Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Ambiente (MINAMB)
PROFAUNA, FUNDAZOO, FUNPZA, MRNR
The Dallas World Aquarium has been involved with in situ and ex situ conservation of the Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) since 1997 when a joint venture was initiated with FUNPZA and the Crocodile Specialist Group of Venezuela. The venture, supported by PROFAUNA, was aimed at educating people through a series of post cards, posters and classroom curricula to encourage everyone to “Protect the Orinoco”. In 1998, two non-releasable crocodiles were transported to the DWA where they are ambassadors for Venezuelan conservation. “Miranda”, so named for the experimental laboratory in Puerto Miranda where she had lived, was severely malnourished. “Juancho” had been confiscated after having spent his life as a house pet. Since their arrival at the DWA, more than 100 babies have hatched, and as part of the agreement with Venezuela, the DWA sent 55 crocodiles to Maracay State, and after their quarantine period, they were released into the wild. To help broaden the message of the plight of the endangered Orinoco crocodile, transfers have been made to facilities in the USA — Miami Metro Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, Helen Trout Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, Adventure Aquarium, Phoenix Herpetological Society, Shawn Hefflick Enterprises Inc. and Saint Augustine Alligator Farm. Six crocodiles have also been sent to the Danish Krokodille Zoo in Denmark.
