New York, April 15, 2024 -- News released today by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) confirms what WCS scientists have been observing in the field for months: The world is experiencing its fourth global coral bleaching event, the second in the last 10 years. Read the NOAA/ICRI news release here. Bleaching-level heat stress, caused by prolonged increases in superheated ocean temperatures, is predicted to be extensive ...

New York, NY, 10 April 2024 — a new study reveals compelling evidence that forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council®(FSC®) in Gabon and the Republic of Congo harbour a higher abundance of larger mammals and critically endangered species, such as gorillas and elephants, compared to non-FSC certified forests. The research was led by Utrecht University with support from WWF and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and was published in Nature on 10 April 2024. It un...

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – As highlighted by both national and international media, a severe winter weather disaster—the phenomenon known as a ‘dzud’—during the 2023-2024 winter has presented unprecedented challenges for the people of Mongolia. Wildlife is also experiencing dzud, however much less information is available on impact and trends. Recent reports by Mongolia’s Emergency Management Agency indicate the loss of over 5.2 million livestock animals by March...

Greater Xe Champhone Wetland Complex, Lao PDR,  April 4, 2024 – A new research paper in the Journal of Threatened Taxa has confirmed for the first time the nesting of a reintroduced female Siamese crocodile. Two hatchlings resulted from the nesting, and they are now being head-started, raised by conservationists in captivity until they are old enough to be successfully released into the wild.  The paper can be found here. Steven G. Platt, a herpetologist with the Wildlife C...

Bronx, NY, April 4, 2024 – The Bronx Zoo, celebrating 125 years in 2024, has set a 125th birthday celebration on April 18th with the opening of Animal Chronicles, an immersive new exhibit that leads visitors through a quarter-mile ADA-accessible walking trail that includes 68 eco-sculptures displayed across 13 scenes. Each scene tells the tale of how the zoo became a leader in caring for animals, saving endangered species, designing exhibits that connect people to nature, and protecting wi...

Paro, Bhutan, April 1, 2024 – The Tiger Conservation Coalition invites you to a virtual press briefing in advance of the Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference to be held here, April 22 and 23 under the patronage of Her Majesty The Queen, Jetsun Pema Wangchuck. The two-day summit will bring tiger range countries together with visionary private and public sector donors, international development agencies, and tiger conservation NGOs to discuss new and innovative funding streams...

New York, March 28, 2024 -- Monica Medina will step down from her role as President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society based in New York City, effective April 2, 2024, and will continue to serve as Special Advisor to the Board of Trustees through June 1, 2024, as a search begins for her successor. “On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Monica for her leadership and dedication to our conservation efforts around the world,” said WCS Board Chair Alejandro Santo Domin...

New York, March 25, 2024 – The following statement was released today by Central Park Zoo: Postmortem testing has been completed for Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl that was found down in the courtyard of a Manhattan building a little over a year after his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo was vandalized on February 2, 2023. Onlookers reported that Flaco had flown into a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on February 23, 2024, and acute trauma was found at necropsy. Bronx Zoo...

New York, March 25, 2024 – The following announcement was released today by Joe Walston, Executive Vice President of WCS Global: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Stacy Jupiter to lead WCS Marine Conservation. Stacy is currently WCS Regional Director for the Melanesia program and was the outstanding candidate after a long and thorough global recruitment effort. “Stacy, who has been with WCS since 2008, is a globally recognized marine scientist and conserv...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21, 2024—As the US House Foreign Affairs Committee today moved forward out of committee legislation that includes the US Foundation for International Conservation Act (USFICA), WCS released the following statement by Executive Vice President for Public Affairs John Calvelli: “The Wildlife Conservation Society applauds House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael Thomas McCaul and Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks for their leadership in advancing the U.S. Fo...