Learn about the special projects your Zoo is working on with our local community members to help “better the bond between people and our planet.”
Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies
“Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies” is a program partnership with Christopher 2X’s Game Changers organization. The program is an initiative created to explore the healing and therapeutic power of animals with young kids in our community who have experienced secondary trauma from violence.
Christopher 2X handpicked 17 kids and their families to be a part of the “Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies” program. These 20 kids will meet at the Zoo for exclusive educational programs, camps and behind-the-scenes opportunities each year that emphasize this “One Health, One Planet” concept.
Learn more about Future Healers Got Zoo Buddies
Monarchs and Milkweed
In 2021, the Zoo created the “Monarchs and Milkweed Pollinator Habitat Project” to provide an opportunity for people to develop a connection with nature through habitat development and have a direct impact on the conservation of the monarch butterfly. The project provides educational resources to those in our community and encourages families and organizations to plant their own pollinator habitats to support conservation efforts.
As part of this program, the Zoo has joined with two community partners so far to plant and develop pollinator habitats on their campuses: Seven Counties Services and Bellarmine University.
All community partner habitats developed are monarch waystations certified by Monarch Watch, and are designed with milkweed plants appropriate for each site.