This Task Force is a perfect example of how the AZA can serve as an important facilitator and coalition builder to tackle difficult conservation issues. By providing good, solid information, the Task Force has greatly enhanced the law enforcement action of government agencies. The Task Force has also successfully rallied the NGO community, whose fundraising and lobbying efforts have raised the profile of this issue. Its impact can be much wider in scope, however. Grants to protect apes will also benefit other species as well.
Help is also on the way for neotropical migratory birds.
President Clinton recently signed the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, creating a new grant program to protect birds of the Americas. These Treaties provide small grants to municipal governments for educational purposes. So far, we've entered into agreements with New Orleans and Chicago. National wildlife refuges provide sanctuary for endangered and threatened species, like the whooping crane, the manatee and the loggerhead turtle. They are stepping stones in the epic annual journeys for hundreds of millions of migrating birds.