become a Zoo member make a donation become a Zoo volunteer be an educated voter make your purchase count travel with the Zoo
	Be a Monkey's Uncle Add a branch to your family tree and support a langur at the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. Like any other business, the Endangered Primate Rescue Center (EPRC) has the usual expenses of staffing, water, electricity and heat-all needed to care for more than 120 endangered primates. The Center has maintenance costs for special enclosures that maximize independence from humans and enhance the ability to re-introduce captive- bred offspring into the wild. There are also costs to transport illegally captured animals confiscated by Forest Protection Authorities all over Vietnam to the EPRC. And, of course, the Center has to cover the cost of feeding 79 langurs, 22 gibbons and 20 pygmy lorises. The EPRC doesn't have a run-of-the-mill budget! You can become an "official monkey guardian" and pay for the care of a primate at the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. The only thing more fun than a barrel of monkeys is adopting just one!
	Get Certified The United States is the world's largest importer of wood products, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Here's your chance to create a consumer demand that benefits wildlife! Forest certification is a way to protect wild habitats by using sustainable resource management when harvesting trees for commercial use. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the most widely recognized certification and trademark system to promote responsible management of the world's forests. When you buy products with the FSC symbol, you'll know you're not contributing to forest destruction. Look for the FSC logo on anything from raw wood to garden furniture. If you don't see it, ask a salesperson if the wood used is FSC-certified. This Good Wood Chart compiled as part of World Wildlife Fund's Forests for Life Program can help you learn which woods are currently available in FSC varieties.
	Raise Awareness Hmmm. Door number one or door number two? It's hard to make good choices with little or no information, yet this is often what happens. In these hectic times of high stress and long "to-do" lists, we generally prefer quick decisions to intensive research. Unfortunately, most of us don't know about the harmful effects of ill-informed choices on wildlife and the environment. That's why the vast majority of today's conservation projects have an outreach education component. Field scientists and national environmental organizations work to together to reach the audiences whose daily choices are having a direct impact on their work. Raising awareness is one of the best ways you can make a difference too! Whether you're passing out seafood wallet cards, spearheading a letter-writing campaign, making a movie or staging an all-out public awareness initiative, spreading the word is the first step in changing behavior. Check your favorite organization's website for details on ways you can help.
	Return the Call of the Wild Can you hear it now? Recycle your cell phone and make a lasting connection with wildlife. The United States discards an estimated 130 million cell phones every year. Improperly disposed, these used phones are likely to end up in landfills and incinerators, releasing hazardous elements such as lead, mercury, and cadmium into the environment. As you can imagine, toxic contamination of water and food sources can pose a serious threat to animal and human health. The Philadelphia Zoo's Docent Council has initiated a program to raise awareness of this issue and offer a solution. A compelling image of a red-shanked douc langur graces the Return the Call of the Wild poster, reminding you that recycling used cell phones can help save wildlife. This program not only recycles unwanted cell phones, it generates cash back on each phone collected. Funds raised through this effort help to support the work of the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. Don't forget to bring your old cell phone with you when you visit the doucs at Zoozapalooza: Search for Treasure, this summer at the Zoo. For more information on donating your used cell phone, or collecting old cell phones for the Zoo at your school or office, contact the docent office at dcouncil@phillyzoo.org.
	Eat Wisely You've probably never eaten a langur, or any other primate for that matter. But how do you feel about fish? The bushmeat crisis (the over-harvesting of wildlife for food) is a global issue, yet it doesn't always feel that way. Americans are not accustomed to thinking of their food as coming from the wild. Many of us live in densely populated areas where wilderness and wide-open spaces are few and far between, and our primary source of meat comes from domesticated animals. So how do we help drive the unsustainable hunting of wildlife that often severely depletes populations to meet our demand? The answer lies in our seafood. Certain species of fish have been harvested to the point of becoming endangered, yet there continues to be a strong market for them. In North America, seafood is our favorite form of bushmeat. The Monterey Bay Aquarium produces a wallet card that can help you make seafood choices that are good for you and for wildlife.
	Support CITES The grey-shanked douc langur pictured here, later confiscated from a local market, was to be sold in the international wildlife trade. Laws regulating wildlife trade are notoriously ineffective and hard to enforce. Under-staffed government agencies are often no match for well coordinated, highly armed wildlife trade networks. Many countries such as Vietnam have strong laws and a clear system of penalties in place to protect against illegal trade in wildlife, yet hunting primates for food, medicinal purposes and the pet trade remains widespread. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, commonly referred to as CITES, "aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival." One of the best ways you can support CITES is to be cautious when purchasing wildlife souvenirs while traveling. TRAFFIC, an international organization that helps CITES, offers a useful guide about what to watch out for when buying wildlife products.

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