On Saturday, May 18, 2019, the Conservancy participated in the Cosley Zoo’s Endangered Species Day event. Cosley Zoo is an AZA accredited facility that is home to native Illinois wildlife. Their natural habitat exhibits display white-tailed deer, red fox, bobcats, a coyote, a black-crowned night heron, Blanding’s turtles, and more. Each year, Cosley selects several large-scale conservation initiatives with whom to partner. The zoo is also involved in the rearing of young Blanding’s turtles, an endangered Illinois native reptile, and releasing them into their natural wetland habitat. Cosley Zoo is a center for animal education and conservation and is always welcoming to the Snow Leopard Conservancy as we share the message of conservation of wildlife. Their Earth Day event that we were planning on attending was unfortunately cancelled due to snow, but the weather for the Endangered Species Day event was beautiful, and attendance was good. Our outreach educator, Shavaun Kidd spoke about snow leopard conservation to attendees, who also had the opportunity to purchase a variety of fund-raising items from snow leopard plush to our Conservancy shirts. We look forward to being part of next year’s events.
