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Palm Beach,
Florida –
As guests
were talking
and still
nibbling on
dinner,
Sotheby’s
Auctioneer
Jamie Niven
started the
live auction
bidding at a
modest pace.
Then the
room went
silent as
guests
started to
realize that
bidding for
one
particular
item was
going higher
and higher
until Niven
proudly
exclaimed
“Sold!” for
the naming
rights of
the next
tiger cub
born at the
Palm Beach
Zoo.
It was
indeed a
wild night
on January
21 as the
Year of the
Tiger Dinner
Dance raised
$1 million
for the Palm
Beach Zoo.
Netscape
Founder Jim
Clark’s
$45,000
winning bid
to name the
next tiger
cub to be
born at the
Zoo helped
to bring
that total
to the $1
million
mark.
More than
400 donors,
supporters
and friends
attended the
seventh
annual
dinner dance
held at The
Breakers.
The evening
began in the
Mediterranean
Ballroom
with
cocktails
and
hand-passed,
made-to-order
martinis
while guests
were treated
to a very
close
encounter
with some of
the Zoo's
most
adorable and
fascinating
animals such
as Scooter,
the popular
binturong;
Wilbur, the
sloth;
singing dogs
and others.
Dinner and
live auction
followed in
the Venetian
Ballroom,
where each
table
centerpiece
displayed
towering
trees and
foliage, and
images of
tigers
prominent
around the
room
including
“candy”
tigers made
by The Candy
Man, who
spent the
evening
crafting
beautiful
tiger
lollipops
for guests
to enjoy.
After the
live
auction,
guests were
treated to
uniquely
created
individual
banana
splits and
then danced
to the music
of Soul
Survivor.
Dr. Terry
Maple,
president
and CEO of
the Palm
Beach Zoo
spoke about
the
important
work being
done at the
Zoo to save
endangered
species like
the Malayan
Tiger. He
noted that
the worldwide
wild tiger
population
has dropped
from more
than 100,000
in 1900 to
less than
3,200 today,
and that
three
subspecies
of tigers
are already
extinct. The
World
Wildlife
Fund
estimates
that at the
current rate
of decline
tigers will
be extinct
within a
generation.
The Palm
Beach Zoo
joins an
international
effort to
help save
endangered
Malayan
Tigers whose
numbers have
dwindled to
less than
500 in the
wild. The
Palm Beach
Zoo is
partnering
with
Panthera and
the Wildlife
Conservation
Society
through its
Tigers
Forever
project to
help protect
tigers and
their
habitat. It
is part of a
global
effort of
which the
Palm Beach
Zoo is proud
to be a
part.
In November,
the Palm
Beach Zoo
introduced
its newest
big cat, a
female
Malayan
tiger named
"Berapi." As
part of the
zoo's
efforts to
save tigers,
the plan is
for "Berapi"
to mate with
"Rimba," the
zoo's male
Malayan
tiger, and
produce cubs
in the very
near future.
Kristy
Clark,
Darlene
Jordan,
Bridget Koch
and Karin
Luter were
chairwomen
for the 2011
Dinner
Dance.
Honorary
Chairman was
Mrs.
Charlotte
Kimelman in
memory of
her late
husband,
Ambassador
Henry
Kimelman.
Event
Committee
Chairmen
were Whitney
Wood Bylin
and Thomas
C. Quick.
Honorary
Host
Committee
members were
Kane and
Mary Baker,
Kim K.
Campbell and
Mr. and
Susanna and
Louis Busch
Hager, Jr.
Major
sponsors
included
King of the
Jungle
Benefactors
Melvin J.
and Claire
Levine and
King of the
Jungle
Corporate
Sponsor
GRAFF. Grand
Tiger
Benefactors
were Kane
and Mary
Baker, Jim
and Kristy
Clark, Luis
and Lillian
Fernandez,
Gerald and
Darlene
Jordan,
Howard and
Michele
Kessler,
Joseph and
Karin Luter
and Oxbow
Corporation.
Gold
Benefactors
included Mr.
and Mrs. J.
Pepe Fanjul,
Jr., Mr. and
Mrs. William
Lee Hanley,
Jr., Pauline
Pitt, Thomas
C. Quick and
Patricia
Quick.
Silver
Benefactors
were Lavinia
Baker, Kim
K. Campbell,
Florida
Power &
Light Co.,
Mark and
Mary Freitas,
Gunster, Mr.
and Mrs.
William H.
Hamm III,
Amin Khoury
- B/E
Aerospace,
Inc.,
Stephen
Myers, Mr.
and Mrs.
Christopher
Quick,
Tiffany
Raborn, Mr.
and Mrs.
Timothy J.
Rooney, John
and Liz
Raese and
Frances G.
Scaife.
Bronze
Benefactors
included
Mrs. Robert
M. Grace,
Helene and
Stanley
Karp, Mr.
and Mrs. Ken
Langone, The
Leonard &
Evelyn
Lauder
Foundation,
Mr. and Mrs.
Jeff Marcus,
Mr. and Mrs.
James Meany,
Sydelle
Meyer, Herme
de Wyman
Miro, Neiman
Marcus, Mr.
and Mrs.
James
Nederlander,
The Eleanor
Patterson
Reeves
Foundation,
Patty Myura,
president,
Mr. and Mrs.
Edward
Robinson and
Wilbur and
Hilary Ross.
About the
Palm Beach
Zoo
The Palm
Beach Zoo is
a nonprofit
zoological
organization
whose
mission is
to protect
wildlife and
wildlife
habitat, and
to inspire
others to
value and
conserve the
natural
world. The
Palm Beach
Zoo, located
at 1301
Summit Blvd.
in West Palm
Beach, is
home to more
than 1,400
animals. The
zoo is
nationally
accredited
by the
Association
of Zoos and
Aquariums (AZA).
The zoo also
is home to
the Melvin
J. and
Claire
Levine
Animal Care
Complex, a
state-of-the-art
hospital
facility
which became
the first
zoo animal
hospital to
obtain a
GOLD LEEDS
certification.
For more
information
about the
zoo, please
www.palmbeachzoo.org
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