·      Participants will make Valentine’s Day cards featuring aquatic themes

·      Aquarium manages special breeding programs that help protect species whose populations are threatened or declining in the wild

·      More information about the program is available online at www.nyaquarium.com

 

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Feb. 11, 2015 – WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) New York Aquarium will host a free Valentine’s Day family program called Love is in the Air and Water on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and again from 2 to 3 p.m.

 

The program is geared toward young children and families. Participants will make Valentine’s cards featuring aquatic themes.  

 

Harbor seals, William and Coral, are the stars of Valentine’s Day this year. The pair spends their time together, following each other in the water and sleeping side-by-side on the rocky terrain of their Sea Cliffs home.

 

Harbor seals are found in New York waters. Although not endangered, the species is protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The New York Aquarium works to protect harbor seals and many other marine animals through its NY Seascape Program, a conservation program designed to restore healthy populations of marine species in local waters.

 

Some of the other animals living in pairs at the aquarium are two freshwater fish species, Bedotia and Pachypanchax. Both species have successfully reproduced at the New York Aquarium.  

 

For more information, contact Barbara Russo at 718-265-3428 or brusso@wcs.org.

 



Contact:

Barbara Russo – 718-265-3428; brusso@wcs.org

Max Pulsinelli – 718-220-5182; mpulsinelli@wcs.org



Wildlife Conservation Society's New York Aquarium is open every day of the year. Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Fall/winter/spring hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., daily. Tickets are $11.95 per person (ages 3 & up), and include Aquarium admission plus one admission to the new 4-D Theater; children age 2 and under are admitted free. Fridays after 4 p.m. in the summer and after 3 p.m. in the fall, Aquarium admission is by pay-what-you-wish donation. The aquarium is located on Surf Avenue at West 8th Street in Coney Island. The New York Aquarium is located on property owned by the City of New York, and its operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. For directions, information on public events and programs, and other aquarium information, call 718-265-FISH or visit our web site at http://www.nyaquarium.com. Now is the perfect time to visit and show support for the WCS New York Aquarium, a beloved part of Brooklyn and all of the City of New York. Due to Hurricane Sandy we are partially opened. Check our website for more information. www.nyaquarium.com.

 

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) 

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. VISION: WCS envisions a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in more than 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: www.wcs.org; http://www.facebook.com/TheWCS; http://www.youtube.com/user/WCSMedia  Follow: @thewcs.

 

Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a Web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to wcs.org.