SUSTAINABILITY
Don't Let Go:
Eco-Friendly Occasions
By Amy Seadler, Glacier Run Keeper, AAZK
Louisville Chapter
Friends, families and festivities. There’s so much
to celebrate as we head into 2018. While you plan
your occasions this season, the Louisville Chapter
of the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK)
would like to remind you: “Don’t Let Go.”
Balloons may seem like fun festive decor but
released balloons can drift for hundreds of miles
littering landscapes and harming wildlife — both
marine and terrestrial animals are at risk. These
animals can become entangled in the balloon strings
or even mistake the balloons for food. Sea turtles
are particularly at risk because they mistake the
balloons as their natural prey: jellyfish! The resulting
intestinal blockage has tragic side effects.
The good news is that there are plenty of other
moving, festive and eco-friendly ways to mark an
occasion. Flags, banners, garden spinners, pinwheels
and even tissue paper pompoms are all very eye-
catching, reusable, and can even be hand-made and
customized for your special event.
Need a serene and uplifting way to mark an
occasion? Bubbles are a beautiful choice and people
of all ages can participate. You can also create a
spot of remembrance by planting native plants, a
tree or by using a wildflower seed bombs. You’ll
create a place to visit again and again, all while
providing needed habitat for native wildlife. Now
that’s a reason to celebrate!
A group of volunteers pose with hundreds of
collected balloons found just at the Edwin B. Forsythe
National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. Photo
courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Did you know?
Sea turtles are a S.A.F.E. species.
Your Louisville Zoo is a participant
in S.A.F.E.— Saving Animals From
Extinction: an initiative between
229 accredited zoos and aquariums to
work together and target specific species to
save
them from extinction by sustaining healthy populations
in the vanishing wild. Learn more at LouisvilleZoo.org/
SAFE
Louisville Zoo Trunkline • Winter 2017 • 17