PRESS ROOM

ROYAL OAK, Mich., 

As Election Day approaches, mayoral races across the country are heating up. Meanwhile, the Detroit Zoo’s Mayor of Amphibiville, 10-year-old Trinity Favazza of Shelby Township, Mich., is wrapping up the first year of her two-year term overseeing the 2-acre wetland village that is home to the National Amphibian Conservation Center – and she’s proven she’s up to the challenge.

Trinity was sworn into office as Amphibiville’s “newt” leader in November 2016 after her winning essay caught the attention of Zoo officials. She has since participated in many amphibian-related events, including the local chapter of FrogWatch USA, a citizen science program that allowed her to spend part of her summer doing fieldwork at a local wetland.

“It’s been a big year not only for Trinity, but for the National Amphibian Conservation Center,” said Ron Kagan, executive director and CEO for the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS). “With nearly half of the world’s 7,660 known amphibian species at risk due to habitat loss, climate change, pollution, infectious diseases and other factors, we are making significant progress in reversing the global extinction crisis these animals are facing.”

Earlier this year, 5,615 critically endangered Puerto Rican crested toad tadpoles bred at the Detroit Zoo were released in the El Tallonal biological reserve in Puerto Rico, joining more than 47,000 tadpoles of this species released into the wild in the past decade. Also this year, nearly 700 Wyoming toad tadpoles bred at the Zoo were released into a protected wetland in the Laramie Basin of Wyoming, bringing the total to more than 8,000 tadpoles, toadlets and toads released since the program began in 1995.

“Having a ‘mayor’ of this important conservation center helps spread our mission to younger generations who have so much to contribute as they grow up and become stewards of this planet,” Kagan said.

A video depicting highlights of Trinity’s first year in office can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHhF3DJy2N4&feature=youtu.be

Called “Disneyland for toads” by The Wall Street Journal when it opened in 2000, the National Amphibian Conservation Center is the only major facility dedicated entirely to conserving and exhibiting amphibians.