Celebrating Giraffe Quarters for Conservation Project
May 2022 – When you visit Tumbili, Ohe, Mahali and Panya at CMZoo, you’re helping establish new populations of wild giraffe in Uganda. That’s because wild giraffe receive help from our Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) program! Since the program began in 2008, guests and members have contributed more than $4 million to support CMZoo’s conservation partners around the world, who fight to save species like giraffe. We’ve been celebrating hitting the $4 million milestone all week with stories about the animals that benefit from your generosity.
When most people think of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, they remember their interaction with our iconic 17-member giraffe tower. Because we see them relatively often in human care, it’s unknown to many that giraffe are facing a silent extinction in the wild. Due to threats including habitat loss, snaring and disease, populations of wild giraffe continue to decline. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) now estimates that only 68,293 individuals remain in the wild, down from an estimated 140,000 in 1998.
Operation Twiga, a partnership between the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), and supported by CMZoo’s Q4C, works to create new populations of giraffe by transporting individuals to safer habitats. Thanks to guest and member contributions through our Quarters for Conservation program, CMZoo and the Kratt Family Foundation have contributed over $450,600 in support of these wild giraffe conservation efforts. This funding has allowed CMZoo staff to participate in five trips to central Africa for giraffe relocation efforts and conduct important research that could help wild giraffe overcome skin disease.