A massive decade-long study of Western Equatorial Africa’s gorillas and chimpanzees has uncovered both good news and bad about our nearest relatives. The good news: there are one third more western lowland gorillas and one tenth more central chimpanzees than previously thought. The bad news: the vast majority of these great apes (80 percent) exist outside of protected areas, and gorilla populations are declining by 2.7 percent annually.

Sept. 11, 2017 – The following statement was issued today by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) upon the United Nation’s General Assembly adoption of its third resolution on illegal wildlife trade. Building on two earlier General Assembly resolutions adopted in 2015 and 2016, the 2017 resolution is the most comprehensive on the issue so far. 

July 12, 2017 – New York State will destroy more than one ton of illegal elephant ivory in Central Park at a high-profile, public event on Thursday, August 3rd at 10:30 a.m.

June 5, 2017 – The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today honored President Ali Bongo Ondimba for expanding marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Gabonese Republic and for his efforts to advance wildlife conservation.

June 5th, 2017 - President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon announced today at the United Nations Ocean Conference in New York his country’s creation of a massive marine protected areas network consisting of 9 new marine parks and 11 aquatic reserves. 

New York – Sept. 16, 2015 – The United Nations System, including the CITES Secretariat, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the World Bank, in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Member States, and civil society partners, will host an evening reception and high-level remarks on wildlife and forest crime at WCS’s Central Park Zoo on Sunday, Sept. 27. 

New York - July 30, 2015 - The United Nations General Assembly today passed a sweeping resolution that targets the global problem of wildlife trafficking, calling on all 193 UN member states (governments of the world) to take on a series of actions to “prevent, combat, and eradicate the illegal trade in wildlife.”

New York, NY -- June 19, 2015 -- WCS President and CEO Cristián Samper issued the following statement today on on the crush of 1 ton of confiscated ivory in New York City's Times Square.

June 17  - Days ahead of the U.S. Times Square ivory stockpile destruction, Stop Ivory, along with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Save the Elephants, are appealing to NGOs around the world to heed the call of eight African countries to join the Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI) to stop the wholesale slaughter of elephants which threatens is decimating elephant populations across Africa.

June 12, 2015 – The following text is excerpted from remarks delivered on June 11 by WCS President and CEO Cristián Samper and WCS Board Chair Ward W. Woods at the 2015 WCS Annual Gala, Turning Tides, at the Central Park Zoo.