The term “Silverback” is usually used to identify the Alpha male gorilla of a troop who is characterised by a silver-grey pelage on his back. In the zoo world the term has stronger connotations and refers to senior and highly respected members of the community. Dr David Jones is one such Silverback.

As the present Director of the North Carolina Zoological Park, in Asheboro, North Carolina, USA, David is a veterinarian and zoologist by training, and worked with the Zoological Society of London for 25 years in a number of different capacities before eventually becoming its Chief Executive Officer. He moved to North Carolina in 1994. He is the former Chairman of one of the world’s oldest conservation organizations, Fauna and Flora International, and of the Brooke Hospital for Animals, which is one of the world’s largest animal welfare agencies. David was Chairman of the Conservation Committee of the World Wildlife Fund in the United Kingdom and is currently on the Council of both WWF UK, and WWF USA. He is presently co-chair of the Ethics and Welfare Committee of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).

In January, 2001, David Jones began using his North American and European Zoo, and international animal welfare contacts to coordinate efforts to send worldwide aid to the Kabul Zoo in Afghanistan. Also in 2003, a similar relief effort for Baghdad was launched, and proved equally successful.

During 2007, David reported that the initial emergency phase for the Baghdad Zoo had long expired, and suggested that excess funds be moved to assist the Giza Zoo in Cairo, Egypt. It is here that the partnership with PAAZAB started. With this funding channelled through North Carolina Zoo, veterinary, education and executive assistance have since been provided to the Giza Zoo by personnel from PAAZAB Institutional members a series of missions to Egypt over the past two years. These missions have significantly contributed to the promulgation of higher standards of day-to-day animal welfare practice at this zoo.

David Jones’ foresight and ongoing efforts to assist zoos in crisis is well documented and it is with sincere gratitude that that PAAZAB acknowledges his guidance, his insight and his efforts on behalf of the Association. His leadership in particular is especially acknowledged by the Executive Committee of PAAZAB during more recent times of intense media criticism of the Association’s involvement in Egypt.

For such outstanding contributions to, and support of PAAZAB and its objectives, the PAAZAB Chairman’s Award 2011 is conferred upon Dr. David Jones.

CHAIRMAN’S AWARD CITATION
May 2011

Mark Penning

Download citation

His first contributions to the community of zoos and aquaria occurred during his student years and took the form of live cobras that he subtracted from the campus of Pretoria University’s veterinary faculty at Ondestepoort and donated to the then Transvaal Snake Park in Halfway House, South Africa. As reptiles themselves played a role in the evolution of Life on this planet, so did those cobras open the door on a life-long commitment to zoos and aquaria that even he did not foresee at the time.

Cobra donations led to becoming the pro-bono consultant vet to the Snake Park- an association that in turn led directly to his employment as manager of the Umgeni River Bird Park in Durban in 1996; through this appointment, straight onto ranks the Council of PAAZAB. In a very short time his passion, dedication and talent as a wildlife animal practitioner and as a through-and-through “animal-guy”, ensured his election onto the Executive Committee of PAAZAB at the first Gonubie conference in 1997. Mark has served on the “EXEC” continuously for the 14 ensuing years ever since.

As a member of the Executive Committee he has worn many hats, from a studbook Keeper of the African Preservation Programme to Chair of the PAAZAB Veterinary Committee. As a talented musician, his guitar playing has enlivened the latter hours of many a late night PAAZAB conference bar session! In 2006 Mark assumed the mantle of Chair of PAAZAB and his undeviating intent to see zoo standards codified lead to the development of the mandatory compliance PAAZAB Operational Standard in 2009.

In 2004 his appointment as CEO of the South African Association of Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) lent a new gravitas to Marks role in the community. SAAMBR being a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) brought him to a larger canvas to paint upon. His unfailing people skills, enthusiasm for the mission of zoos and aquariums and strong sense of community commitment led to his election onto the Council of WAZA in 2008. During this time, the portfolio of Chair of the WAZA Aquarium Committee necessitated his almost solo writing of the World Aquarium Conservation Strategy. His progression on to the Presidency of WAZA in 2009 was inevitable and a career culmination that those cobras of yore might have foretold!

As an administrator and head of the largest aquarium in Africa -in itself a complex and dynamic organization – Mark is without peer. As a veterinarian, be it a private consultation on a pet lizard through to vasectomising elephants in the bush, Mark is highly respected and consummate professional. As a servant to the regional and international zoo and aquarium community, he is unequaled. 

Recognition of this fact is long overdue and thus the PAAZAB Chairman’s Award of 2011 is conferred upon Dr. Mark Penning.

CONSERVATION AWARD CITATION
May 2011

Annie Beckhelling

Download citation

The trendy world of fashion, clothes design and modelling might be an odd environment to stimulate an interest in conservation. An early contact with that most iconic of African predators the Cheetah however, inspired one such proponent of sartorial elegance into a commitment to these spotted cats that was to completely subsume the rest of her career.

Annie Beckhelling founded Cheetah Outreach in November of 1996 to bring the cheetah into full focus in both rural and urban communities in South Africa. Dedicated to the survival of free ranging cheetah, she launched the first cheetah school outreach programme in South Africa and from these modest beginning, Cheetah Outreach today is the education coordinator for the Global Cheetah Forum.  Curriculum linked literacy and natural science resources using the cheetah as a learning tool, built by Cheetah Outreach personnel are the broad base of the programme but equally importantly, are the thousands of sponsored lessons delivered to learners bussed to the facility annually - for many the first introduction to their valuable wildlife heritage. 

However, Annie passion and concern for the sustainable persistence of free-ranging cheetah in southern Africa led her to additional pursuits and since 2005 Annie has co-ordinated the South African Anatolian Shepherd Guard Dog Non Lethal Predator Control Programme delivered in free-ranging cheetah territory. Initially this was done in partnership with the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust and more recently, with the Endangered Wildlife Trust.  She has also introduced the programme to red meat retailers and suppliers in South Africa and co-ordinated a successful pilot of the Anatolian Shepherd Dog programme for a major retail chain supplying red meat.

Annie is the founder and a trustee of Cheetah Outreach and vice chair of the National Cheetah Conservation Forum and serves on the education and captive cheetah committees of this body.   Cheetah Outreach has raised over 41 cheetah cubs, with no mortalities. These presently serve as ambassador cats in facilities in South Africa, United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, introducing many thousands more to the wonder and majesty of these African great cats.

In recognition of her significant contribution to the conservation of African Cheetah, the PAAZAB Conservation Award is conferred upon Annie Beckhelling.

CONSERVATION AWARD CITATION
May 2011

Antoinette Kotze

Download citation

Whilst it is axiomatic that agriculture and conservation are mutually exclusive pursuits, it is serendipitous that one of PAAZAB’s foremost contributors to African species conservation came from an entirely agricultural background. Following a career with the Agricultural Research Council, a doctorate in Tiger Fish genetics and an associate Professorship in genetics at the University of the Free State, in Bloemfontein South Africa, Antoinette Kotze was appointed as the Manager of Research at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa in 2006.

Although to this day insisting that she is not a “zoo person”, Antoinette has nonetheless embraced the concept of zoo-based biodiversity conservation research with characteristic flair and dedication, and made conservation genetics in particular her own especial oeuvre.  Passionate about developing people and above all developing women in the sciences, she currently supervises 9 Masters and 3 doctoral students in various Biodiversity conservation fields.

Antoinette oversees a department of doctoral researchers pursuing projects including southern Ground Hornbill, Wattled Crane and Black and White Rhino population genetics; hybridization and introgression in Bontebok and Blesbok and Black and Blue Wildebeest to name a few. Outside the immediate field of genetics per se Antoinette’s department also carries out important and significant work in monitoring the prevalence of amphibian chytrid in populations of Africa frog species; research into in situ avian disease and Wildlife Crime forensics.

Her most significant achievement to date has however, been a five-year project looking into Cheetah genetics and sub-speciation. Under her leadership with the establishment of a genetic database and in conjunction with researchers from the University of Vienna, the French National Research Centre and the Portuguese Science Foundation, the project revealed that not only are African cheetahs from various regions distinct from one another, but also, more importantly, the Asiatic cheetah found in Iran is a distinct sub-species from the African variety - a finding that has profound ramifications to Global Cheetah conservation management.

In recognition of these outstanding and significant contributions to the conservation of African species, the PAAZAB Conservation Award of 2011 is conferred upon Professor Antoinette Kotze.

Bernard Harrison and Friends
Award for Best Professional Development
May 2011.

David Vaughn

Download citation

Developing specific subject matter expertise requires unusually dedicated people. In this regard David Vaughan is no exception: although his first job was fixing washing machines and running a small pet shop, David first entered the PAAZAB community as a junior aquarist at Two Oceans Aquarium in 1997. He went on to become a Class 4 commercial scientific diver in mid 1999 and in 2000 was promoted to Aquarist 2 taking on the important areas of quarantine and water quality.

In 2003 David moved to Durban, employed by Sea World and the South African Association of Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) as the senior aquarist for quarantine. Here David completed his NAUI Nitrox enriched air diving course and was involved with the quarantining and translocation of all the fishes from the old Sea World aquarium to uShaka Sea World in Durban in 2004 in preparation for the opening of the new facility. He returned to the Two Oceans Aquarium in 2005 to take up the position of Senior Aquarist. In addition, he also completed the certificate course: Disease diagnostics and treatments (University of Stellenbosch, Department of Genetics) in 2005.
           
David enrolled at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) as a part-time Honours student with the department of Biodiversity of Conservation Biology in 2006 and completed his BSc (Honours) Cum laude in 2007, even though he had never previously attended university. David was awarded first prize at the UWC departmental open day and a place on the Dean’s merit list in 2006.  He went on to complete his Masters degree cum laude in 2009 with the full research dissertation: Review of South African Genera of the family Hexabothriidae Price, 1942, parasites of chondrichthyan fishes.

In 2007 David was promoted to the new appointment of Aquatic Animal Health Researcher at Two Oceans Aquarium which remains his current position. He collaborates with various experts nationally and internationally and his research is published in reputable international peer-review journals and disseminated at various national and international symposia. He is now a recognised international expert in the field of fish parasites - a long way away from broken washing machines!

In acknowledgement of this outstanding professional growth and contribution to science, the Bernard Harrison and Friends Award for best professional development is conferred upon David Vaughn.

Mark Penning PAAZAB award

Dr Mark Penning was further honoured with the conferral of the highest PAAZAB accolade, the prestigious PAAZAB Award. This award is only given to those individuals whose contributions to the Association and Zoo community are of an exceptional and outstanding nature. In 22 years of PAAZAB history this award has only be given out on three prior occasions to Mr. Willie Labuschagne, Mrs. Joyce Basel and Mr Andrew Eriksen. Dr Penning is the fourth recipient of this esteemed award. He is shown here with two of the other previous recipients of the PAAZAB Award, Joyce Basel and Andrew Eriksen.

Council has ratified the implementation of the compulsory PAAZAB Operational Standard at the April 2010 Annual General Meeting. Institutional members are now required to be compliant with this standard.

Please be advised that applications for Operational Standard audits are now open.

Application forms are available from the PAAZAB Executive Office, paazab@paazab.com

Completed applications for Operational Standard audits must be forwarded to the Executive Office from Institutional members by 1 May 2012.

If you have any queries please contact the Executive Director paazab@paazab.com