Upcoming Trip back to Zim

I leave in three days to travel back Zim to work with Viv Wilson of CRI and Chipangali staff and volunteers in the Matobo Hills on the Matobo Hills Biodiversity project. We will be concentrating on trapping leopards and identifying more animals through camera trapping. Thanks to the Oregon Zoo’s Future For Wildlife Fund we currently have two GPS collars ready to put on leopards to get precise data on their movements and territory. The Oregon Zoo chapter of American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK) has provided the funding for coordinates so all we need now is a couple of cooperative leopards! Utilizing camera traps provided by the Oregon Zoo and Zoo Miami we have identified two prime travel pathways of leopards. We are building on data collected from 2002-2009 by CRI in the Matopos. Support from the Oregon Zoo, Cameron Park Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoo, the Minnesota Zoo, the Cleveland Zoo, T.I.G.E.R.S. and various individuals helped CRI to collect data during this period. Pressures from humans and their livestock are seriously threatening the Matobo Hills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This makes the CRI’s Biodiversity Project even more urgent to document the biodiversity of the Park. I’ll be posting more on this blog during my trip so stay tuned! If you’d like more information or can help please contact me at chipangalicriusa@gmail.com.
Chris