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World Zoos of Asia

Stay updated on what IZE members in Asia are doing to promote conservation efforts in their areas. Learn about education programs, browse the list of IZE members and their regions, and find contact information for the Regional Representative.

North and Southeast Asia
Regional Update
By Regional Representative
Joyce Kwok (May 2007)

Thanks to Shawn of Taipei Zoo for the production of the IZE 2007 calendar. Calendars were sent to all regional members in December 2007.

To better communicate with the zoos in China, I contacted the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens and organized a day visit for their members to Ocean Park Hong Kong on 8th March 2007. There were 29 delegates from 19 zoos/ institutions. During the visit, I introduced IZE to them and encouraged them to become IZE members. Some of them showed great interest about the next year’s conference in Australia. We also shared Ocean Park’s experience on education and conservation with all delegates.

The vision, mission and history of IZE were translated into Chinese and printed as leaflet. This will certainly help promote IZE with zoo educators in China.

The Singapore Zoo will host the Asian Zoo Educators’ Conference 2007 in Singapore from 6th to 10th September 2007. The theme is Engage, Educate and Conserve. All zoo and aquarium educators are welcome! READ THE FULL REPORT...

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South Asia
Regional Update
By Regional Representative Sally Walker (July 2008)

South Asia-Amphibian Ark Summer Alert Programme
Zoo Outreach Organisation

Zoo Outreach Organisation prepared special, easy-to-implement amphibian education materials to inaugurate South Asia’s AArk Summer Alert with some activity in accordance with World Environment Day 2008. Some of our SAN-IZE members had already ordered other materials and planned more complex programmes. They included this simple item with their programme after hearing from us.

The item consisted of an attractive sticker and a bookmark using AArk South Asia logo and some illustrated frog facts. By using this material alone, an educator could conduct a short awareness event for school children during World Environment Day and give each child a practical and fun item to take home. The objective of this small project was exactly that – to make it possible for many more people to be exposed to the Amphibian Crisis in whatever time could be allotted. The sticker and bookmark can be viewed here.

We produced 3000 bookmarks which were ordered by 28 people organising programmes for 30-50 children throughout India and one organiser from Bangladesh. A copy was provided for an educator in Nepal who printed their own material.

The institutions ordering the bookmarks (and some of them ordered other material) were 4 zoos, 7 schools, 12 Non-Governmental Organisations, 2 Government Institutions (museum and research organisation) and 3 forest department personnel. They utilised this material during World Environment Day to create awareness among their audience. The institutions using these materials updated us on the success of the programs. Two sample reports have been selected and summarised below.

World Environment Day Celebrations at the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, Pune

June 5th, 2008 would have been an ordinary day for the zoo, if it not for the educational material and bookmark /sticker received from Zoo Outreach Organisation. It was distributed amongst children and other visitors of the zoo. A Head Animal Keeper donned the Frog T-shirt and mask and carried a frog to educate zoo visitors about the importance of amphibians and their natural natural life-cycle. The manager of the Reptile section and another Zoo keeper distributed the bookmarks to children and explained why we should not kill frogs. Over 100 bookmarks were distributed to casual zoo visitors. The zoo staff and our visitors had a lot of fun learning about frogs' role in the environment. Submitted by: Director, Rajiv Gandhi Zoo, Pune, Maharashtra. Email: punezoo@vsnl.net

World Environment Day 2008 & South Asian AArk Summer Alert Programme

Zoo Outreach Organisation & the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation celebrated World Environment Day 2008 at V.O.C. Mini Zoo, Coimbatore. This was planned in collaboration with South Asian AArk Summer Alert programme. The two hour program was attended by a selected 19 students age 13-14, teachers from the Corporation High School and a volunteer. In an effort to introduce amphibians to students, a bookmark containing illustrated amphibian information was distributed to all them. The simple but attractive item helped students learn about three major groups of amphibians. Students were aware of frogs and toads but not about salamanders, caecilians or the amphibian crisis that they are facing. Through the programme and giveaway, they learned some basic facts about amphibians. This will relate nicely to the next programme, “Frogs Rock”, which is based on an Amphibian Ark education packet also developed by ZOO. Submitted by R. Marimuthu, S. Thirukumaran and B.A. Daniel. Email: marimuthu@zooreach.org and badaniel@zooreach.org

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Asia Membership List

The IZE Membership List is updated quarterly.
Institutional members are marked with an *.

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