WCS holiday toy drive continues through December 31 Bronx, N.Y. – Dec. 4, 2014 – Animals at WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo will receive treats hidden inside holiday-themed enrichment items each weekend in December during the annual Presents to the Animals. *The schedule at the WCS Prospect Park Zoo is: Weekends in December: Dec. 6/7: dingoes-11 a.m.; Pallas’ cats -2:30 p.m. Dec. 13/14: North American river otters-11 a.m.;...

The Prospect Park Zoo is home to Franklin the turkey and several females WCS’s Wild View will feature a blog about Franklin on Thanksgiving Day: http://blog.wcs.org/photo Brooklyn, N.Y. – November 25, 2014 -- The wild turkey is native to North America. Historical reports indicate the turkey was first domesticated in Mesoamerica approximately 2,000 years ago. Unlike their domestic cousins, wild turkeys are strong fliers and typically roost in trees at night. The turkeys at...

For years, beavers have been trapped and shot as varmints in the western U.S. According to WCS’s Jeff Burrell in the New York Times, though, people are starting to realize we need cheap ways to store water or “we’re going to be up a creek, a dry creek.” Beavers (and their dams) can help.It turns out beaver dams aren't easy to replicate, and the benefits they provide are crucial. Due largely to fur trapping, by 1930 there were no more than 100,000 beavers in North America, down from the tens of m...

On social media, bison fans are posting their #BeardsForBison Senate passed bipartisan resolution to officially commemorate National Bison Day Find a Bison Day event near you at www.votebison.org Washington, D.C. – October 31, 2014 – The Vote Bison Coalition is joining bison-friendly businesses, groups and individuals around the country today to celebrate the third annual National Bison Day on Saturday, November 1. More than 19 events are occurring in at least 15 states to celebrate N...

Flushing, N.Y. – Oct. 30, 2014 – The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo is home to five orphaned coyote pups. All were rescued and rehabilitated in Massachusetts. All born in the spring, four pups are female; one is male. Without their mothers to protect and provide food for them, they would not survive in the wild on their own. “The Queens Zoo educates visitors about animals from North and South America,” said Dr. Scott Silver, Director and Curator of the WCS Queens Zoo. “Coyotes range ...

Study finds that electrofishing can be used to target non-native species and may be a viable alternative to non-specific fish toxicant treatments of small streams BOZEMAN (October 6, 2014) – A new paper from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Montana State University, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the U.S. Geological Survey looks at the feasibility of electrofishing to selectively remove invasive trout species from Montana streams as an alternative to using fish toxicants...

Five-year study by Wildlife Conservation Society identifies dense natural gas field developments, highways, and fencing as threats to one of North America’s last great long-distance mammal migrations New York (September 25, 2014)—One of North America’s last remaining long-distance land migrations, better known as the Path of the Pronghorn, is being threatened by a mosaic of natural gas field development, highway traffic, and fencing in the upper Green River Basin, according to the Wildlife Conse...

Native groups from U.S. and Canada join to support restoration of bison; renew cultural and spiritual ties BOZEMAN, MT (September 24, 2014) – Yesterday afternoon, dignitaries from U.S. Tribes and Canadian First Nations signed a treaty—the first among them in more than 150 years—to establish intertribal alliances for cooperation in the restoration of American buffalo (or bison) on Tribal/First Nations Reserves or co-managed lands within the U.S. and Canada. This historic signing of the “Norther...

NEW YORK (September 23, 2014) – Dale Miquelle, Director for the WCS Russia Program and a leading researcher on Amur (Siberian) tigers, recently sat down with WCS colleagues to share these insights about his work in the Russian Far East. Q: What is your focus in the Russian Far East and can you tell us more about where you are stationed and how long you have been there? DM: I have been in the Russia since 1992. The Siberian tiger is actually misnamed, as it actually occurs almost ex...

For the second year in a row, Senate designates National Bison Day to celebrate bison’s contributions to our culture, economy and environment Celebration of America’s Largest Land Mammal will be November 1st this year Washington, D.C. – September 18, 2014 – The Vote Bison Coalition today applauded the U.S. Senate’s passage of a resolution to celebrate National Bison Day this year on November 1. The Vote Bison Coalition, comprised of the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council, National Bison Association,...