Fifty Years of Conservation

Stanley Searles, the founder and executive director of Global Conservation Connections, will discuss his widely varied conservation career. In his role as Curator of Birds and Aquatics at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, he collaborated with the Ohio Division of Wildlife in the reintroduction of the trumpeter swan to Ohio. In that project, he collected wild swan eggs in Alaska, oversaw the incubation of the eggs and rearing of the cygnets before placing them at a holding facility at The Wilds near Columbus. He then was involved with releasing the swans over a three-year period.

Later, he partnered with Bioandina, a Venezuelan conservation organization in reintroducing Andean condors back into the wild. Searles continued to work with governmental agencies in Venezuela to ensure the success of the program.

Since his retirement from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, he has been involved with conservation programs on a local and international level with Global Conservation Connections.