San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Yes.

I mean, if anyone's from here, I still call it the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Totally.

Totally.

So I'll give you an example.

One of our most successful partnerships has been one with the San Diego Safari Park and As far as like promotion goes, San Diego Safari Park is like, well, the San Diego Wildlife Alliance is like one of the biggest nonprofits in the world, especially in this country.

Like it's well known.

It's huge.

I'll try to parse it out in a couple of different segments.

San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, which includes the Safari Park up north, has 3,000 employees.

So right there, it's very large, it's very complex.

2,000 volunteers, which is truly part of our community.

We are the community and the community is our greatest supporter.

And then I understand that there's also a lot of philanthropy.

I know that Elephant Valley is the latest project that opened up at the wildlife safari park.

And that was in partially funded with donations.

I'm surrounded by wild animals here.

I don't need to go to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

I got it at home.

What? Like, this is not an issue for me.

It's still dynamic, friend.

I am very close to San Diego Zoo right now, and of course our safari park, but I'm really excited to talk about this, this animal for today, too, I gotta add.

Can I say also an update since the last episode that we did together?

Oh, yes, yes.

[laughs]

Right.

It was, it was, um, Safari Park for Elephant Valley, right?

Yeah.

But cheetahs are also facing growing pressure from habitat loss, fragmented landscapes, and conflict with people.

So what will it take to secure their future in the wild? Today's guest is Janet Hinostroza, a lifelong big cat specialist whose career has spanned more than 30 years working with wildlife, including roles at Cincinnati Zoo and San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, who now supports the Cheetah Outreach Trust as an advisor and spokesperson.

In this episode, we explore what makes cheetahs such extraordinary animals, the threats they're facing, and why coexistence with people is so central to their conservation.

Janet takes us inside the work of the Cheetah Outreach Trust, where conservationists are partnering with livestock farmers using approaches including livestock guarding dogs to reduce conflict and help farmers and predators share the same landscapes.

Enjoy.

[upbeat music] I'm Janet Hinostroza, and I've had a, a pretty fortunate long career in the zoo industry here in the United States.

I've worked for the Cincinnati Zoo and the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, uh, primarily, uh, working with wild cats, including the cheetah, and, um, fulfilling roles as supervisor of animal training, uh, developing teams that would talk about cheetah conservation with the use of ambassador cheetahs.

Wonderful.

One day I get a phone call from what was then called the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

It has since been renamed the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

He says, "Hi, my name is Jim, and I'm calling from the Wild Animal Park.

Uh, have you been out here?" I said, "Yeah, I'm a zoo member.

The few times I've been there, like, I've never seen it that packed.

Yeah, I suggest the Safari one.

That's the one I wanted to.

Have you gone to San Diego Zoo or no?