A Fundraiser with Alex & Ani Buffalo

Join us on Monday, November 9 for a fun shopping experience to benefit the Buffalo Zoo. 15% of any purchase made in the store during the event will help the Zoo purchase auction items for the Zoo's brand new fundraising event, Arctic Whiteout. You can even purchase items and give them directly to the Zoo for the auction. We hope to see you there!

BlueCross BlueShield of WNY helps keep Polar Bears in Buffalo

--BCBS Employees Donate $5,000 for Construction of New Polar Bear Habitat--

 

BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York (BCBS) presented a check in the amount of $5,000 to Donna Fernandes, President of the Buffalo Zoo to help fund the construction of the zoo’s Arctic Edge Polar Bear Habitat. The $5,000 raised by BCBS employees, is in addition to the  company’s 5-year, $50,000 commitment to the habitat. 

Thursday’s presentation took place in the cafeteria at the BCBS headquarters in front of a large group of employees to honor them for their hard work. The money was raised through grass-roots efforts including a company bake sale and loose change jars. 

Steve Swift, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and a trustee of the Buffalo Zoological Society, presented the check, along with two adorable stuffed polar bears, to Fernandes.

 “As a company we have always recognized how important the Buffalo Zoo is to our community.,” said Swift, “Our employees did a great job to support this regional asset, and especially the polar bears.”

Celebrate the Polar Bear Cubs' Birthdays at the Buffalo Zoo!

Come to a special birthday party for Luna and Kali the polar bear cubs at the Buffalo Zoo!

The event will take place on Saturday, November 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be free with regular Zoo admission.

Polar Bear Cubs Kali and Luna (June, 2013)

There will be a variety of family-friendly activities in the Zoo’s reptile house, adjacent to the cubs’ current location in the tiger exhibit. Visitors will be able to warm up with hot chocolate, play pin the bear on the iceberg, sign a birthday card for the cubs, and learn about energy conservation while decorating light switch plates to take home.  There will also be special programs in front of the cubs’ exhibit during the event. The complete schedule follows: 

• 10 a.m. – Birthday cake for the cubs
• 11 a.m. – Birthday presents for the cubs
• 11:30 a.m. – Q&A with the cubs’ keeper and second mommy, Caitlyn
• 12 p.m. – Sing “Happy Birthday” to the cubs
• 1 p.m. – Birthday presents for the cubs
• 1:30 p.m. – Q&A with the cubs’ surrogate mommy, Alice

Luna was born at the Buffalo Zoo on November 27, 2012. She was hand-raised by the Zoo’s veterinary technician and keeper staff. Kali was orphaned in the wild and brought to the Buffalo Zoo in May. He is presumed to be about a month younger than Luna. The Zoo has decided to celebrate their birthdays at the same time with this special event for visitors.

Help the Bears Just by Helping the Planet!

Want an easy way to help the Buffalo Zoo build a new polar bear exhibit? We've teamed up with myActions.org, the social network for the planet to give you just that! By participating in our 15-day challenge, you'll be able to increase your own energy conservation efforts while helping us to raise money for the new Arctic Edge exhibit.

It's super easy! Starting on September 21, you can just click here to sign up and join the Arctic Edge challenge. Select one of our animal teams and then click the yellow "Sign up and Join this team" button.

The 15-day challenge is simple. All you have to do is complete 15 actions in 15 days. The actions can be almost anything that conserves energy, from riding your bike to recycling a can!  After joining a team, you can explore the site to see the categories of actions you and your family can start doing to help the planet (and save polar bears!) To choose an action, just click on the item that closely matches the action you have accomplished.

For every conservation action you do, myActions.org will donate up to $0.50 per action to the Arctic Edge exhibit. Not only will you be helping to protect the polar bears' shrinking natural habitat, but you'll be helping the Buffalo Zoo's polar bears too! Joining is free and easy, so please join the challenge today and become part of this great online green community!

Polar Bear Cubs Temporarily Off Exhibit

The Buffalo Zoo’s two famous polar bear cubs, Luna and Kali, will be temporarily off exhibit beginning on Thursday, September 19.

The Zoo is moving the cubs to a different area of the Zoo in order to relocate them to a larger exhibit space.

Zoo officials expect that the cubs will take about a week to adjust to their new holding area. After that time, the cubs will be back on exhibit in the Zoo’s current tiger exhibit. The tigers, which are a nocturnal species, will take turns on the exhibit with the cubs, and will have access to the exhibit in the evening and overnight.

The Zoo will announce when the cubs are on exhibit in their new space. Anyone who plans to visit the Zoo to see a specific animal is encouraged to call the Zoo before visiting at (716) 837-3900.

Zumba for Luna

Looking Good for Luna

Kids help the Zoo and "Our Bears Belong in Buffalo"

The fundraising for our planned Arctic Edge exhibit isn't done, but we are making progress and getting some terrific help from Western New York. The exhibit is slated to be the permanent home for Luna as well as future polar bears, arctic fox, canadian lynx and bald eagle. 

Kindergarten students, as well as first, second, and third graders along with children in the "Life Skills" from Big Tree Elementary raised $1000.00 for the campaign. They presented the money and two birdhouses decorated for Luna and Kali to Zoo Marketing Manager, Michael Powers, on a recent visit to the Zoo.

Students over at the Frederick Law Olmsted School, (School 64) had a variety of fundraisers and faculty came by the Zoo to present a $1500.00 donation to the campaign.

You don't need an entire class to help build a home for Luna. Jacob Frederiksen, a fourth grader at St. Francis of Assisi school in Tonawanda, ran a "Lemonade for Luna" stand on his own and was able to bring $40.00 to contribute to the campaign. 

If you want to help out in getting a permanent home built for Luna with a fundraiser of your own, just let us know. If you would like to donate to the campaign, text "Zoobear" to 56512 or visit the Zoo online at http://www.buffalozoo.org/bear_campaign.html.

Arctic Edge Assistance from Forestville

Thanks to the great kids of Mrs. Faxlanger’s third grade class at Forestville Elementary for helping out the Our Bears Belong in Buffalo campaign.

 

To get "Our Bears Belong in Buffalo" banks to raise funds for the Arctic Edge construction, please call the Zoo's development office at (716) 995-6131 during normal business hours. If you would like to make a donation, you can call the same number or go online.

Thanks again to the great third graders in Mrs. Faxlanger's class. Great job, kids, we couldn't have said it better ourselves.