Supporting Global Conservation Without Leaving Home

Written By: Angela Yang and Katie Glatfelter

At Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance (DZCA), conservation is at the core of everything we do. While some of our dedicated teams work directly in the field, we recognize that meaningful conservation extends far beyond those efforts. Whether in the field, at the Zoo, or in everyday actions, there are countless ways to support wildlife and habitat conservation. Angela Yang, Senior Advisor for Global Conservation, and Katie Glatfelter, Animal Care Specialist for Primates, share how making a global impact doesn’t always require traveling—sometimes, it can start from home with a simple question: “What do you need?”

The Shift in Conservation

Thirteen years ago, Rainforest Alliance produced an entertaining video called “Follow the Frog” that follows an average person who, driven by his passion to do more for the environment, takes all the wrong actions including leading a failed revolution in Nicaragua. Eventually, the campaign leads the viewer back to more tangible and rational measures based on consumer behavior. Trust us, this video is three minutes well-spent.

More than ever, this message resonates today as conservationists strive to decolonize our approaches and recognize, as well as prioritize, Indigenous knowledge and locally led conservation and community-based efforts. It is no longer acceptable, nor necessary, for those of us from the Global North to “parachute in” to save wildlife but rather support the work of local actors and organizations working with their own communities. Instead of capacity-building, we now use terms such as capacity-strengthening or better yet, capacity-sharing. Because knowledge-sharing goes both ways.

DZCA’s Conservation Strategy

In that vein, when the Field Conservation department revised our strategy in 2022, we focused building alliances with strong local organizations that are protecting species based on DZCA’s criteria. As of 2025, we have eight exciting partnerships around the world featuring species from grey crowned cranes to Asian elephants. And as we grow our trusted relationships, we are intentionally seeking opportunities for DZCA staff to engage at the intersection of partner needs and our expertise and interest.

Learn More About Our Conservation Efforts

One Question, Big Impact

One of these opportunities happened with our partner in Laos, Association Anoulak. Through our former small grants program, Katie Glatfelter, one of DZCA’s Primate Animal Care Specialists, reached out and we discussed our partners. Katie has a strong background in animal care and has also worked with wildlife in South Africa, Namibia, Mongolia and the Galapagos Islands. While studying for her Masters degree, one of Katie’s professors shared that what conservation organizations and projects need the most help with are not what one would expect.

Often when people want to get involved with field conservation, their first thought is to travel to the location of the project and help directly in the field. Katie learned throughout her experiences that this is not always what is needed, and that often the best way to get involved is to simply ask “what do you need?”

She took this approach with Dr. Camille Coudrat of Association Anoulak and discovered that Camille didn’t need her to go to Laos. She needed Katie to create some education tools for an upcoming training for emerging Lao conservationists to learn more about conserving their local, threatened wildlife. So, Katie, with illustrative support from former Animal Care Specialist Brittany Merlo, created a beautiful a series of species factsheets in English that were also translated into Laos and used in a successful two-week pilot training course, that we’ll be supporting again in 2025.

View Species Fact Sheets

A Conservation Win-Win

This wonderful “alliance” showed that getting involved with international field conservation is easy and you can make a difference without leaving home. In this win-win story, Katie proudly contributed to an important cause in a simple way that will make a difference for both people and wildlife. As we continue expanding our partnerships, we’re excited to create more opportunities for staff—and passionate conservationists everywhere—to make a real impact.