ZooMusic - Concerts for Conservation

ZooMusic 2010 - Concerts for Conservation

The zoo is celebrating summer 2010 with six sensational 'concerts for conservation'. Now in its seventh year, Wild Bean Cafe ZooMusic features top Kiwi artists and outstanding support acts.

This year $1 from every ticket sold, plus funds raised on the night, will be helping the tuatara, kiwi, Maui dolphin, Asian elephant and Sumatran tiger.

Auckland Zoo supports a number of conservation projects through the year through the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund.

Conservation projects you will be supporting by attending ZooMusic 2010:

Department of Conservation, Tuatara Conservation
Friday 29 January 2010 – The Black Seeds

The tuatara is unique to New Zealand and dates back to the dinosaurs! Once common throughout Aotearoa, tuatara were driven from the mainland by introduced predators like cats and kiore, and today have become restricted to just 32 off-shore islands.

Money raised from The Black Seeds concert will go to supporting the Department of Conservation's (DOC) tuatara 'Headstart' programme on Hauturu (Little Barrier) Island – to help improve tuatara monitoring and habitat restoration on Hauturu. With enough investment, Hauturu could become a significant source population for tuatara going to other offshore islands that have become pest-free through restoration work, such as Rangitoto and Motutapu islands.

Kashin Elephant Conservation Fund
Saturday 6 February 2010 – Opshop

Elephants are in trouble throughout Asia, with total numbers at about 30,000 in the wild, and populations extremely fragmented. Through the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund, the zoo already supports Wildlife Protection Units in Sumatra that are active in protecting elephants. We also support the Elephant Nature Park's 'Trees for Elephants' project in Thailand, and are currently investigating an additional key elephant project in the Asian region to support.

When Kashin died in late August, the zoo set up the Kashin Elephant Conservation Fund in her honour. The money raised from Opshop's concert will support this fund to help endangered elephants in the wild.

21st Century Tiger
Saturday 13 February 2010 – Anika Moa and Sola Rosa

Worldwide, there are fewer than 160 Sumatran tigers in zoos and less than 400 in the wild. Along with captive breeding, zoos are increasingly working together to support conservation projects in the wild. Through our Conservation Fund, the zoo has joined with Australasian and European zoo partners to assist the 21st Century Tiger project's Kerinci Seblat National Park. A World Heritage Site, Kerinci Seblat's 14,000km is one of the most important conservation areas in South East Asia, and has tiger protection and conservation units working hard to halt the poaching and trafficking of tigers.

Funds raised from Anika Moa and Sola Rosa's ZooMusic concert will support tiger protection and conservation units in this national park.

AUDIENCE CHOICE
Friday 19 February 2010 – Midnight Youth (unplugged)

Midnight Youth's ZooMusic concert will support one of the five Wild Bean Cafe ZooMusic 2010 conservation projects – to help tuatara, kiwi, Maui dolphin, the Asian elephant, or the Sumatran tiger – all great causes. The choice will be yours on the night! The audience will be asked to vote (by show of hands or voice) for the project that they most want Midnight Youth's gig to support. The boys from Midnight Youth are pretty keen on the tuatara!

Motuora Restoration Society
Sunday 28 February 2010 – The Topp Twins

Kiwi once roamed our forests in their millions! Sadly today, due to loss of habitat and introduced predators, our national icon has plummeted to 75,000 birds.

Motuora is an 80ha island about 5km off Mahurangi harbour just north of Auckland that is managed jointly by the Motuora Restoration Society and Department of Conservation (DOC). Today the island is a crèche site for North Island brown kiwi, providing chicks with a predator-free environment in which to grow until they are large enough to cope with the rigours of life on the mainland – like fending off stoats and other predators. Motuora is where Auckland Zoo sends the kiwi chicks it rears to live for a year, as part of the BNZ Save the Kiwi Operation Nest Egg programme.

The society has done an enormous amount of restoration work, including growing and planting thousands of trees. Since restoration began in 1995, along with the North Island brown kiwi, a number of other native species have been introduced to the island, including whitehead, shore skink, Duvaucel's gecko. Money raised from

The Topp Twins' concert will support Motuora Restoration Society to enhance safe habitat for kiwi and other threatened native fauna.

Department of Conservation, Marine Mammal Conservation
Friday 12  March 2010 – Opensouls and Batucuda Sound Machine

Critically endangered, Maui's dolphin is found only in New Zealand on the west coast of the North Island, and with fewer than 150 animals left in the wild, is the rarest marine dolphin in the world. Fishing, using set-nets, has been identified as the most significant currently known threat to its survival. Regulations banning the use of set-nets by amateur fishermen near the coast have been in place for several years, but set-nets are often found within this prohibited area. These beautiful animals desperately need our help!

Funds raised from the Opensouls and Batucada Sound Machine ZooMusic concert will help with replacing advocacy material, and may also help with research and/or aerial surveys – to monitor dolphin numbers and respond too public sightings.

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