Brooklyn, N.Y. – Jan. 13, 2016 – WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) New York Aquarium released today a photographic look back on Ocean Wonders: Sharks! construction in 2015.  Ocean Wonders: Sharks! will be a 57,000-square-foot building featuring sharks, rays, sea turtles, and thousands of schooling fish. It will hold more than 500,000 gallons of water in fully immersive and interactive exhibits, forging connections between people and wildlife while highlighting the need for conservation of delicate marine ecosystems.

January 13, 2016 – WCS released the following statement from John Calvelli, WCS Executive Vice President for Public Affairs on the occasion of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address:

January 13, 2016 – The Republic of the Congo has confirmed that it will join the Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI), the  African-led conservation programme to eradicate the ivory trade and stop the continued slaughter of the continent’s elephants by poachers. 

“In Defense of Animals issued a news release today about elephants in zoos. There are many inaccuracies concerning Happy, an elephant at the Bronx Zoo, which have been repeated by various sources who have no direct knowledge about our elephants or our program.  [READ MORE]

January 8, 2016 – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has appointed WCS’s Janet Gibson as a member to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her contribution to environmental protection. 

BRUSSELS (7 January, 2016) – WCS and the World Customs Organization (WCO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at reducing the amount of illegal wildlife products moving across international borders. The MoU was signed by Dr. Cristián Samper, WCS President and CEO, and Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the WCO.

January 6, 2016 – Scientists hoping to help stem the rate of unsustainable hunting in West and Central Africa have developed two monitoring indicators based in part on methods used to track populations trends of organisms in an entirely different ecosystem: the sea.

NEW YORK - January 5, 2016 - Scientists and veterinarians working for WCS’s New York Aquarium have discovered something noteworthy in the near shore waters of Long Island’s Great South Bay: a nursery ground for the sand tiger shark, a fearsome-looking but non-aggressive fish.

December 30, 2015—Members of the sustainable farming cooperative located in the Luangwa Valley of Zambia are going hi-tech in the ongoing work to combine food security with wildlife conservation, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society). 

Dec. 29, 2015  – Two suspects have been arrested in Thailand in connection with the sale of critically endangered Burmese star tortoises on Facebook, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA).