SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund

Grants encourage sustainable livelihoods, empower women, and shed light on little-known species

St. Louis, Mo. (May 9, 2008) - The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund today announced grants of more than $1.5 million to 151 environmental and research organizations worldwide. The Fund also awarded $85,000 to schools and community groups honored in the annual SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Environmental Excellence Awards.

This year's grant session follows on the heels of the non-profit group's most successful fundraising effort to date - the Jungala Gala, hosted by Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in April. Raising more than half a million dollars for wildlife conservation, the event also celebrated the opening of Jungala, the park's new rainforest-themed attraction and home to its family of endangered tigers, orangutans and other jungle inhabitants.

"This latest round of grants combined with our recent event in Tampa have been incredibly energizing for all of us," said Fund President Virginia M. Busch. "When we can connect people, places and animals from far-off regions in the world to our friends and colleagues here in the U.S., good things happen. Perspectives begin to change. Behaviors are changed. That's what conservation is all about."

- "Community Management of Sankuru Reserve," Bonobo Conservation Initiative, Democratic Republic of Congo. The new Sankuru Nature Reserve in the DRC is the world's largest continuous protected area for great apes. With help from a $15,000 grant from the Fund, efforts are underway to establish a community-led management structure for the reserve, employing local community members to serve as park rangers, forestry experts and educators.
- "On-farm Conservation of Indigenous Forests and Birds," Ecogarden, Kenya. Throughout privately owned farms in the Trans-Nzoia district of Kenya, it is estimated that 80 percent of indigenous fruit-bearing tree species have been replaced by exotics, negatively affecting native fruit-eating birds and other wildlife. A Fund grant of $10,000 is helping a local group reach out to farmers and youth-driven farmers' clubs to help them successfully manage their farms in ways that protect local wildlife.

- "Women for Conservation," American Bird Conservancy, Columbia, South America. Many of the rural villagers living near nature reserves throughout Columbia are impoverished. Women especially are poorly educated, lack skills and often forced to work in extreme conditions. A Fund grant of $10,000 will help conduct workshops for these women, training them on skills that will not only help alleviate poverty but will encourage best use of natural resources.
- "Kiunga Population, Health & Environment Study," World Wildlife Fund, Kenya. Eastern Africa is just one of several world regions experiencing unsustainable population growth. Within Kenya's Kiunga Marine National Reserve, efforts are underway to provide basic health and family planning services for local communities, with a specific emphasis on women. Such efforts not only help reduce population growth rates, but they also help alleviate poverty and protect the region's biodiversity. With support from a $10,000 Fund grant, community members from other nearby regions will travel to Kiunga to witness and evaluate the program, with the aim of using the program as a replicable model in their home regions.

- "Conservation of Otters in Nepal," Institute of Forestry, Pokhara Nepal, Nepal. Partially due to their nocturnal nature, otters are rarely seen by both scientists and local community members throughout Nepal. As a result, they remain unfamiliar and unprotected. Data on otter populations, behavior and habitat needs remain deficient. The Fund supported this project in 2007 and is continuing its support with a $5,000 grant in 2008 to help researchers document this elusive but important local animal.
- "Student Exploration of the Hainan Gibbon," Fauna & Flora International, China. The most endangered ape in the world, the Hainan gibbon is found only in the Bawangling National Nature Reserve on Hainan Island, China. A $10,000 grant from the Fund will enable more members of the local community to learn about and explore the rare gibbon's habitat, home to many other endangered species. Such expert-led treks have resulted in new generations of people who perceive the area as not just timber and food, but home to extraordinary animals they want to protect.

A full list of the projects funded during this granting session is available online at www.swbg-conservationfund.org. Unlike most charities, 100 percent of donations to the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund reach the foundation's grantees. Busch Entertainment Corporation, in addition to its cash donations, covers 100 percent of the Fund's administrative costs.

The non-profit SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund is committed to species research, habitat protection, animal rescue and conservation education. The Fund was launched in 2003 by Busch Entertainment Corporation (BEC), the family entertainment subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch. The foundation was created to strengthen and expand the decades-long conservation efforts of BEC, Anheuser-Busch and the company's ten theme parks while also providing guests and friends an easy, direct way to make a difference for wildlife. Under the charitable umbrella of the Fund, the SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Environmental Excellence Awards are given each year to school and community groups who protect and preserve their local environment. Since 1993, more than $1.5 million has been donated to schools and community groups in 40 states.

Orlando-based Busch Entertainment Corporation is the family entertainment subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. BEC operates 10 Worlds of Discovery parks across the U.S.: SeaWorld parks in Orlando, Fla., San Diego and San Antonio; Busch Gardens parks in Tampa, Fla. and Williamsburg, Va.; Discovery Cove in Orlando; Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa. near Philadelphia; Aquatica, SeaWorld's water park in Orlando; and water parks Adventure Island in Tampa and Water Country USA in Williamsburg. Worlds of Discovery parks employ more than 21,000 people nationwide. For more information about the parks, please visit www.WorldsofDiscovery.com.