The Woodland Park Zoo invites everyone to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the safe way! Be a sofa scientist, the Zoo recommends, and celebrate the beauty and magic of plant earth from home this year.
On Earth Day, April 22nd, at 6:30p, the Zoo will host a Virtual Town Hall (click here,) sponsored by Amazon. This free panel discussion will connect Zoo staff in a discussion of the Zoo animal’s care during this pandemic and the unprecedented closure. The Virtual Town Hall will be led by Zoo President and CEO Alejandro Grajal.
Woodland Park has other suggestions for ways you can honor the earth, while at home:
- Report sightings of urban carnivores on org (click here,) to help Seattle University’s Seattle Urban Carnivore Project and the Zoo track how coyotes, foxes, racoons, bobcats, bears and cougars live and interact with people in our region.
- Help the Zoo’s conservation scientists with their research by checking out different camera trap photos on the org website (click here.) Identify the wildlife pictured in the photos, and help advance research by Seattle University and the Washington Wolverine Project.
- From April 24th – 27th, the City Nature Challenge encourages everyone to start adding observations of wild plants and animals around your home on the iNaturalist app. This on-line hub is for tracking biodiversity around the world. Find out more about the City Nature Challenge on the Zoo website (click here.)
- Report your observations of butterflies for the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge, an effort to learn more about Monarch butterflies. If you see a Monarch butterfly anywhere in Washington State, take a photo and post it to iNaturalist to help this project.
- Discover local birds by using the Merlin Bird app to learn how to identify birds in your yard or neighborhood. Woodland Park Zoo works with other bird researchers in the shrub steppe habitats of eastern Washington to better understand and protect magnificent birds such as golden eagles, rough-legged hawks, and short-eared owls.
- Spring clean-out your used handheld electronics, such as cell phones, tablets or charging cords to save wild gorillas through ECO-CELL. This organization refurbishes, reuses and recycles electronics which reduces demand for the mineral coltan, mined where lowland gorillas live. Every charging cord and cell phone given to ECO-CELL through the Zoo gives us a ‘finder’s fee’ donated to wild gorilla conservation partners. Set aside your used electronics for deposit at the Zoo later this summer. Find out more at Zoo.org (click here.)
- Install a rain garden in your yard, to reduce pollution and flooding, and protect your home and wildlife. A rain garden allows water to soak in rapidly, limiting the amount of storm water that reaches streams and waterways. Find out more on the Seattle.gov website about being rainwise (click here.)
- Add native, drought-tolerant plants to your yard, to attract pollinators (bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies,) to your garden beds. Plant more edible plants, and consider shifting to a more plant-based diet.
- Consider making a donation, in honor of Earth Day, to support the Zoo and its work to care and conserve the many species housed here. Visit Zoo.org/relief to support the Zoo and its more than 900 animals during this unexpected shut-down. As a non-profit organization, the Zoo is relying on the community now more than ever to help these wonderful animals, and helping them to thrive.
The Zoo remains temporarily closed during the ‘Stay Home, Stay Healthy’ restrictions set by the State, for the safety of our community. Yet, the staff and veterinary teams continue their work to care for this incredible resource, and the critters that live there. Find out more about the extraordinary history and educational resources of the Woodland Park Zoo at Zoo.org