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National Geographic, Busch Entertainment Launch Conservation Initiative
Initial Projects Will Help Save Manatees and Lions
TAMPA, Fla. (July 16, 2003)—National Geographic and Busch Entertainment Corporation are teaming up to help with urgent conservation concerns worldwide. A new, joint annual conservation initiative was announced by National Geographic President and CEO John Fahey during the sixth National Geographic World Championship international geography competition held at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Fla., on July 15 and 16.
Through the National Geographic Conservation Trust and the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, the organizations will support and promote two conservation projects each year — one marine-based, the other terrestrial. This year the two projects will focus on Florida manatees and wild lions in Kenya.
"Conservation is at the heart of the mission of National Geographic," said Fahey. "We are delighted to be partnering with SeaWorld and Busch Gardens to identify and solve pressing conservation problems around the world. We also plan to encourage additional funding and rally public interest in the conservation cause."
Virginia Busch, president of the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, said, "By joining forces with National Geographic, we want to shine some much deserved light on innovative, solution-oriented projects that benefit both animals and people. Together, our two organizations hope to make significant strides in wildlife conservation."
The manatee project will study new sonar technology that could be used to curb manatee deaths. Collisions with boats represent the majority of human-caused manatee fatalities. Successful efforts to reduce these mortalities could make the difference between population growth and decline in this endangered species. The sonar technology project will be headed by marine biologist Ann Bowles of the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.
University of California, Berkeley, research biologist Laurence Frank, a long-time National Geographic grantee, hopes to prevent the free fall of the wild lion population in Kenya. While conservation of rhinos, elephants and great apes has received tremendous attention and funding, the decline of lions and other predators outside parks has gone virtually unnoticed.
Over the last five years, through the Laikipia Predator Project, which was independently supported by both National Geographic and Busch Entertainment, Frank has observed that a primary cause of the decline in lion populations stems from humans killing the lions to protect livestock. Funds from the new conservation partnership will allow Frank to apply principles learned in earlier research to preserve and expand a critically important lion population in Kenya's Masailand through community education and conservation measures designed to alleviate the predator-human conflict.
National Geographic has been funding scientific research for more than a century. In December 2001 the Society established the Conservation Trust, a grant-making body to support conservation activities around the world. Grants are awarded for innovative projects that contribute significantly to the preservation and sustainable use of the Earth's biological and cultural resources. Additional information on the Conservation Trust is available at www.nationalgeographic.com/research.
For more than 40 years the Anheuser Busch Adventure Parks have initiated and supported wildlife conservation as well as animal rescue, research and education efforts. Earlier this year, Busch created the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, a private charitable foundation committed to increasing the company's $2.5 million annual contributions for worldwide environmental, research education and animal rescue programs. More information on this program is available at www.swbg-conservationfund.org
Contact: Mimi Koumanelis, 202/857-5814, mkoumane@ngs.org.
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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.
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