Giant footsteps: The future of the Asian elephants in human care

Gerry Creighton has worked in Dublin Zoo since 1983, starting as a trainee keeper, before becoming a full-time zookeeper in 1986. He subsequently worked as Team Leader responsible for large apes, carnivores, and elephants for nearly ten years before becoming Zoo Operations Manager for animals and grounds in 2009. Gerry also holds an advisory role acting as elephant consultant for many international zoos. Gerry’s career has spanned several decades of exciting development, during which time Dublin Zoo has transformed from its Victorian beginnings in 1831 into a modern, vital and progressive European center for conservation, education and animal husbandry.

Mission: Wildlife

Julie Scardina has revolved her life around working with animals, educating the public and supporting conservation. From her first love of horses as a young girl to an animal training career and her longtime role as Animal Ambassador for SeaWorld & Busch Gardens, Julie utilizes her expertise in conservation, animal training and care to improve the lives of animals worldwide.

Uniquely, Julie holds the title as the most frequent guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and has appeared on NBC’s Today Show more than 100 times discussing animals and conservation. Julie also traveled the globe for years with Jack Hanna, appearing in his weekly show Animal Adventures.

Along with long-time friend Jeff Flocken, North American Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Julie co-authored the beautiful and inspiring book, Wildlife Heroes, highlighting 40 people around the globe who have dedicated their lives to saving species.

Julie serves on the boards of the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, the National Marine Mammal Foundation and the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders program, as well as the World Wildlife Fund National Council. Julie has visited all seven continents and travels annually to Africa, where she introduces groups to conservation successes and challenges on the ground.

Julie’s passion for wildlife and wild places is rivaled only by her commitment to showing others how to make a difference for the world we share. Whether Julie is speaking with school children, sharing the stories of amazing animals on TV, or working with other wildlife professionals, you cannot escape the enthusiasm, expertise, and joy she has for her life’s mission.

Can botanic gardens conserve all of the world’s rare and threatened plant species?

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (CZBG) is a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BCGI) and CREW (The Carl H. Lindner Jr. Family Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife) actively collaborates with them.

With a career spanning 25 years working in conservation, Paul joined BGCI as Secretary General in March 2015. He is the former Head of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) and, during his nine years at the helm, seeds from more than 25,000 plant species were conserved in the MSB. In addition, Paul promoted the concept of seed banks as a resource for human innovation, adaptation, and resilience, and, today, seeds from the MSB and its partner seed banks are being used in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and habitat restoration.

Paul trained as a plant ecologist and is a specialist in the plants and vegetation of southern Africa. He is the author of two field guides to the flora of south-central Africa, the editor of the Ecological Survey of Zambia and the co-author of the Vegetation Atlas of Madagascar.Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) was established in 1987 to link the botanic gardens of the world in a global network for plant conservation. BGCI is an independent UK charity with its head office located at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

BGCI’s membership and larger network have grown consistently over the years, and now includes more than 500 botanic gardens in 96 countries, on every continent. Our aim is to unite botanic gardens and other organizations committed to saving the world’s threatened plants.

BGCI supports the development and implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) at a global, regional, national, and local level. We work directly with our members and other plant conservation organizations, carrying out threat assessments, seed conservation, ecological restoration, plant health and education projects around the world.

In 2007, BGCI established an office at the South China Botanical Garden, Guangzhou and appointed a China Programme Coordinator. In the same year, BGCI moved its US office from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York to Chicago Botanic Garden and appointed a US Executive Director.

Money, myths & man-eaters: Big cat conservation in Tanzania and beyond

Amy is the Kaplan Senior Research Fellow in Felid Conservation at Oxford University and has 20 years experience working on large carnivores in Africa, specializing in human-carnivore conflict. She has an MSc from Oxford University and a Ph.D. from University College London and has published over 50 scientific papers and book chapters on large carnivore ecology and conservation. She is a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, the Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration, the African Lion Working Group, the IUCN Human-Wildlife Conflict task Force, and is a National Geographic Explorer. She has received multiple awards for her work, including the Rabinowitz-Kaplan Prize for the Next Generation in Wild Cat Conservation and the St Louis Zoo Conservation Award.

Amy established the Ruaha Carnivore Project, based in southern Tanzania, in 2009. The Ruaha landscape is one of the most important areas in the world for lions, leopards, and cheetahs, but has been largely ignored by researchers, making it hard to develop conservation and management plans. In addition, it has the highest rate of lion killing documented in East Africa, as lions and other carnivores impose high costs on poverty-stricken local people. Amy and her Tanzanian team are researching the ecology of these vital populations and working to reduce the pressing threat of human-carnivore conflict in this critical area. The project focuses on reducing carnivore attacks, providing local communities with real benefits from carnivore presence, and training the next generation of local conservation leaders. It has been a challenging endeavor given the remote location and the initial hostility of the Barabaig, who are the secretive and little-known tribe responsible for most lion-killing. In her talk, Amy will discuss the significance of this project, the difficulties of working in an area where witchcraft and mythology abound, and the conservation successes that are already emerging from this important work.