2023 Spring Appeal supporting Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo
2023 Spring Appeal supporting Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo
How Your Support Makes a Difference
Your generous donation ensures our ability to care for all of these important animals — to save and preserve their future, and educate our community in the process.
Contributions, of any amount, help us maintain the important work happening here at the zoo. From excellent animal care and conservation to engaging guest experiences and public education, we rely on your help to implement our important mission.
Please send what you can to ensure the continued care and protection of some of the most vulnerable species on the planet.
Conservation in Action:
At the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, our animal care staff work daily to train each animal to participate in their own self-care Trust is the most essential component of these training programs. Each species requires a unique program with different goals based on the animals’ aptitude.
The team has trained Rafferty to present his shoulder, mouth, hip and tail for routine check-ups, examinations, and vaccination to ensure his health and wellbeing. By training this shy and elusive big cat to cooperate with keepers and participate in his own health care, we can preserve this spectacular species with the goal of raising their population back from the brink of extinction.
Rafferty is just one of the many animals learning with our animal care team in training sessions. Our miracle twins Yaad and Tukada may be young, but they have already begun similar training sessions. Given the emotional complexity, intelligence and strength of a growing elephant, it is vital that the twins learn from an early age to participate in their own care. Once the twins weigh 10,000 pounds each, health procedures and check-ups will become nearly impossible without their cooperation.
The first two years of an elephant’s life are critical for its development. It is vital for our animal care team to solidify trust with the twins so that the team can monitor the twins’ health through blood draws, trunk washes, and dental checks. Enrichment has a fun side, too — it is important to make training fun for the twins so that they will continue to engage with the keepers as they grow in size and maturity. Yaad and Tukada like to play rough, and they demolish their enrichment toys like a wrecking crew!
Your generous donation allows us to continue our conservation mission by supporting the critical care that we provide to endangered animals — like Rafferty, our twins Yaad and Tukada, and others — through training programs and specialized enrichment designed to maintain their health, mind and bodies.
Here’s how your generous donation could engage our animals:
$50 would provide our Giant Pacific Octopus Bambino with games and puzzels to engage all nine of his brains!
$100 would cover the cost of blood draws for EEHV tests for our Asian Elephants.
$200 would provide our endlessly energetic Andean Bear Bjorn with more enrichment to entertain him like giant "boomer balls."
$300 would cover the cost of dental care for our Amur Leopard, tigers, and snow leopards.
$500 would cover the cost for x-rays or sonograms for our primates like Iniko and Mac.
On behalf of Rafferty and all the other animals in our care, thank you for your support and for being a part of the Friends of the Zoo family.
With gratitude,
Carrie Large, Friends of the Zoo Executive Director