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Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoölogical Society (NYZS), the global conservation organization is, as of July 1, 2025, led by President and CEO Adam Falk. WCS manages four New York City wildlife parks in addition to the Bronx Zoo: the Central Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, Prospect Park Zoo, and Queens Zoo. Together, these parks receive 4 million visitors per year. All these facilities are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). WCS has a global program doing conservation work on the ground in more than 50 countries.[citation needed]
The Wildlife Conservation Society was originally chartered by the government of the State of New York, on April 26, 1895. Then known as the New York Zoölogical Society, the organization embraced a mandate to advance native wildlife conservation, promote the study of zoology, and create a first-class zoological park that would be free to the public; its name was changed to the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1993. Andrew H. Green was the first president of the society but was replaced by Levi P Morton after Green resigned due to declining health. Henry Fairfield Osborn, who was the curator of the American Museum of Natural History and the founder of the American Eugenics Society, was Morton's successor. Madison Grant, popular eugenicist and author of The Passing of The Great Race, acted as the society's secretary and the chairman of the executive committee. William Temple Hornaday operated as the founding Director and General Curator of the park itself. Together, these leaders wrote hundreds of works promoting preservationist values. According to environmental historian Miles A. Powell, their writings and arguments were foundational for conservation but partially motivated by racial discrimination, hyper masculinity, and an association between protecting the nation's wildlife and protecting the nation's white population.
Other notable figures involved in the Society's creation include George Bird Grinnell, founder of the Audubon Society and editor of Forest and Stream magazine, and members of the Boone and Crockett Club.
The Bronx Zoo (formerly the New York Zoological Park) was designed along the lines of other cultural institutions in New York City, such as the American Museum of Natural History. The city provided the land for the new zoo and some funding for buildings and annual operating costs. WCS raised most of the funds for construction and operations from private donors, and selected the scientific and administrative personnel. Hornaday's tenure was very significant for conservation, but he encountered controversy after the exhibiting Ota Benga, a Mbuti (Congo pygmy) man.
In the late nineteenth century William Temple Hornaday, then director of the New York Zoological Park (now the Bronx Zoo), carried out a direct-mail survey of wildlife conditions through the United States and publicized the decline of birds and mammals in the organization's annual reports. He was a prolific writer who published The Extermination of the American Bison and Our Vanishing Wildlife: Its Extermination and Preservation, among many other texts. Our Vanishing Wildlife, in particular, revealed an association between species extinction and the decline of the white race in America.
In 1897, Hornaday hired field researcher Andrew J. Stone to survey the condition of wildlife in the territory of Alaska. On the basis of these studies, Hornaday led the campaign for new laws to protect the wildlife there and the United States as a whole. In 1901, a small herd of American Bison were gathered in a 20-acre meadow just off what is now the Pelham Parkway roadway. Starting in 1905, Hornaday led a national campaign to reintroduce the almost extinct bison to government sponsored refuges. Hornaday, Theodore Roosevelt and others formed the American Bison Society in 1905. The Bronx Zoo sent 15 bison to Wichita Reserve in 1907 and additional bison in later years. The saving of this uniquely American symbol is one of the great success stories in the history of wildlife conservation.[citation needed] Hornaday campaigned for wildlife protection throughout his thirty years as director of the Bronx Zoo. Beginning in 1906, Hornaday featured Ota Benga, a member of the Mbuti from the Congo, in a zoo exhibit. In July 2020, the Wildlife Conservation Society apologized.
Madison Grant and Osborn worked together with John C. Merriam, another eugenics supporter, in 1918 to form the Save-The-Redwoods-League. Together, they succeeded in convincing legislators to preserve many redwoods by comparing the trees to a race in danger. Local communities sometimes saw the attitudes of Grant, Osborn, and Hornaday as being elitist compared to those of poorer citizens and nonwhite citizens.
William Beebe, the first curator of birds at the Bronx Zoo, began a program of field research soon after the Bronx Zoo opened. His research on wild pheasants took him to Asia from 1908 to 1911 and resulted in a series of books on the birds. Beebe's field work also resulted in the creation of the Society's Department of Tropical Research, which Beebe directed from 1922 until his retirement in 1948. From 1930 to 1934, off of the coast of Bermuda, Beebe conducted research in an undersea vessel called the bathysphere. The vessel made thirty-five dives in total, taking him half a mile deep and along the ocean floor. During the dives, Beebe made observations on bioluminescent fish, as well as identifying several new species. This expedition was significant, as it was the first time humans observed the bottom of the deep sea and its creatures in their natural habitat. The bathysphere is currently displayed at the New York Aquarium.
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Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoölogical Society (NYZS), the global conservation organization is, as of July 1, 2025, led by President and CEO Adam Falk. WCS manages four New York City wildlife parks in addition to the Bronx Zoo: the Central Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, Prospect Park Zoo, and Queens Zoo. Together, these parks receive 4 million visitors per year. All these facilities are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). WCS has a global program doing conservation work on the ground in more than 50 countries.[citation needed]
The Wildlife Conservation Society was originally chartered by the government of the State of New York, on April 26, 1895. Then known as the New York Zoölogical Society, the organization embraced a mandate to advance native wildlife conservation, promote the study of zoology, and create a first-class zoological park that would be free to the public; its name was changed to the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1993. Andrew H. Green was the first president of the society but was replaced by Levi P Morton after Green resigned due to declining health. Henry Fairfield Osborn, who was the curator of the American Museum of Natural History and the founder of the American Eugenics Society, was Morton's successor. Madison Grant, popular eugenicist and author of The Passing of The Great Race, acted as the society's secretary and the chairman of the executive committee. William Temple Hornaday operated as the founding Director and General Curator of the park itself. Together, these leaders wrote hundreds of works promoting preservationist values. According to environmental historian Miles A. Powell, their writings and arguments were foundational for conservation but partially motivated by racial discrimination, hyper masculinity, and an association between protecting the nation's wildlife and protecting the nation's white population.
Other notable figures involved in the Society's creation include George Bird Grinnell, founder of the Audubon Society and editor of Forest and Stream magazine, and members of the Boone and Crockett Club.
The Bronx Zoo (formerly the New York Zoological Park) was designed along the lines of other cultural institutions in New York City, such as the American Museum of Natural History. The city provided the land for the new zoo and some funding for buildings and annual operating costs. WCS raised most of the funds for construction and operations from private donors, and selected the scientific and administrative personnel. Hornaday's tenure was very significant for conservation, but he encountered controversy after the exhibiting Ota Benga, a Mbuti (Congo pygmy) man.
In the late nineteenth century William Temple Hornaday, then director of the New York Zoological Park (now the Bronx Zoo), carried out a direct-mail survey of wildlife conditions through the United States and publicized the decline of birds and mammals in the organization's annual reports. He was a prolific writer who published The Extermination of the American Bison and Our Vanishing Wildlife: Its Extermination and Preservation, among many other texts. Our Vanishing Wildlife, in particular, revealed an association between species extinction and the decline of the white race in America.
In 1897, Hornaday hired field researcher Andrew J. Stone to survey the condition of wildlife in the territory of Alaska. On the basis of these studies, Hornaday led the campaign for new laws to protect the wildlife there and the United States as a whole. In 1901, a small herd of American Bison were gathered in a 20-acre meadow just off what is now the Pelham Parkway roadway. Starting in 1905, Hornaday led a national campaign to reintroduce the almost extinct bison to government sponsored refuges. Hornaday, Theodore Roosevelt and others formed the American Bison Society in 1905. The Bronx Zoo sent 15 bison to Wichita Reserve in 1907 and additional bison in later years. The saving of this uniquely American symbol is one of the great success stories in the history of wildlife conservation.[citation needed] Hornaday campaigned for wildlife protection throughout his thirty years as director of the Bronx Zoo. Beginning in 1906, Hornaday featured Ota Benga, a member of the Mbuti from the Congo, in a zoo exhibit. In July 2020, the Wildlife Conservation Society apologized.
Madison Grant and Osborn worked together with John C. Merriam, another eugenics supporter, in 1918 to form the Save-The-Redwoods-League. Together, they succeeded in convincing legislators to preserve many redwoods by comparing the trees to a race in danger. Local communities sometimes saw the attitudes of Grant, Osborn, and Hornaday as being elitist compared to those of poorer citizens and nonwhite citizens.
William Beebe, the first curator of birds at the Bronx Zoo, began a program of field research soon after the Bronx Zoo opened. His research on wild pheasants took him to Asia from 1908 to 1911 and resulted in a series of books on the birds. Beebe's field work also resulted in the creation of the Society's Department of Tropical Research, which Beebe directed from 1922 until his retirement in 1948. From 1930 to 1934, off of the coast of Bermuda, Beebe conducted research in an undersea vessel called the bathysphere. The vessel made thirty-five dives in total, taking him half a mile deep and along the ocean floor. During the dives, Beebe made observations on bioluminescent fish, as well as identifying several new species. This expedition was significant, as it was the first time humans observed the bottom of the deep sea and its creatures in their natural habitat. The bathysphere is currently displayed at the New York Aquarium.
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