• Originally published May 17, 2008 at 1:18 p.m., updated May 17, 2008 at 1:18 p.m.

By 1980, the red wolf had been hunted to the brink of extinction. That same year, fewer than 20 were rounded up by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be bred in captivity.

Twenty-eight years later, 207 red wolves now reside at 38 breeding facilities across the U.S., including the Texas Zoo, education curator Tammy Zellner said. And thanks to these programs, there are more than 100 red wolves living in the wild.

But if programs like these are to continue being successful, younger generations need to learn about endangered species and what they can do to help make sure these animals will be around for many years to come.

That’s why on Friday the Texas Zoo held its first ever Endangered Species Day event at the zoo for about 400 local elementary students, Zellner said.

The zoo has more than 10 types of animals on the endangered species list in their care, including red wolves, Bengal tigers and the ring-tailed lemur, as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’s Species Survival Plan program.

On Friday, students from Victoria, Cuero and other surrounding areas took a tour of the zoo and got up close and personal with the endangered animals.

“We want to get kids thinking about conservation, recycling and the importance of making sure these animals don’t go extinct,” Zellner said. “The schools seemed very excited when we told them we were doing this and so far it’s going great.”

Levi Jones, 11, of Cuero was having fun running around to the different animal exhibits and said he thinks it’s important kids learn about endangered animals.

“It’s really cool how they have all these endangered species and how the zoo is trying to save them,” he said. “Nature is going down with all the trees being cut, hunters and pollution but they are trying to save them.”

Aubrey Ann Cate, a fifth-grader at Industrial West Elementary, said she was surprised at how much new stuff the zoo had to offer since she had last been there.

“I didn’t know they had all these new animals here,” she said. “It’s good that they brought us out here. It will make kids more aware of what’s going on and have more respect for nature.”

Friday’s event was part of National Endangered Species Day, which was declared a national day of observance by the U.S. Senate in 2006.

Aprill Brandon is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6514 or abrandon@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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