AZA SAFE: Saving Animals from Extinction

The SAFE African Lion program aims to support connected, sustainable landscapes and foster communities that coexist peacefully with African lions, ultimately increasing wild lion populations. To achieve this, AZA-accredited institutions collaborate with local organizations and communities across Africa actively working to protect and conserve lions in their natural habitats.

In addition to our SAFE partnership, Zoo New England supports Lion Landscapes in their expansion of community led conservation work. These efforts have been successfully tested around Tanzania's Ruaha National Park, aimed at protecting all of the large wild carnivores that move out of the park into the human-dominated landscape.

The SAFE African Painted Dog program aims to amplify the conservation impact of AZA institutions across three key regions—West and Central Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa. Its goals include increasing conservation support, raising public awareness of African painted dogs both in the wild and in human care, and strengthening partnerships between AZA institutions and leading field conservation organizations.

In addition to our SAFE partnership, Zoo New England supports Lion Landscapes in developing effective conservation strategies for painted dogs, including a multi-year survey assessing their population in and around Tanzania's Nyerere National Park.

Through the new AZA SAFE American Turtles program, Zoo New England joins forces with other animal care specialists, state wildlife agencies, academics, non-government organizations and law enforcement to support turtle conservation efforts and combat turtle trafficking. 

This program focuses on conservation efforts for turtle species including the bog turtle, spotted turtle, wood turtle, Blanding's turtle, eastern box turtle, and all Terrapene species. Through the program, Zoos and aquariums will be able to communicate with each other more effectively to ensure confiscated turtles are housed and cared for, freeing up law enforcement agencies to concentrate on apprehending traffickers. Rapid response will be provided for all confiscated turtles, regardless of species.

Learn more about our turtle conservation efforts.

Zoo New England participates in the AZA Chinchilla SAFE program, helping to protect and recover some of the last remaining colonies of the Critically Endangered short-tailed chinchilla in Chile. The program focuses on identifying the locations of these colonies and using that data to expand and connect protected areas for population recovery. 

The primary goal of the SAFE Giraffe program is to support healthy giraffe populations in the wild by increasing AZA member involvement in giraffe conservation. The program focuses on aligning in situ and ex situ research to improve giraffe conservation, health and education. Launched in 2017, the program initially focused on Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and has since evolved to include country-specific action plans.

Zoo New England supports the AZA SAFE Giraffe program through our partnership with the Somali Giraffe Project, working to conserve and restore reticulated giraffe populations in Eastern Kenya.

The goal of the Gorilla SAFE program is to secure sustainable populations of all gorilla subspecies, with a targeted emphasis on protecting the fragile Cross-River gorilla populations in Cameroon and Nigeria and halting the rapid decline of Grauer’s gorilla populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Through this program, Zoo New England partners with the Wildlife Conservation Society to help strengthen the management and enforcement of protections for Cross-River gorillas within Nigeria's Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary.

AZA-accredited zoos have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to jaguar conservation, funding and supporting fieldwork in Central and South America since the mid-1980s. Guided by the objectives of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Cat Specialist Group, the SAFE Jaguar program focuses on protecting jaguars in Central America while building capacity to safeguard them across their entire range.

In addition to our SAFE partnership, Zoo New England supports the Northern Jaguar Project, whose innovative work is mitigating conflict with ranchers and protecting jaguars across a wide swath of northern Mexico.

The SAFE Mexican Wolf program is a bi-national recovery initiative focused on supporting conservation efforts and fostering collaboration with communities in recovery areas across Mexico and the United States. By partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, AZA-accredited institutions, and other key organizations, the program aims to advance the recovery and long-term survival of this endangered species.

Since 1998, Zoo New England has been committed to re-introducing Mexican gray wolves into the wilds of the American Southwest, where they once lived in large numbers. Stone Zoo is one of about 51 facilities across the country and in Mexico participating in the Mexican Wolf Survival Plan (SSP). We've overseen births of these rare animals at Stone Zoo and collaborated closely with other facilities to transfer and receive wolves on their journey to being re-introduced to the wild.

​We're a partner of SAFE North American Songbirds, working to reduce the threats to North American songbirds and secure sustainable wild populations of these species throughout their ranges. Although songbirds may not be one of the animals living in human care at AZA institutions, they're found throughout our grounds and in our communities!

This SAFE project focuses on three areas of native songbird conservation:

• Reducing bird collisions with glass
• Reducing free-roaming cat impacts on wildlife
• Preserving, enhancing, and building native habitats

Other areas of focus include reducing contaminants, promoting bird-friendly coffee, promoting and participating in community science, and reducing North American songbird trafficking. 

The SAFE Red Siskin program uses a comprehensive strategy to enhance in situ conservation efforts by addressing key threats such as poaching and habitat loss. The program aims to lay the groundwork for future reintroduction of red siskins into their natural habitats.

The SAFE Snow Leopard program, in collaboration with AZA members and key field partners like the Snow Leopard Trust and Snow Leopard Conservancy, seeks to deepen our understanding of snow leopard ecology. By exploring the complex relationships between wildlife, livestock, humans, and environmental factors, the program aims to advance knowledge of snow leopard range, spatial and trophic ecology, and population dynamics in a changing world.

In addition to our SAFE partnership, Zoo New England actively supports snow leopard conservation through multiple initiatives:

•  Sabin Snow Leopard Grants Program provides scholarships to researchers and conservationists in snow leopard range states. By funding critical projects and building local capacity, the program addresses key threats and supports efforts to protect this vulnerable species.

• Zoo New England is a Conservation Partner with the Snow Leopard Trust, working together to implement Mongolia’s Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program strategy through improved collaboration with herder communities in South Gobi, Mongolia.

AZA members are taking part in conservation breeding and reintroduction programs to bolster the numbers of whooping cranes in the wild. Members are also working to identify critical habitats and provide funding for field conservation projects that address wetland habitat quality, illegal shootings, and minimize deaths or injuries from collision with power lines during migration season.