SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund Announces Latest Grant Recipients

ST. LOUIS, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, a non-profit foundation dedicated to wildlife conservation, research, education and animal rescue, today announced grants totaling $770,000. More than four dozen conservation and research organizations will benefit from the 2006 grants, which bring total funding distributed by the non-profit foundation to more than $2 million since its inception in 2003.

The grant recipients vary widely in their area of scientific focus as well as geography -- from the coastal animal reserves of Kenya to the tropical Andes of South America to the Flint Hills of Kansas. The Fund awarded nearly $600,000 in 2005. Conservation Fund awards for spring 2006 also include $85,000 to winners of the 2006 SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards, $50,000 in co-grants with the National Geographic Society, and $25,000 in discretionary grants that have yet to be earmarked.

"We are gratified to make awards of this scale to so many worthy organizations," said SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund President Virginia M. Busch. "This is by far our largest grant session to date, a result of the generosity of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, their guests and employees, as well as Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers."

The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund was created in part to allow visitors to the nine Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks, as well as the public, to supplement the more than $2.5 million currently earmarked for conservation by the company.

  Recipients of the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund Grants

  Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of
  California Davis will receive $10,000 to pursue research on recent
  mortality among the once critically endangered population of California
  gray whales.

  Blue Ventures Conservation of the United Kingdom will receive $10,000 to
  assess the current status and threats of exploitation of sharks in the
  Morombe region of southwest Madagascar.

  The Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute satellite facility in Orlando, Fla.
  will receive $20,000 to study the metabolic process in killer whales as it
  relates to heart rate, providing insights that will benefit wild whales
  and dolphins.

  The Charles Darwin Foundation of the United Kingdom will receive $20,000
  to conduct a population study of Galapagos penguins and flightless
  cormorants in the Galapagos Islands.

  The Marine Conservation Unit of the Wellington, New Zealand Department of
  Conservation will receive $12,700 to study ways to alter the behavior of
  seabirds that are inadvertently killed while attempting to feed from
  longline fishing boats.

  The James River Association of Mechanicsville, Va. will receive $5,000 to
  study means of restoring the Atlantic sturgeonfish to tributaries of the
  Chesapeake Bay.

  The World Wildlife Fund of Washington, D.C. will receive $30,000 to study
  ways of reducing mortality in endangered sea turtles inadvertently caught
  in the Panamanian longline fishery.

  The Nature Conservation Foundation of Valparai, Tamilnadu, India will
  receive $12,300 to study human/elephant conflicts in the Anamalai-
  Parambikulam Reserve.

  The Small Carnivore Conservation Centre of Hanoi, Vietnam will receive
  $5,000 to develop rehabilitation and veterinary care procedures for the
  endangered Owston's Civet.

  The African Wildlife Foundation of Nairobi, Kenya will receive $10,000 to
  study the demography and human conflicts of a lion population in Tarangire
  National Park in Tanzania.

  The African Wild Dog Conservation of Lusaka, Zambia will receive $20,000
  to assess the status of the remaining 5,000 African wild dogs and to
  develop effective conservation and management plans.

  The Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund International of Atlanta, Ga. will receive
  $10,000 to continue a survey of animal species of the Maiko National Park
  in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  The Rare Species Conservatory Foundation of Loxahatchee, Fla. will receive
  $5,000 to study the effects of Hurricane David on two critically
  endangered parrot species on the Island of Dominica.

  Kansas State University will receive $7,280 to study declines in the
  populations of grassland bird species in the Flint Hill region of Kansas.

  Brevard (Florida) County's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program will
  receive $500 to assist in the relocation and study of a pod of gopher
  tortoises.

  The Fort Worth Zoological Association will receive $12,700 to fund a
  meeting of conservation biologists and eagle experts working to develop a
  strategic plan for the preservation of eagle species.  Sixty percent of
  the world's 64 eagle species are experiencing population declines.

  Wildlife Trust of New York, NY will receive $10,000 to evaluate the
  population of threatened bat species in the tropical Andes of South
  America and to conduct community outreach and education programs to reduce
  the risk of conflict with these species.

  Wildlife Trust also will receive $15,000 to continue its work studying the
  world's most endangered equine species, the African wild ass, and the
  growing problem of Antillean manatees dying in boat collisions in Belize.

  Fauna and Flora International of Washington, D.C. will receive $15,000 to
  preserve the Hainan gibbon, the world's most endangered ape.  The species
  is in conflict with human populations on Hainan Island in China.

  Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach, Fla.
  will receive $10,000 to continue its conservation work for a variety of
  dolphin species in the Tanon Strait of the Philippines.

  World Wildlife Fund of Washington, D.C. will receive $15,000 to fund an
  education program for cruise ship passengers who unwittingly contribute to
  the trade in unique wildlife through the purchase of souvenirs.

  The Adzicels Happy Home Foundation of HoHoe, Ghana will receive $10,000
  for a training program to improve Tafi-Atome monkey and Awubeame
  chimpanzee sanctuaries in west Africa.

  The Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
  will receive $10,000 to assist in the development of a management plan for
  the newly created Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

  Tusk Trust of Dorset in the United Kingdom will receive $35,000 to
  conserve rhinoceros in Kenya, support the conservation of elephants in
  east Africa, and to support three national wildlife preserves along the
  country's northeast coast.

  The International Gorilla Conservation Programme in Nairobi, Kenya will
  receive $15,000 to assist in the development of a sustainable tourism plan
  for the Volcanoes National Park, home to endangered mountain gorillas.

  Project Bird Watch of Bellevue, Wash. will receive $15,000 to support the
  rehabilitation and release of Indonesian parrots and cockatoos rescued
  from the exotic pet trade.

  The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center of Huntington Beach, Calif. will
  receive $10,000 to study steatitis, a deadly disease affecting wild herons
  and cranes.

  The Pandrillus Foundation of Limbe, Cameroon will receive $10,000 to
  support its rescue and rehabilitation efforts for endangered wild
  primates.

  The Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples will receive $5,000 for its
  Wildlife Surgical Support Fund.  The Conservancy rescues and rehabilitates
  Florida wildlife.

  Massachusetts Turtle Rescue, Inc. of Springfield, Mass. will receive
  $3,000 to fund its continuing program of rescuing, rehabilitating and
  releasing ill and injured turtles.

  The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project in Kigali, Rwanda will receive
  $24,750 to help fund an experimental rehabilitation and release project
  for a young mountain gorilla.

  The Pan American Conservation Association of Panama City, Fla. will
  receive $10,000 to help fund a rescue and rehabilitation program in the
  Republic of Panama for a variety of species, including ocelots, jaguars,
  sloths and capybaras.

  WildAid of San Francisco, Calif. will receive $18,049 to support upgrading
  the potable water supply at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in
  Cambodia.

  The Wildlife in Need Foundation of Lompoc, Calif. will receive $10,000 to
  support the rescue, rehabilitation and release of stranded whales and
  dolphins in the Philippines.

  The African Conservation Foundation will receive $12,500 to fund an
  education program for young people in Tanzania on the importance of
  wildlife and habitat conservation.

  The Fundacion Ecosistemas del Chaco Oriental of Formosa, Argentina will
  receive $14,267 to fund research into owl monkey behavior and ecology in
  Formosa Province.

  The Endangered Habitats League of San Diego, Calif. will receive $10,000
  in support of its "Habitat Heroes" conservation education program.

  The Marine Turtle Specialist Group of IUCN-SSC will receive $15,000 to
  help fund a sea turtle conservation and education program in the Quirimbas
  Archipelago in Mozambique.

  The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of Apple Valley, Minn. will
  receive $10,857 to help fund its "Saving Sun Bears" program in Indonesia.

  The Regional Centre for Development and Conservation in Limbe, Cameroon
  will receive $20,517 to help develop a community forest between a wildlife
  preserve and logging company in the Bayang Sub Division of Cameroon.

  Yayasan Akar Rumput Laut in Indonesia will receive $15,000 to supplement
  funding for coastal community resource centers.

  The University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka will receive $3,000 to
  supplement funding for a freshwater otter survey and awareness program in
  Sri Lanka.

  The Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon will receive $14,828 to help fund
  its "Conservation Across Cultures" environmental education program.

  The Ecology Project International of Missoula, Montana will receive $7,500
  in support of its Galapagos Ecology Program, an initiative designed to
  involve young people in conservation of this biologically diverse
  archipelago.

  The Wildlife Conservation Society of the Mayumba National Marine Park in
  Gabon will receive $10,000 to fund an outreach program intended to educate
  local residents of the biological richness of the Mayumba National Marine
  Park.

  Iemanya Oceanica of Oak Park, Calif. will receive $10,000 in support of an
  initiative to remove the financial incentive for unsustainable shark
  fishing in the Gulf of California and Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula.

  Dolphin Biology Research Institute of Sarasota, Fla. will receive $5,000
  for production of a public service announcement informing viewers that
  swimming with wild dolphins is both dangerous and illegal.

  The International Rhino Foundation will receive $15,000 in support of its
  Zimbabwe Black Rhino Project.  The program rescues rhinos at risk and
  transfers them to other habitats as well as reintroducing rhinos to
  habitats in which the species is extinct.

  The Endangered Wildlife Trust will receive $15,000 to study the impact of
  exotic animal trade in Africa on three species of cranes.

The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund is a registered non-profit foundation. Its mission is to work with purpose and passion on behalf of wildlife and habitats worldwide, encouraging sustainable solutions through support of species research, animal rescue and rehabilitation and conservation education. For more information on the Fund, including this year's Environmental Excellence Awards recipients, visit http://www.swbg-conservationfund.org/ .

Busch Entertainment Corp., the family entertainment subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., operates nine U.S. theme parks: SeaWorld parks in Orlando, Fla., San Diego, Calif. and San Antonio, Texas; Busch Gardens parks in Tampa, Fla. and Williamsburg, Va.; Discovery Cove in Orlando; Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa.; Adventure Island in Tampa and Water Country USA in Williamsburg.