Good News: We Are Protecting Peter Rabbit’s Cousins in the Wild
If you tuned in to today’s Facebook Live, you got to spend some quality time with the adorable Peter Rabbit and our amazing animal care team. That team is working around the clock to provide the best care possible care for Peter and his family of Schmidt’s red-tailed monkey. We are also committed to protecting his wild Schmidt’s red-tailed guenon cousins in Africa!
Here are ways the Houston Zoo protects Schmidt’s red-tailed monkey in the wild:
We partner with Gorilla Doctors, an organization of Rwandan, Congolese and Ugandan veterinarians based in Central Africa, that provide medical care to wild primates in need. They do house calls for wildlife in the forest. In 2019, Gorilla Doctors staff performed 144 routine health checks on gorillas in the wild. Additionally, they completed 29 medical interventions on gorillas in need, removing snares and/or providing medications to improve the health of wild gorillas.- We recycle electronics at our front gate and hold an annual Houston-wide competition to see what organization can recycle the most electronics between January and April of each year, called Action for Apes. Recycling electronics helps to protect guenons because our devices like cell phones, contain a material called tantalum which comes from the ground in Central Africa, which happens to be where animals like guenons and gorillas live. When the metal is taken from these habitats to be used in electronics, the homes of chimps, gorillas and an array of other animals become disrupted. By recycling these used items such as cell phones with the Houston Zoo, you help protect animals like guenons and gorillas that live in areas where cell phone materials are mined. In 2019 alone, Houstonians recycled 1,544 electronic devices to help protect Schmidt’s red-tailed guenon.
By supporting the Houston Zoo Fund you are helping us with Peter Rabbit and his wild Schmidt’s red-tailed guenon cousins in Africa! Thank you for enabling us to continue our mission to connect communities with animals and inspire action to save wildlife.
