Community Shares 30 Years 30 Stories

For 30 years, Community Shares has been a strong supporter of nonprofits focusing on Social Justice, Animal Welfare and the Environment. Over the coming months, we will be sharing 30 stories from our 30 years of community change.

Protecting Bonobos

Bonobo at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Credit: Richard Brodzeller, ZSM

Highly intelligent, playful, and known for their peace-making, bonobos - a rare great ape - live in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa. This part of the world is beset by war and extreme poverty – factors that fuel the illegal hunting of bonobos and threaten their survival. The Zoological Society of Milwaukee is leading the fight to protect the endangered bonobo through its renowned Bonobo & Congo Biodiversity Initiative (BCBI).

Since 1997, the BCBI has worked in the Salonga National Park in the heart of the Congo River Basin to locate bonobo populations, study their habitat, provide material support to the park and train park guards to protect this species in this immense rain-forest wilderness and World Heritage Site.

ZSM’s Dr. Gay Reinartz working with Congolese research trainees in the Salonga National Park Credit: ZSM

In recognition of its conservation efforts, the Zoological Society’s Bonobo & Congo Biodiversity Initiative won the International Conservation Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) in September, 2011.

“The Zoological Society of Milwaukee is taking the lead in international wildlife conservation,” says Jim Maddy, AZA President and CEO.

To learn more about bonobo conservation and to support the Zoological Society of Milwaukee’s BCBI program, please visit the Zoological Society of Milwaukee’s website.

Listen to a 2009 interview with the Zoological Society’s Dr. Gay E. Reinartz, who directs the BCBI in Congo.

ZSM’s Patrick Guislain (right) instructing Salonga park guards on map reading and navigation Credit: ZSM

The mission of the Zoological Society is to take part in conserving wildlife and endangered species, to educate people about the importance of wildlife and the environment, and to support the Milwaukee County Zoo. The major ZSM conservation programs address conservation of endangered species in the wild, endangered species breeding in captivity, conservation education, monitoring high-risk species, habitat preservation and training of international staff and students in conservation biology.

Community Shares of Greater Milwaukee is passionately committed to raising money for our more than 50 nonprofit members through employee giving in area workplaces. By donating to Community Shares, you help us help them make Milwaukee a better place to live.

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~ Mark Sabljak, The Business Journal