Did you know that 50% of the proceeds from Behind-the-Scenes tours at the Cincinnati Zoo goes to conservation? Our Hangin’ with the Hippos tour contributes to both hippo and vulture conservation! Thanks to the immense popularity of the hippo tours, we felt we had more than enough to share, so the Africa department decided to split the proceeds raised from those tours and began a partnership with the vulture conservation organization, Vulpro in 2018.
As always, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden loves to support organizations that empower communities and support coexistence. Vulpro is based in South Africa and does both of those things and so much more. The dedicated staff at Vulpro rehabilitate orphaned and injured vultures, participate in research, population supplementation, conservation breeding, education and awareness, breeding monitoring and biology and recently began focusing on breeding in Zoos for release into the wild. They actively work with the community through on-site educational programs and tours, a Vulture Champions program where they engage schools in areas surrounding vulture colonies, give talks at all sorts of community events, work with landowner engagement and support volunteers and post graduate students!
