SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund

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SEAWORLD & BUSCH GARDENS CONSERVATION FUND AWARDS A RECORD $1.3 MILLION

Independent Non-Profit Foundation Provides Funds to 112 Conservation and Research Projects in More Than 30 Countries

St. Louis, Mo. (April 13, 2007) – The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, a non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting species research, habitat protection, conservation education and animal rescue, today made grants of more than $1.3 million to 112 environmental and research organizations worldwide. The Fund also pledged $85,000 in awards for schools and community groups honored in the annual SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards.

The grants represent a record one-year total for the Fund, launched four years ago by Busch Entertainment Corporation, the family entertainment subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch. The foundation was created to supplement the already substantial donations made to environmental groups by BEC, Anheuser-Busch and the company’s nine theme parks.

With today’s grants and pledges, the Fund will have committed more than $3.5 million in support of organizations that share its mission to help animals in need, encourage environmental education, and to conserve wild life and wild places. Donations to the Fund come from BEC, its parks, Anheuser-Busch and the company’s family of wholesalers, park visitors and the general public. Information and online donations can be made at www.swbg-conservationfund.org.

"We are very pleased to support so many worthy projects, individuals and organizations," said Fund President Virginia M. Busch. "While diverse in geography, species, and approach, these projects share a common trait – focus and passion at the community level. This is real-world conservation in action, and we’re honored to help."

Among the projects funded in this grant session:

The Wild Canid Survival and Research Center near St. Louis, Mo., will receive $20,000 in support of a program to conserve the Mexican gray wolf.
WildAid will receive more than $20,000 to rehabilitate and release pig-tailed macaques rescued from the Cambodian wildlife trade.
UConservation International will receive nearly $20,000 to fund a program to empower community participation in the conservation of the Asian arowana in Cambodia. Arowana are freshwater bony fishes.
Painted Dog Conservation will receive nearly $30,000 for an environmental education program and bush camp for children in Zimbabwe.
Fauna and Flora International will receive $15,000 for a program to conserve marine turtles on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua.
World Wildlife Fund will receive $20,000 to further its work in ending the illegal trade of the endangered Asian pangolin, an armored anteater. Pangolins are hunted for bush meat and for use in traditional Asian medicine.
The Nature Conservancy will receive $15,000 to conserve endangered West Indian manatees of the Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.
Oceanides, a conservation group in Mexico, will receive $15,000 to study the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in the northern Sea of Cortez.
The Wildlife Conservation Society will receive $15,000 to assess disease threats to endangered African wild dogs in Kenya.

A full list of the groups funded during this granting session is available online at www.swbg-conservationfund.org. Unlike most charities, all donations to the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund reach the foundation’s target organizations. Busch Entertainment Corporation, in addition to its cash donations, covers 100 percent of the Fund’s administrative and development costs.

The SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards are given each year to school groups who plan and execute programs to improve the environment or enhance awareness of conservation issues. Since 1993, more than $1.5 million has been donated to schools and community groups in 35 states.

The mission of the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund is:

To work with purpose and passion on behalf of wildlife and habitats worldwide, encouraging sustainable solutions through support of species research, animal rescue and rehabilitation and conservation education.

In addition to supporting rescue and rehabilitation efforts for bald eagles and other raptors in the U.S., the Fund is helping recovery efforts for the Philippine eagle and Spanish Imperial eagle, among the most endangered birds in the world.

Photo credit: Joel Sartore

Over the past two years alone, the Fund has granted nearly $50,000 to an innovative and successful breeding program for the Mexican gray wolf - the rarest wolf in the world.

In Belize the Fund is helping researchers address the increase in watercraft-related injuries and mortality among Antillean manatees. The resulting data is helping the local community effectively manage boating activities while protecting this endangered species.

For more information, contact Fred Jacobs at 314.613.6077
Fred.Jacobs@Anheuser-Busch.com.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay welcomes the birth of baby Geri into the park's black rhino population. Busch Gardens' veterinarians conduct blood studies on the black rhino both in the park and out in the wild to better understand the health of the endangered species.