Our CONSERVATION PARTNERS
The American Association of Zoo Keepers is proud to collaborate with a diverse network of conservation partners working around the globe to protect wildlife and wild places. These organizations represent a wide range of conservation approaches—from community-based initiatives and species recovery programs to habitat restoration and scientific research—all united by a shared commitment to safeguarding biodiversity. Through these partnerships, AAZK helps amplify impactful conservation efforts, supports field-based projects, and connects animal care professionals with meaningful opportunities to contribute beyond their institutions. By highlighting and supporting these partners, AAZK reinforces its mission to advance excellence in animal care while playing an active role in global conservation solutions.
Cheetah Outreach
Cheetah Outreach (formally Cheetah Outreach Trust) is a conservation organization based in South Africa, with a supporting nonprofit branch in the United States, dedicated to protecting cheetahs through education, research, and community-based solutions. Its mission focuses on promoting coexistence between cheetahs and farmers, particularly for free-ranging cheetahs living on agricultural land, where human–wildlife conflict is a major threat. The organization raises awareness through educational programs and ambassador animals, while also supporting practical conservation efforts such as livestock-guarding dog programs that reduce predation and retaliation against cheetahs. By combining public outreach with on-the-ground conservation partnerships, Cheetah Outreach aims to stabilize and grow wild cheetah populations while supporting local communities.
Website: www.cheetahoutreachtrust.org
Save the Golden Lion Tamarin
Save the Golden Lion Tamarin is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to ensuring the long-term survival of the endangered golden lion tamarin in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. The organization primarily supports on-the-ground conservation led by its Brazilian partner, the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, by funding and advancing efforts such as habitat restoration, population monitoring, disease prevention (including vaccination programs), and environmental education. Its work emphasizes creating connected forest habitats, promoting sustainable livelihoods for local communities, and building global awareness, all with the goal of maintaining a viable, self-sustaining population of golden lion tamarins in the wild.
Website: www.savetheliontamarin.org
Wildlife SOS
Wildlife SOS is a nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1995 and based in India that focuses on rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife in distress while working to end practices that exploit animals. Known especially for its efforts to protect sloth bears—once used in illegal “dancing bear” traditions—the organization operates rescue centers, provides lifelong care for animals that cannot be released, and partners with local communities to create sustainable alternatives to wildlife exploitation. Wildlife SOS also responds to emergency wildlife conflicts, conducts education and awareness programs, and collaborates with government agencies to strengthen wildlife protection across the country.
Website: www.wildlifesos.org
Snow Leopard Conservancy
The Snow Leopard Conservancy is a U.S.-based nonprofit founded in 2000 that focuses on protecting endangered snow leopards and their high-mountain ecosystems across Central and South Asia. Its core approach centers on community-based conservation, working closely with local herders and villages to reduce human–wildlife conflict and promote coexistence.
Website: www.snowleopardconservancy.org
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a nonprofit wildlife conservancy in central Kenya that serves as a leading model for integrated conservation, combining wildlife protection with community development and sustainable business practices. Spanning roughly 90,000 acres, it is best known as East Africa’s largest black rhino sanctuary and home to the world’s last two northern white rhinos, while also providing refuge for chimpanzees and other wildlife. The conservancy funds its conservation work through tourism and livestock programs, reinvesting revenue into habitat protection, scientific monitoring, and local initiatives in education, healthcare, and infrastructure, with the goal of ensuring long-term coexistence between people, wildlife, and the environment.
Website: www.olpajeta.org
Okapi Conservation Project
The Okapi Conservation Project is a nonprofit organization founded in 1987 dedicated to protecting the endangered okapi and its rainforest habitat in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Working primarily in the Ituri Forest, the project supports the management of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—through anti-poaching patrols, scientific monitoring, and habitat protection. It combines wildlife conservation with community-based initiatives such as sustainable agriculture, education, and livelihood programs, recognizing that long-term success depends on improving the well-being of local people. Through partnerships with government agencies and global conservation groups, the organization aims to preserve biodiversity while ensuring that both wildlife and communities can thrive together.
Website: www.okapiconservation.org
Pangolin Conservation and Research Foundation
The Pangolin Conservation and Research Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting pangolins—the world’s most trafficked mammals—through a combination of scientific research, conservation action, and community engagement in southern Africa. Its work focuses on building critical knowledge about pangolin ecology, rescuing and rehabilitating trafficked animals for release back into the wild, and partnering with local communities and governments to reduce poaching and illegal trade. By integrating research, rewilding, education, and capacity-building initiatives, the foundation aims to create long-term, sustainable solutions that ensure pangolins and their habitats are protected while empowering local people as key conservation partners.
Website: www.pangolincrf.org
Cuenca Los Ojos
Cuenca Los Ojos is a nonprofit conservation organization focused on restoring and rewilding ecosystems across the U.S.–Mexico borderlands, particularly within a 121,000-acre protected landscape in Sonora, Mexico. Its work centers on repairing degraded watersheds, rebuilding soil health, and reestablishing natural ecological processes—such as wildlife migration, predation, and pollination—to bring back biodiversity in the Madrean “Sky Islands” region. Through techniques like erosion-control structures, habitat restoration, and species reintroductions (including beavers and deer), the organization has helped revive wetlands, grasslands, and rivers, supporting the return of species like jaguars, ocelots, and black bears. Its long-term goal is to demonstrate that large-scale ecosystem restoration and coexistence between people and wildlife are possible, even in heavily impacted landscapes.
Website: www.cuencalosojos.org
Action for Cheetahs in Kenya
ACK aims to promote the conservation of cheetahs through research, awareness and community participation in Kenya.
Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA)
Founded in 1924, AZA supports membership excellence in conservation, education, science, and research.
International Rhino Foundation
The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) is dedicated to the survival of the world’s rhino species through conservation and research.
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is an award-winning catalyst and model for community conservation, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Green List of successful protected areas.
Lewa is the heart of wildlife conservation, sustainable development and responsible tourism in northern Kenya and our successful working model has provided the framework on which many conservation organisations in the region are based.
Polar Bears International
Polar Bears International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the polar bear.
Red Panda Network
The Red Panda Network is committed to the conservation of wild red pandas and their habitat through the education and empowerment of local communities.
Savenature.org is committed to inspiring participation and awareness in the preservation of fragile ecosystems by providing opportunities for personal direct action to save the diversity of life on Earth.
Seafood Watch Program
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program helps consumers and businesses make choices for healthy oceans. Our recommendations indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should “Avoid.”
Snow Leopard Trust
Founded in 1981, the Snow Leopard Trust is the world’s leading authority on the study and protection of the endangered snow leopard.
Turtle Survival Alliance
The Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) is an action oriented global partnership that is committed to zero turtle extinctions in the 21st century.
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Foundation for the Conservation of Salamanders
The Foundation for the Conservation of Salamanders (FCSal) is a non-profit organization whose mission has four pillars
-To disseminate information about the threats to salamanders and their habitats
-To increase awareness about salamander diversity, biology, and conservation.
-To raise money for salamander conservation, education, and research.
-To fund salamander conservation, education and/or research initiatives through an annual grant.
Chopsticks for Salamanders (CFS) is one of FCSal’s initiatives that aims to reduce the wasteful use of disposable chopsticks and raise funds for Appalachian Salamanders.
The Vital Ground Foundation is a non-profit organization and accredited land trust whose mission is to protect and restore North America’s grizzly bear populations for future generations by conserving wildlife habitat, and by supporting programs that reduce conflicts between bears and humans.
Pan African Sanctuary Alliance
The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), the largest association of wildlife centers in Africa, includes 23 organizations in 13 African countries. PASA’s members are securing a future for Africa’s primates by working to stop the illegal trade in wildlife, rescuing, rehabilitating, and reintroducing orphans of the trade, protecting wild populations, and educating communities. PASA is building a global movement to save Africa’s great apes and monkeys.
The Saola Working Group works collaboratively to conserve Saola in nature, and to leverage Saola as a flagship for conservation of the bio-cultural diversity of the Annamite Mountains as a whole.
Katie Adamson Conservation Fund
The mission of KACF is to help empower the people of our planet to work together to save our remaining ecosystems and all of the creatures they contain.
Our mission is to save giraffes from extinction so they can live freely and safely in the woodlands and savannas of their native Africa.
Penguins International is dedicated to penguin conservation and research to help understand the issues that penguins face and how we can join together to protect the future of these amazing creatures. We work hard with our various penguin conservation and research projects to advance this mission.
Asian Elephant Support (AES) is a U.S. based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the care and conservation of Asian elephants in range countries.
Since 2006, Asian Elephant Support has supported projects aimed at building a better future for elephants by putting knowledge, skills and resources in the hands of our partners in Asia.
Giraffe Conservation Foundation
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) is the only NGO in the world that concentrates solely on the conservation and management of giraffe in the wild throughout Africa.
Conservation Center for Species Survival
Conservation Centers for Species Survival (C2S2) is a science-based global initiative taking collective action to save animals from extinction. Bringing together the resources and expertise of conservation breeding centers as well as conservation-minded zoos and private landowners, we are achieving the necessary scale to build large-scale, sustainable populations of endangered species in secure havens. Given continued threats to critical habitats, an assurance population secured today is many species best bet for long-term survival.
A key pillar of our work is partnering with rural communities to work towards human-elephant coexistence. 80% of the remaining elephant population require land outside of protected areas, bringing them into contact and competition with humans. Increasing mitigation practices and sustainability of rural communities will lead towards decreasing the negative impact elephants can have on rural livelihoods, increasing tolerance for wildlife.
Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy
ARC is the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on identifying and conserving the highest priority places for amphibians and reptiles in the United States. We protect endangered amphibians and reptiles through a strategic, scientific, and passionate approach that allows us to make a real difference.
Founded in Namibia in 1990, Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has been dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild. Our vision is to see a world in which cheetahs live and flourish in coexistence with people within a sustainable system that is protective of the environment, socially responsible, and economically viable.