Hello everyone, my name is Dan Ashe, the President and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a former career employee and former Director of The United States Fish & Wildlife Service. I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful World Wildlife Day. A day in which we celebrate the signing on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global commitment to ensure that our trade in animals and animal products is safe and sustainable.
It’s also a time that we should celebrate partnerships that drive conservation globally, and at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, we and our members, work with partners all over the world-- like the Wildlife Conservation Society on lowland gorilla, like the International Fund for Animal Welfare on the Not A Pet campaign, and like 120 partners in our monarch SAFE program to ensure that monarch butterflies continue to have a place throughout North America.
So please, on World Wildlife Day, take a moment, look at the wonder around you. Take a moment and think about what you can do to support wildlife conservation. Happy World Wildlife Day!