just like real surgeons!! And of course, all of the otters made a full recovery after their efforts.

It was fun to work with the students throughout the week. They were very attentive and engaged during camp, and it was very rewarding to watch their curiosity and skills grow during their time at camp. Even if these students decide that veterinary medicine is not the career for them, I am confident that their interest in medicine and in providing the best care for animals will be lasting.

– Dr. Ann Duncan

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