The Oregon Zoo was presented with two prestigious awards from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums on Thursday.
Association executive director Kris Vehrs presented the Metro Council with the AZA's North American Conservation Award and its Marketing Excellence Award.
"Receiving multiple awards in one year is a big deal," Vehrs said. "Receiving consecutive awards is really amazing."
The Oregon Zoo and Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo shared the 2012 conservation award for their work reintroducing Oregon spotted frogs to the wild.
For 2013, the Oregon Zoo was recognized for its work sustaining the population of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits, and for its marketing campaign promoting the 50th birthday of beloved Oregon Zoo elephant Packy.
The awards were announced in September.
The zoo's 12-year effort to save the endangered rabbit concluded in 2012, when it released its last 14 breeding rabbits and their offspring at the Sagebrush Flat Wildlife Area in Washington. Only 15 of these minuscule bunnies remained when the program began in 2000.
In 2001, the Oregon Zoo became the first in the world to successfully breed pygmy rabbits. Since then, more than 1,600 pygmy rabbits have been born between the Oregon Zoo and its conservation partners at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Northwest Trek. Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits are now breeding successfully in the wild at Sagebrush Flat under close supervision by WDFW and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Oregon Zoo also received the AZA's Marketing Excellence Award, receiving top honors for its integrated marketing communications related to Packy the elephant's 50th birthday in 2012. The zoo's efforts to engage the community in this celebration resulted in a 60 percent attendance increase for its annual Elephantastic event and a huge outpouring of community support.
Packy was knighted by the Royal Rosarians, named honorary grand marshal of the Rose Festival parade and featured on the covers of Northwest newspapers and magazines for a solid month. The zoo leveraged this unprecedented attention to communicate its growth over the past 50 years as a national leader in conservation, education and animal welfare.
To help engage the community around this milestone, the zoo worked with Portland marketing agency Coates Kokes.
"We truly have a community gem here at the Oregon Zoo, and with that we thank you. Congratulations," Vehrs said.
The the Association of Zoos and Aquariums is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science and recreation.