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EAZA Tiger Campaign 2002/4


Campaign efforts in Barelona Zoo

Successful Tiger Days at Barcelona Zoo
Barcelona Zoo is committed to making people aware of the problems tigers in the wild face and to raise funds for tiger conservation. This is the first time that Barcelona has tried to collect money, which is a real challenge for us.

We decided to employ two big three-sided panels in three languages (Catalan, Spanish and English) which include a collection box. The panels have been designed to be re-usable for each new EAZA Campaign, simply by changing the design within the existing structure. Another bigger panel was designed to be placed at the tiger enclosure, also in three languages.
The Educational Department arranged talks about tigers, which run every second weekend of the month as well as other activities in the summer season. We also published news about the campaign in our magazine and announced the campaign in the local papers and on the radio.

Since the campaign began, we have held two ‘Tiger Days'. The first was on 25 May and the second on 10 August. We built a Campaign Information Point close to the tiger enclosure, where the public could learn about the tiger conservation projects and Asian tiger products and look at a photo exhibition on topics such as habitat destruction, hunting, and the organisations involved in tiger conservation. Tiger key rings are on sale at this information point which also offers face painting facilities for children. The educators were very busy interacting with zoo visitors during the Tiger Days, while a group of volunteers distributed information leaflets at the zoo entrances.

We noticed that the public showed an interest in the Tiger Days and approached the Tiger Day desk. Some visitors only took a quick glance whereas especially youngsters and families read the education panels and made inquiries about the projects to save the tiger in the wild. We are very positive about the response so far. With a more active approach, we will succeed in sensitizing the public, while raising funds for conservation.