FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  March 29, 2007

Release No. M-26-07

HONOLULU ZOO RECEIVES ACCREDITATION TO 2011

            The Honolulu Zoo’s accreditation has been renewed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums through March 2011, Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced today.

            “As a strong supporter of the Honolulu zoo as a councilmember and now as mayor, I am very pleased to make this announcement,” said Hannemann. “This accreditation confirms that our Department of Enterprise Services, under director Sidney Quintal, is doing a good job managing the Honolulu Zoo.

             “The AZA bills itself as ‘America's leading accrediting organization for zoos and aquariums, and accredits only those institutions that have achieved rigorous standards for animal care, education, wildlife conservation and science.’ The Honolulu Zoo is meeting those standards,” said Hannemann.

             A year ago, the AZA tabled accreditation for the Honolulu Zoo because of maintenance and staffing issues.

            “In effect, that put us on probation,” said Quintal. “We addressed the issues identified by the accreditation team, cleaned up the facilities and filled empty positions. We’re told the AZA board took less than five minutes this week to vote full accreditation for Honolulu.”

            The accreditation runs to March 2011.

            The Honolulu Zoo occupies 42 acres in Kapiolani Park and has more than 1,000 animals. Its mission is “to inspire the stewardship of our living world by providing meaningful experiences to our guests.”

            In the past two years, it completed three major construction projects: an orangutan habitat, a state-of-the-art veterinary clinic and the new Keiki Zoo.

-30-

Contact:

            Bill Brennan, 527-2968

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767