OKLAHOMA CITY ZOO

The Oklahoma City Zoo is a living museum of 1,900 animal species, expansive botanical gardens & over 26,000 members... The Oceanic Manta Ray (Mobula birostris) is listed as Endangered (EN) by the IUCN Global Redlist and is included in Appendix II of CITES, due to population decline to less than 250 mature individuals remain. The primary threat to the population is illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The overexploitation of the target marine rays on the Colombian Pacific coast is normalized in the Emberá indigenous community where cxurrently, illegal traffickers annually buy 134 live marine rays, stored by local poachers (Emberá indigenous), who hide them on remote islands or in mangrove streams. Traffickers export the rays to eastern distribution centers (China) with permits obtained by bribes from regional zoos. Stingrays are also often accidentally caught in fishermen's nets, who cut off the fins to retrieve the net. Through this project, we aim to create a marine protected..

Also known as: OKC Zoo

Primary location: Oklahoma City United States