The animals you see. The conservation you don’t.

A brown bear with tan facial markings lumbered up the rocks of his enclosure, stretching his paw toward food perched on the tallest ledge. A father lifted his child for a better view. They both watched in awe as the bear maneuvered across the rocks. Nearby, the mother read an informational plaque aloud, explaining that they are looking at an Andean bear, a species threatened by habitat loss. 

What began as a family’s excitement over an animal at the zoo became a brief lesson in why protecting wildlife beyond the zoo’s gates matters. At Rosamond Gifford Zoo, that mission reaches far past the animals visitors see. The zoo supports conservation projects in the wild, participates in cooperative breeding programs and uses education to connect visitors with wildlife and the threats facing it. 

That work involves more than caring for animals. It also means helping visitors understand why those animals and the environments they depend on need protection. Education gives zoos a way to turn a few minutes of fascination into a deeper connection with conservation.

“They’ve got to start somewhere,” said Russell Briggs, a professor emeritus of silviculture and forest soils at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). “To understand the natural resources and their importance, their critical importance and appreciate some of the beauty is just essential.” 

The disconnect from nature can make it harder for people to understand why protecting the environment matters. At Rosamond Gifford that connection happens through seeing animals up close and learning about the threats facing their species. 

As environmental challenges continue to affect natural systems, Briggs emphasized that understanding the value of those systems helps people protect them.

“Without clean water and clean air and the ability to produce food and even these beautiful natural areas, aesthetics and cultural resources, that degrades the quality of life for everybody,” he said.

The connection between visitors and conservation extends beyond individual zoos. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is a nonprofit organization that recognizes zoos and aquariums based on standards for animal care, conservation, education and other areas of operations.

“If you are AZA accredited, you’re just not a good zoo or aquarium,” said Daniel Ashe, president and CEO of the AZA. “You are amongst the very best in the world.”  

The accreditation process examines everything from animal care and conservation to research, finances and governance. Facilities undergo extensive inspections and must be reaccredited every five years to ensure they continue meeting AZA’s standards. According to the AZA website, there are 254 accredited zoos, aquariums and science centers in 13 countries, including the U.S. These accredited facilities reach more than 210 million visitors each year, giving them a large platform to educate the public about wildlife and conservation.

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo has been AZA accredited since 1987 and has stayed consistently accredited since. This demonstrates the zoo’s longstanding commitment to meeting industry standards for animal care, conservation, education and guest safety. 

At the zoo, those standards encompass more than what visitors see when they walk through the zoo. Behind the exhibits, animal care staff monitor the animals’ health and behavior, conduct research and contribute to conservation programs. 

“The amount of training and education that they have to go through to be in the positions that they’re in is incredible,” said Andrew Brazill, marketing and communications director and interim executive director for Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. “So they really are the experts.”

The care team’s work also extends past individual animals, contributing to breeding programs and research that could benefit wildlife in the wild. Rosamond Gifford is a part of multiple cooperative breeding programs designed to maintain healthy, genetically diverse populations of threatened and endangered species. Through the Species Survival Plan, zoos coordinate breeding recommendations based on the genetics of individual animals and their specific needs. 

The breeding programs are not simply about producing new animals, Brazill said. They help maintain genetically diverse populations that could support species recovery if wild populations decline.

But conservation does not stop with the work happening behind the exhibits. The zoo also relies on those visitor experiences to build connections between people and wildlife. For the family watching the Andean bear climb across the rocks, that connection began with a simple moment of excitement and curiosity. 

Those moments can turn into an opportunity to learn about the threats facing wildlife. 

“If we’re going to conserve nature, it’s going to be because we reach people,” Ashe said. “We reach their minds through education, but we reach their hearts through experience.”

At Rosamond Gifford, that means the animals visitors come to visit can become a starting point for understanding conservation beyond the zoo’s gates. 

“All the animals aren’t just here to be seen for entertainment,” Brazill said. “They’re here to help their species and help the planet.”