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Betty Willis introduced speaker Laurel
Askue, Director of the Academy for Conservation Training (ACT)
of Zoo Atlanta. She is a member of the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums, the International Zoo Educators Associations and an
editorial board member of the journal India, China and America
Institute.
Ms. Askue has made six trips to China (and is about to make
another one) working with ACT to both educate and train zoo
directors and stakeholders in China. The entrée for this
connection is Zoo Atlanta's contract with China to keep Giant
Pandas. This contract is a 10-year term and is up for renewal
next year. The program works with 45 zoos and wildlife parks
in 26 of the 34 provinces in China. There are over 400 zoos in
China overall.
Zoos in China are relatively young with most established in
the 1950s. They do not have an extensive history of using
their facilities for education and conservation efforts but
they most are anxious to learn. The ACT program is designed to
improve the three keys for change: knowledge, attitude and
behavior. The program works to model Chinese zoos on the
successes of zoos in the U.S. The overall key is to connect
people with the animals on both an emotional and academic
levels.
The overall goal of ACT is to develop a network of trained
zoo educators in China to support conservation efforts through
education in zoos. The training has four specific goals: (1)
to develop a professional training academy; (2) to establish a
network of trained conservation educators; (3) to gain support
from zoo directors; and (4) to transfer ACT program management
to the Chinese themselves. As example of the specific steps,
the training academy focuses on the following: a five day
best-practices training, a workshop on exhibit design, and
training in productive interaction with zoo visitors,
especially children.
The book donated to the DeKalb Library System in honor of
our speaker was How Many Baby Pandas? by Sandra
Markle.
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