We love our elephants and we want people to care for them as much as we do. Our staff at Woodland Park Zoo has more than 200 combined years of elephant management experience. Our team includes five keepers for three elephants; a curator who teaches an Association of Zoos & Aquariums
course on elephant management; a scientist who specializes in elephant reproductive physiology; and two full-time veterinarians and allied professionals in Southeast Asia to further elephant welfare work and many more dedicated professionals and staff.
- General Curator Dr. Nancy Hawkes specializes in reproductive physiology, assisted reproduction techniques for Asian and African elephants and behavioral endocrinology; and she regularly provides her knowledge with other zoos. She led the team at National Zoo (Washington, D.C.) that collaborated with Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt of the Institute for Zoo Biology and Wildlife Research of Berlin, Germany, to first attempt the ultrasound-guided technique in an elephant in 1995. Since that time, 23 pregnancies have resulted from the use of the technique in both Asian and African elephants in North American and European zoos.
- Deputy Director Bruce Bohmke has nearly three decades professional experience in zoos, including 10 years of management oversight of elephant programs. Fourth year as an elected member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Elephant Taxon Advisory Group/Species Survival Plan Steering Committee and Advisors, a group of 15 members with multidisciplinary experience that directs elephant management for zoos throughout North America.
- As principal lead for the Indonesian Veterinary Training Program supported by WPZ, Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo's director of animal health has worked with elephant managers and allied professionals in Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia to further the welfare of elephants in their range countries. Provides specialized training for conferences and workshops training on general medicine and surgical techniques including advanced training in elephant foot care and the use of ultrasonography for the study of reproductive health and disease. Was attending veterinarian during the birth of the first Asian elephant born at Woodland Park Zoo in 2000; developed protocols for the safe cross-country transportation of two of Woodland Park Zoo's cows sent on breeding loans in 1998 and 2002. Both resulted in pregnancies.
- WPZ veterinarian Dr. Kelly Helmick has nearly 10 years of clinical experience with both Asian and African elephants, including anesthesia, preventive medicine, quarantine, and birthing and neonatal protocols. She participated in a multi-institutional study collecting samples for elephant research programs, including ibuprofen kinetics, WNV serology and a M. tuberculosis multiple-antigen assay. Helmick also is a Diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine, an international specialty organization recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association for certification of veterinarians with special expertise in zoological medicine beyond the already high requirements of regular veterinary medical practices.
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Conservation and
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