Lincoln Park Zoo Gets Admirable Nod on International Stage

The Lincoln Park Zoo received high honors Tuesday from a national organization committed to conservation, education, science and recreation. 

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums has awarded Top Honors to the local nonprofit in International Conservation for the Serengeti Health Initiative, a project aimed at saving human and animal lives in Tanzania through vaccinations for preventable diseases. 

The award recognizes, "exceptional efforts toward regional habitat preservation, species restoration, and support of biodiversity in the wild," according to a zoo news release.

“The Lincoln Park Zoo is a proven leader in international wildlife conservation,” AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy said, in the release. “While all AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums make conservation a top priority, this award brings well-deserved recognition to Lincoln Park Zoo for making a positive impact on the community and wildlife living in, and near, Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.”

African lions are experiencing precipitous decline throughout their range due to habitat loss, hunting and disease, zoo officials said. 

The Serengeti—one of only six ecosystems that contain 1,000 or more African lions—is essential to their continued existence. Yet one-third of the lion population in Serengeti was lost due to disease, and African wild dogs were completely wiped out in the early 1990s, officials said.

"Since 2003, the Serengeti Health Initiative team has traveled to small towns and remote villages in northern Tanzania administering rabies and distemper vaccines to local domestic dogs in an effort to shield the park’s wildlife from preventable killer diseases," according to the release. 

Also, more than one million dogs have been inoculated as part of the project. This year alone, more than 22,000 vaccinations have been administered. 

“Anna Czupryna, Chunde Bigambo and the rest of the Serengeti Health Initiative team working in Tanzania have made a remarkable impact on the entire region," Kevin Bell, CEO and President of Lincoln Park Zoo, said. "They’ve successfully educated and empowered the communities, getting them excited about participating in these vaccination programs aimed at protecting them, their working dogs and the rare wildlife they live adjacent too."

He calls the project "one of a kind," saying it serves as an "excellent example of what a small group of people can do to make a big difference in eradicating rabies." 

The AZA International Conservation award announcement comes at a time when the threat and impact of rabies infection is taking the world stage. 

According to the World Health Organization, 55,000 people die of rabies infection every year. Many of them are children and nearly all of these deaths take place in Africa and Asia. 

And, Sept. 28 is World Rabies Day—it's dedicated to raising awareness about this preventable disease and actions being taken to save lives in the developing world.

"Thanks to the work of the Serengeti Health Initiative, there have been no cases of rabies in the vaccination zone in recent years," zoo officials said. "Approximately 150 human lives are saved from rabies infections every year, and countless domestic dogs, lions, hyenas and other wild animals have also been protected." 

Additionally, African wild dogs have returned to the ecosystem after being absent some 20 years, the lion population has rebounded, and populations of other vulnerable native species have been given a much-needed chance to recover.

Collaborative partners on Lincoln Park Zoo’s Serengeti Health Initiative include: MSD Animal Health (generously donates the vaccines free of charge); Paul G. Allen Global School of Animal Health—Washington State University; University of Glasgow; Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI); Tanzanian National Parks (TANAPA); Tusk Trust; University of Illinois at Chicago; University of Minnesota; Princeton University.

Editor's note: The above information was provided by the Lincoln Park Zoo.