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20d

50

August 20 • 2015

Jr

Farmington Hills native
educates about plight of
endangered animals.

R

ZOE SCHUBOT JN INTERN

hinos were
the first exotic
animal that
Farmington Hills
native and St. Louis Zoo rhino
keeper Stephanie Richmond
studied, and from her early
days studying them, she knew
she had found her passion.
Richmond recently returned
from England where she
visited rhino habitats and
learned about their care at a
wildlife park in Port Lympne
Reserve in Kent, and at West
Midland Safari and Leisure
Park in Worcestershire,
England.
Upon leaving
Worcestershire, Richmond
proceeded to Chester Zoo at
Upton by Chester in Cheshire,
where she presented a
program focused on ways
zoos can educate the public
about the plight of rhinos in
the wild. She also discussed
ways zoos can enrich the lives
of rhinos by allowing them
Stephanie Richmond
to perform natural behaviors
She graduated from North Farmington
and increase their control over
High
School and Michigan State
their environments. Richmond shared
University.
Despite her initial plans to go
nutrition, disease prevention, and other
into
veterinary
studies, Richmond said
welfare and husbandry information
she
realized
early
on in her schooling
when she participated in a roundtable
that
zookeeping
was
where her passions
discussion with approximately 120
lay.
animal experts.
Richmond, 34, has spent more than
"We had about 125 delegates (at the
a
dozen
years caring for black rhinos at
workshop) from 16 different countries
four
accredited
zoos. The trip to England
and, at some point, you look around the
in
June
was
her
third trip abroad aimed
room and you realize that most of the
at
learning
more;
she completed a study-
world's rhino experts are in that room
abroad
program
in
Kenya, an outdoor
with you, and it's just a very inspiring
educational
program
in Israel and a rhino
experience," Richmond said.
keeper
workshop
in
Australia.
Her trip was supported by the St. Louis
Richmond said that her fascination
Zoo, by a $500 scholarship from the
with
rhinos dates back to her beginning
International Rhino Keeper Association
days
as an intern at the Potter Park Zoo
and a $1,000 grant from the St. Louis
in
Lansing,
where she completed an
Zoo Enrichment Committee.
internship
and
independent study. From
The daughter of Diana and Roger
this
early
meeting,
Richmond knew that
Richmond of Farmington Hills, Richmond
she
wanted
to
pursue
work with rhinos.
grew up a member of Temple Kol Ami in
She
followed
that
with
an internship
West Bloomfield and was active in BBYO
at
Cleveland
Metroparks
Zoo
and cared
for a short time during her teen years.

for rhinos at the Kansas City Zoo
before joining the St. Louis Zoo team
in 2008.
"Even though I work with a
number of other interesting animals,
rhinos are still my passion," Richmond
said. "Rhinos were the first exotic
animal I got to know through
behavioral observation studies. They
can weigh up to 3,000 pounds and
can be intimidating, yet they are fairly
docile and very smart, tactile and
food-motivated. I just love them."
She is most interested in the
critically endangered black rhino.
Its population is estimated at no
more than 5,055.At its lowest, the
population fell to around the 2,000
mark during the mid-1980s. Thanks
to intensive conservation, numbers
slowly crept up.
"Recent success in black rhino
conservation is heartening,"
Richmond said. "But a lot of work
needs to be done to bring the
population up to even a fraction of
what it once was — and to ensure
that it stays there." She added that
rhinos are still in trouble because of
illegal poachers who kill the animals
and hack off their horns for shipment
to Asia for use in traditional Chinese
medicine.
In St. Louis, she has become a voice
for conserving the rhinos; for two years,
she has organized World Rhino Day
activities at the zoo. On World Rhino
Day, which is celebrated across the globe
every year, visitors to the zoo can see and
touch rhino biofacts. Children can learn
about being a "rhino scout" in Africa and
can work with activity booklets.
Visitors can also learn about field work
in Kenya through the Zoo's WildCare
Center for conservation in the Horn of
Africa and can discuss the rhinos with
zookeepers, like Richmond, who hopes to
continue her work with rhinos for many
years to come.
"I just want to continue what I'm
doing and continue to contribute to both
furthering the care of rhinos in zoos and
also the conservation efforts for rhinos in
the wild," Richmond said.

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