Dear Colleagues,
As we gather in Palm Springs for AZA's Mid-Year Meeting, I'd like to share an update on two key components of the AZA Elephant Strategy.
AZA Elephant Standards for Elephant Management and Care
A diverse group of stakeholders, including members of the Elephant TAG, Accreditation Commission, inspectors, elephant-holding directors, APM Committee members, elephant managers, and AZA staff have been working over the past year to evaluate and review AZA's elephant standards. This group recently convened at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to refine their proposed revisions, ensuring that the updated standards align with the AZA community's shared vision of 'optimal care' and 'thriving' for elephants.
AZA will be hosting a panel discussion on April 21 at 1:00 PM (EDT) to walk attendees through the process, the proposed revisions, next steps in the revision process, and what these updates mean for you and your facility. Whether you're directly involved in elephant care or simply want to stay informed, we encourage all interested members to join this important conversation.
If interested, please register today on
AZA Learn.
Strategic Elephant Communications Plan
An Elephant Communications Toolkit is now posted in the
AZA Elephant Strategy Community library on the AZA Network! This toolkit includes a detailed checklist for your PR Teams to consider when you have elephant news that must be communicated. There are multiple folders within the PR Communications Elephant Toolkit folder which contain resource examples of messaging and documents that may be helpful to your PR/Media teams. PR professionals will continue to fill these resource folders with even more examples throughout the year.
In the coming year we will also build a repository of elephant stories which will be accessible to all members and can be personalized to illustrate the contributions made by AZA facilities to advance elephant care and conservation, both in our facilities and in range countries. We will let you know when this additional resource library is available.
I hope to see many of you in Palm Springs!
Best regards,
Lisa New