The Ron Magill Conservation Endowment Support Report

SUPPORT

REPORT A look at the work, accomplishments and assistance we have provided together in support of wildlife conservation.

A LETTER FROM RON MAGILL

Dear Supporter, I hope that this finds you safe and healthy during these very challenging times. I thought long and hard before sending this package because I didn’t want it to be interpreted incorrectly. However, after considering many factors, I felt that it was important for me to do so.

First and foremost, I want to make it very clear that this is not a solicitation in any way as you have already given so much. This is simply a “report” on what your support has made possible with the only goal being to make you proud of having provided that support.

You are receiving this because of your sincere altruism and generosity which has allowed me the privilege of creating and growing an endowment for the conservation of wildlife that is what I am most proud of in my entire 40+ year career working with animals.

Though I have told this story many times, it bears repeating. I did not come to work at the zoo so many years ago to simply work for an attraction. In fact, I do not support ever taking animals out of the wild unless it is a last effort to save that individual’s life or a species from extinction. I wish we lived in a perfect world where there would be no need for zoos because everyone would be able to see animals in the wild where they 2

belong. Unfortunately, that is not the case and there is less and less wild for animals to live in.

Good accredited zoos provide invaluable windows to the world of wildlife that help plant a seed in those who can look at live animals eye to eye and hopefully develop a connection to those animals that inspire a respect and desire to protect them. I say that from experience because as a small boy growing up in New York City, it was visits to the Bronx Zoo that helped instill in me a passion for wildlife that has brought me to where I am today. It is important, however, to know the difference between an accredited zoological park and a roadside attraction that is posing as a zoo and is simply exploiting the animals under its care.

Having said that, I believe that for any accredited zoo to truly be a conservation institution, it MUST provide significant funding to protect the species in the wild of the animals that it chooses to display. For a zoo to spend millions of dollars on an exhibit without appropriating significant dollars toward the in-situ conservation of the animals that will be displayed in that exhibit, is unacceptable. This is what drove me to establish the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment.

By creating the endowment, I was able to create a sustainable source of funding that could only be used to protect animals in the wild areas that they naturally occur - not in the zoo. Over the years, the endowment has been able to provide tens of thousands of dollars annually to conservation projects around the world. The beauty of the endowment is that because of the way it is

structured, funding should be available in perpetuity.

This packet was put together to show you some of what your money has been able to do. It includes letters from some of the world’s most respected conservationists who are doing incredible boots-on-theground work to save some of the planet’s most beautiful and endangered wildlife.

I hope that when you see what you have been able to provide through your generosity and support, that you can take pride in knowing that your investment has and will continue to protect wildlife around the world for many years to come.

On a very personal note, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my dream of this endowment a reality.

Managing and developing this endowment validates me working at the zoo. My passion

is not keeping animals under human care, it is helping to ensure that wild animals can always live in the wild where they belong.

The fact is that if zoos are the last place for animals to safely survive, then zoos as institutions have failed in what should be their ultimate goal - to save wild animals in the wild places where they naturally occur.

There is an old saying that states, ‘We have not inherited this earth from our parents - we are borrowing it from our children.’

Thank you for contributing to what I feel is our moral obligation to protect our natural world for future generations. The fact is that wildlife is inextricably connected to all of us.

By protecting wildlife and wild places, we are indeed protecting ourselves.

With profound gratitude,

Ron Magill Zoo Goodwill Ambassador

3

FOREWORD The following is an excerpt from a letter written by Kartick Satyanarayan, serving as the perfect foreword to this report.

I am the co-founder and Chief Executive of Wildlife SOS based in India and have been involved in wildlife conservation efforts including research projects on a wide variety of species such as sloth bears, tigers, leopards and Asian elephants for the last 25 years.

My organization, Wildlife SOS, helped bring an end to the 400-year-old brutal practice of Dancing Bears where sloth bear cubs were illegally harvested from the forests of India and their mothers killed so the cubs could be trained for street entertainment.

I met Ron well over a decade ago when he traveled to India to learn first-hand about the efforts and challenges being faced in protecting and conserving its wildlife. In Ron, I saw a kindred spirit and felt an immediate connection that has developed into a treasured friendship.

Ron Magill’s dedication and commitment toward the protection of our world’s wildlife is driven by a passion that is unsurpassed. He serves as an inspiration and a role model for anyone who wants to protect our planet’s priceless natural treasures. Ron’s incredible ability to communicate is constantly planting seeds in people, especially our youth, to help inspire them to learn all they can about those treasures. There is an old saying that states, “In the end, we protect what we love, we love that we understand, and we understand what we are taught.” Through Ron’s many appearances on local, national, and international media platforms as a wildlife expert, he has made a profound impact teaching countless individuals to love wildlife and help protect it for future generations.

4

Over the years, Ron, through his conservation endowment, has provided thousands of dollars to several worthy conservation efforts across the world, including support to protect India’s wildlife. In addition, he has sponsored young volunteers to travel to India to assist us while gaining valuable experience regarding hands-on conservation efforts in the field. Ron has also hosted me several times in Miami so that I could give talks and lectures to packed venues helping to further engage and educate people in global conservation.

Ron is a remarkable leader and inspiring public speaker who understands the value of empowering others to believe in themselves while helping them make a positive impact on wildlife conservation and ecology. He has made significant contributions to a variety of conservation projects around the world and has established scholarships to support conservation research projects at several institutions. And though he has made enormous contributions of his own, his greatest legacy will be those countless individuals who he has inspired and will pass the torch on to future generations.

Most sincerely,

Kartick Satyanarayan Co-Founder, Chief Executive Wildlife SOS, India

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Local Support

6

Audubon Florida & Everglades National Park

7

Pelican Harbor

8

Wildlife Rescue of Dade County

9

Global Support

10

Harpy Eagle Project & Project Jaguars

11

HERD Elephant Orphanage

12

APPC Panama

13

Taronga Australia & Cheetah Conservation

14

Individual Support

16

Conservation Heroes Award

17

Conservation Scholarship

18

5

LOCAL SUPPORT Please enjoy the following letter excerpts from local organizations doing incredible work in our backyard that the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment has supported. Among others, we have contributed to organizations including Audubon Florida, Everglades National Park, Pelican Harbor, and the Wildlife Rescue of Dade County.

6

that directly affect the success of our research and data collection.

Since 2017, the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment (RMCE) has supported Audubon Florida’s Everglades Science Center (ESC).

This unique program conducts science that helps drive Everglades restoration.

Researchers monitor the flow of freshwater into Florida Bay and the impacts that the diversion of water has had throughout the Everglades.

Gifts from the endowment have assisted tremendously in several efforts including [Roseate] Spoonbill studies.

Other needs that have benefited are upgrades and repairs to hydrological equipment, electrical upgrades to the science lab, and a boat motor for one of our main vessels. Audubon is grateful for support over the years

Recently, funds awarded through the RMCE helped relaunch an innovative approach to trace the movements of Roseate Spoonbills.

ESC staff captured ten adult spoonbills nesting in Florida Bay and attached cellular tracking devices. This technology will enhance ongoing efforts to understand the effects of climate change, sea level rise, and Everglades restoration efforts on these charismatic Florida birds.

Your gifts have allowed our team to remain on the cutting edge of scientific research and study in Florida Bay. Audubon thanks you for this wonderful commitment to conservation of the Everglades and the science needed for restoration.

Excerpt of letter from Audubon Florida Director of Research Jerry Lorenz, Ph.D. & Development Manager Victoria Johnston

The Ron Magill Conservation Endowment awarded $7,500 to Superintendent Pedro Ramos of the Florida Everglades National Park and Dry Tortugas to purchase body cameras for law enforcement officers in an effort to crack down on illegal poaching in the Florida Everglades.

7

I want to thank you for your generous gift of $10,000. We are deeply moved by your compassion, support, and generosity. Thank you for acknowledging the importance of our mission and making a donation to help us help them.

In addition to pelicans and seabirds, we treat more than a hundred species each year, ranging in size from small migratory warblers to great blue herons. As of November 18th, 2020, we have treated 2183 patients representing 115 species!

Thank you again from the pelicans, owl, opossums, and staff. We are deeply grateful to YOU for your support and thank you for being a champion of injured native wildlife.

Excerpt of letter from Pelican Harbor Executive Director Christopher Boykin

8

March 3, 2020 We were completely blown away by the generous donation of $10,000 from the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment to our organization toward the construction of a flight cage for larger rehabilitated birds. We also thank you for raising awareness of our organization and the ongoing fundraiser for the flight cage by spotlighting us at your popular “Sex & the Animals” talk on Valentine’s Day at Zoo Miami.

Your donation is the biggest single donation Wildlife Rescue of Dade County has ever received in its 20 years of rescuing and rehabilitating orphaned and injured native wildlife of South Florida. Your donation ensured that the new flight cage will be built to exceed the standards set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the largest birds commonly rehabilitated in South Florida such as hawks, eagles, owls, herons, and egrets. The flight cage will allow all the South Florida wildlife rehabilitation centers to safely flight test these larger birds at no charge prior to release back to the wild where we hope they will raise future generations of wild birds.

Please pass along our gratitude to all the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment donors, who made this wonderful and badly needed flight cage possible.

November 28, 2020 Thank you very much for your generous donation of $6,279 from the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment to our organization. From your donation, $4,329 is to be used to purchase structures for new songbird and bat flight cages; $4,000 of that will provide greatly needed matching funds toward the Miami-Dade Nonprofit Support Grant that provided relief to our organization during the pandemic from federal Corona-virus Relief Funds.

Your donation ensures that these new habitats will be built to exceed the standards set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the smaller birds we rehabilitate in South Florida such as warblers, blue jays, nighthawks, cuckoos, Northern mockingbirds, and doves, as well as bats. These cages will allow us to safely flight test these smaller species prior to release back to the wild where we hope they will continue their migrations and raise future generations.

The remaining $1,951.91 of your donation covered the costs of two replacement incubators purchased this year. We now have reliable incubators to keep baby wild animals warm, which increases their chances of surviving to weaning so they can be released back to the wild.

Please pass along our gratitude to all the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment donors, who made these cages and incubators possible.

Excerpts of letters from Director & Rehabilitator Lloyd Brown

9

GLOBAL SUPPORT Your support helps the Ron Magill Conservation Fund extend its support around the world, contributing to organizations like the Harpy Eagle Project & Project Jaguars in South America, the HERD Elephant Orphanage in South Africa, the APPC’s work with sloths in Panama, the Taronga Conservation Society in Australia, Wildlife SOS in India, and more.

The following letters and information demonstrate the impact and reach of your support.

10

I am writing you to thank you for the valuable contribution that the “Ron Magill Conservation Endowment” has provided to the Project Jaguars of Iguaçú. In the past two years, the Endowment has made it possible for me to present the activities of the Project in Miami, and this way raise funds to buy camera traps for us. This equipment is vital to the jaguar conservation work that we conduct.

In 2019 we received the “Ron Magill Conservation Hero Award”, and the resources were used to by more camera traps and transmitters, that are used in the capture of the jaguars to install the radio collars.

Besides being the Executive Coordinator of the Project Jaguars of Iguaçú, I am also the coordinator of the Harpy Eagle Ex Situ Program. The Endowment is also committed

to the conservation of this species, and your participation on the meeting to structure the program was incredibly valuable. The resources that the Endowment will provide to the Harpy Eagle project will make possible the development of the field activities of the project.

I congratulate you for the valuable work of the Endowment, and deeply admire your commitment to conservation. Thanks to your support, we can continue to take care of the most important jaguar population of the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil. And the contribution of the endowment will also help us keep the amazing harpy eagles in the skies of the country.

Thank you so much and I hope you continue to fight for endangered species and inspiring us with your commitment.

Excerpt of a letter from Yara Barros, Executive Coordinator of Project Jaguars and Ex Situ Program Coordinator of the Harpy Eagle Project

11

The valued contribution from The Ron Magill Conservation Endowment toward the cost of building one of the three orphanage nurseries helped us complete the project and be able to provide orphaned elephants impacted by human-elephant conflict, the second chance they deserve. We are so very grateful for your contribution.

The past ten months of 2020 have sped by, and although it has admittedly been a tough year, it has also been a productive one for us here at Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development (HERD).

As you know, it is our first year in operation as South Africa’s first dedicated elephant orphanage. We were privileged to be open and prepared in time to give Khanyisa, the albino elephant in our care (that was rescued from a snare in January 2020), a special place of rehabilitation that she direly needed.

It was an incredible pleasure to have had the opportunity to visit you in Miami and see the work that you and [Zoo Miami] are doing. It was a further honour that you chose to support my vision. Your dedication to helping conservation initiatives around the world is inspirational and so very much appreciated.

Our journey has just begun, but we know that our partners that believed in us from the very beginning, will always be the heartbeat of our orphanage.

On behalf of myself and the entire HERD team, I want to express my sincere gratitude.

We look forward to sharing our future achievements with you.

Excerpts of a letter from Founder of HERD, Adine Roode

12

On behalf of the APPC wildlife rescue family, I would like to thank you for your support to our wildlife rescue and rehabilitation program.

Since 2017, the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment has been at our side, even now that humanity faces an unprecedented health crisis, through the donation of our first van to transport rescued animals, as well as the donation of thousands of dollars for the wildlife rehabilitation program.

Your support is vitally important for the survival of our organization and the conservation of the species we rescue.

Thanks to the support of people like you, APPC has become Panama’s leader in wildlife rescue, focusing on sloths in particular.

Since 2005, we have rescued and relocated over 5,000 wild animals, returning them back to their natural habitat. With deforestation and development as the biggest threats to sloths and other wildlife in Panama, APPC dedicates all its efforts to saving Panama’s most threatened species.

Again, thank you so much for your support.

Only through the generosity of caring organizations such as yours can we continue our mission: to rescue and rehabilitate sick, injured and orphaned wildlife and to provide long-term care to those who need it.

Excerpt of a letter from APPC President & Executive Director Nestor J. Correa

13

Funds from the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment were used to sponsor three Anatolian Shepherds in South Africa as part of cheetah conservation efforts. These dogs are bred to protect livestock from cheetah attacks (with a success rate of over 85%) so that farmers are less likely to feel threatened and preemptively shoot cheetahs. This livestock management technique has helped reduce the number of cheetah casualties that arise from the human-wildlife conflict.

Thank you for donating so generously to help save wildlife from devastating bush-fires and drought. Your kind gift of AU$7,169.94 (US$5,000) will be put straight to work, providing urgently needed funds for emergency response as well as long-term habitat restoration projects.

Your donation will assist Taronga to respond to this emergency, helping to save wildlife by providing emergency shelter, medical care and rehabilitation for koalas, platypus, wallabies, bats and critically endangered frogs and fish. Thanks to your generosity, our Wildlife Hospitals and teams are ready to jump into action and provide emergency assistance where needed.

Your gift will also fund Taronga’s long-term strategy, after the fires have gone and how we go about restoring habitat for Australian wildlife and focusing on our breed and release program to give all wildlife affected the best chance possible for survival into the future.

In this trying time, it’s amazing to know that people like you are standing together for our wildlife.

A letter from Executive Director & Chief Executive Cameron Kerr

14

A Tribute to a Conservation Hero

On February 25, 2021, Ann van Dyk, one of the world’s pioneers in cheetah conservation and husbandry, passed away at the age of 90. She was the first person to introduce me to the world of cheetahs, teaching me most of what I know about them and inspiring me to get so involved in the conservation.

Over several trips to South Africa, I was privileged to spend weeks with her and her team at the DeWildt Cheetah Center (renamed the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Center) where she taught me how to work around these incredible felines.

Standing at 6 feet tall, she was a statuesque woman with tremendous grit and profound passion for cheetah conservation. She was soft spoken and very private, which is why I will forever be indebted to her for the trust she had in me to work with cheetahs and painted dogs and the special times I shared alone with those animals watching them raise their young thanks to her. She helped change my life in so many positive ways.

Ann was a true hero for wildlife and it is through our continued conservation efforts that we honor her memory.

15

INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT Supporting other individuals doing impactful research and work is crucial to the success of wildlife conservation efforts. The Ron Magill Conservation Endowment is able to both inspire and support current and future conservationists through the Ron Magill Conservation Heroes Award and the Ron Magill Conservation Scholarship.

16

THE RON MAGILL CONSERVATION HEROES AWARD The Ron Magill Conservation Heroes Award recognizes outstanding contributions to in-situ wildlife conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean Basin, and promotes capacity building by providing professional training and project development opportunities to local field researchers. Preference will be given to conservationists working with emblematic or endangered species and to Zoo Conservation Outreach Group (ZCOG) field conservation partners.

The Ron Magill Conservation Heroes Award allows ZCOG to strengthen existing conservation partnerships in the Americas and provides field researchers with additional opportunities to fulfill their conservation potential. According to ZCOG Executive Director Daniel Hilliard, “the award also serves as a bridge between ZCOG’s dual missions to provide direct support for wildlife conservation projects and promote capacity building through professional development.”

Ron Magill, Director of Communications and Media Relations at Zoo Miami, remarked that: “having had the privilege of working with researchers in the field over many years, I am always amazed at the dedication and passion these individuals have towards educating people about the wonders of our natural world while inspiring them to protect it for future generations. I, through the Zoo Miami Foundation, feel privileged to partner with ZCOG to create this annual award in an effort to support the admirable work done by these “heroes” of conservation. It is especially gratifying to concentrate these efforts in Latin America which is such an important part of my personal heritage and that of the Miami community.

ZCOG serves as a coordinating, fundraising, and financial management agency for wildlife conservation projects in the Americas, supporting field efforts for species like the Jaguar, Andean Condor, and Giant Armadillo, among others. The group’s Conservation Training Scholarship Program supports wildlife conservation and stewardship by providing Latin American zoo and aquarium professionals with training opportunities to obtain the skills necessary to manage and preserve wildlife. Since 2005, ZCOG has awarded nearly 100 training scholarships to individuals representing 45 zoological institutions in 15 different countries.

17

THE RON MAGILL CONSE The Ron Magill Conservation Scholarship is an annual award of $5,000 that’s given both through the Zoo Miami Foundation and the University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.

This scholarship is made possible through the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment and its main purpose is to inspire and support the development of young adults who choose to major in the life sciences with a goal of establishing a career in wildlife conservation.

Over the last five years, the scholarship has provided truly incredible students with the means to pursue impactful research. Through these special recipients and their research, we can see the value of training and equipping the future generations of wildlife conservationists.

18

ERVATION SCHOLARSHIP The Ron Magill Conservation Endowment has provided a significant and dramatic influence on graduate student research in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (WEC) at the University of Florida since 2015. Ron Magill contacted me initially in early 2015 regarding the possibility of providing a gift to WEC to support the wildlife program. After discussion, he focused on using Endowment funds to provide an annual scholarship of $5,000 to a graduate student in our department who studied vertebrate animals in Central or South America (including the Caribbean).

Funding for international wildlife research is difficult to procure, especially for graduate students. These scholarship finds have been instrumental in allowing students, both domestic and international, to conduct their field research and work toward their doctoral degrees.

The Magill Conservation Scholarship has contributed not only to their graduate education but, at a larger scale, to improving wildlife conservation practices in several countries.

Ron himself has personally met all the students (except our 2020 winner due to COVID-19) and maintained professional relationships with them after their work was completed.

Excerpt of a letter from Eric C. Hellgren, Professor & Chair of the University of Florida WEC Department

19

THANK YOU For more information on my work and the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment, please visit my website

ronmagill.org