SAN DIEGO (Nov. 3, 2022) – On Jan. 2, 2023, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance—an international conservation organization with “two front doors”: the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park—will participate in the  134th Rose Parade presented by Honda, with a float celebrating the Safari Park’s 50th anniversary. The Safari Park opened in 1972 and since the beginning, saving species has been a key part of the Safari Park’s mission.

SAN DIEGO (Aug. 29, 2022) – Lucas, a prominent member of the San Diego Zoo’s African penguin colony who was diagnosed with a degenerative foot condition, has a new opportunity to thrive, thanks to intervention by the Zoo’s wildlife heath and wildlife care specialist teams. Team members—with the help of Thera-Paw, a national organization that designs and manufactures rehabilitative and assistive products for animals with special needs—created and fitted Lucas with custom orthopedic shoes made of neoprene and rubber, to prevent pressure sores from developing on his feet and ankle when he stands and walks.

SAN DIEGO (June 9, 2022) – The largest study ever conducted on a free-ranging population of rhinoceroses reveals that about one in every seven rhinos in a key South African national park has been infected with Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), the pathogen that causes bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The finding shines new light on the potential for diseases to disrupt global conservation efforts, and potentially increase risk to human health, if left unaddressed. 

SAN DIEGO (May 12, 2022) – A 3-month-old giraffe calf at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has received a new lease on life, thanks to swift intervention by the conservation organization’s wildlife health and wildlife care teams to correct abnormalities that threatened the calf’s survival. The female youngster—named Msituni (pronounced see tune neee), which means “in the forest” in Swahili— received a pair of specialized giraffe-patterned orthotic braces that attached to her front legs to help correct a hyperextension of the carpi, bones that are equivalent to those in the human wrist.

(KAHULUI, MAUI) – An ambitious effort to rescue four tiny birds deep in a thick Hawaiian rainforest saw its first taste of success last Sunday (Dec. 5, 2021), giving hope to a critically endangered species driven to the brink of extinction by malaria—an unfortunate consequence of climate change.