U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue visits the world-famous San Diego Zoo facilities and briefed on zoo operations and animal care in San Diego, CA, on July 15.
While there, he meets one of the San Diego Zoo Animal Ambassador Paloma, a two-toed sloth, with the assistance of Senior Trainers Susan Patch and Heidi Bernard.
The San Diego Zoo houses more than 3,500 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies. They have state-of-the-art veterinary care and quarantine facilities and participate in conservation activities with threatened and endangered species. The zoo also has enrichment programs developed to assure the psychological well-being of a variety of animal species.
Invertebrate Propagation Center -- Completed in May of 2019, the San Diego Zoo’s Invertebrate Propagation Center (IPC) is a 4,000 SF USDA APHIS-PPQ containment facility is designed specifically for sustainable rearing of invertebrates. This building, which also includes Entomology staff facilities, will support the new 7,000 SF invertebrate exhibit in the Sanford Children’s Zoo, opening in 2021. In addition to the main rearing room for collection animals, the IPC also includes a dedicated conservation breeding room for local endangered species destined for reintroduction into San Diego County habitats. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung. Original public domain image from Flickr