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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

PALM BEACH’S WILDEST NIGHT CELEBRATING THE PALM BEACH ZOO BORN TO BE WILD DINNER DANCE SELLS OUT AND RAISES NEARLY $1 MILLION


PALM BEACH (January 30, 2012) – The Breakers Palm Beach was crawling with the wild and woolly Friday night, January 20, but the colorful two-legged critters were not in cages. They were the party animals attending the Palm Beach Zoo Born To Be Wild Dinner Dance.

"Born to Be Wild" was the theme of Palm Beach’s wildest night, chaired this year by Lillian Fernandez, Karin Luter and Carol Mack with Whitney Wood Bylin and Thomas C. Quick serving as Event Chairmen and Samantha Storkerson as Auction Chair.

Palm Beach Zoo President Andrew Aiken reported that the party at The Breakers sold out and raised close to $1,000,000,000 thanks in no small part to the efforts of generous sponsors and underwriters.

The nearly 500 guests had the opportunity to sidle up with the animals in the hotel courtyard during cocktails and bid on luxury items after dinner with legendary auctioneer, Jamie Niven of Sotheby’s making the call-outs. After the successful auction, revelers danced the night away to Heatwave who had the entire party on the dance floor.

The theme for the 2012 event was a most appropriate choice honoring the arrival of the three Malayan tiger cubs born in May. Last year, the Palm Beach Zoo was one of only two institutions to successfully breed Malayan tigers. In Partnership with Panthera and the Wildlife Conservation Society through their Tigers Forever project, The Palm Beach Zoo is proud to be a part of a global effort to help protect tigers and their habitat.

Tigers are nearly gone and three subspecies of tigers are already extinct. The worldwide wild tiger population has dropped from more than 100,000 in 1900 to fewer than 3,200 today. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that at the current rate of decline, tigers will be extinct within a generation.

Host Committee members included: Mr. and Mrs. Kane Baker, Ms. Lavinia Baker, Mr. Donald Burns and Gregory Connors, Mrs. Kim K. Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Roberto de Guardiola, Mr. and Mrs. J. Pepe Fanjul, Jr., Mrs Tina Fanjul, Mr. and Mrs. James Fifield, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Freitas, Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Gannon, Mr. and Mrs. Rick Goldsmith, Mrs. Robert M. Grace, Mrs. Martin D. Gruss, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Busch Hager, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. William Hamm, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Kessler, Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Lamb, Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Malloy, Mrs. Talbott Maxey, Mr. and Mrs. Dale McNully, Mr. and Mrs. James Meany, Mr. Stephen Myers, Mrs. William Pitt, Ms. Patricia Quick, Ms. Tiffany Reborn, Mr. and Mrs. John Raese, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ramos, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Rooney, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Ross, Mrs. Frances Scaife, and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Van der Grift.

Proceeds from Born To be Wild will help the zoo to advance its mission to protect wildlife and wildlife habitat, and to inspire others to value and conserve the natural world.

The Palm Beach Zoo has become a national leader in conservation and endangered species survival and is committed to the highest professional standards of animal care, providing high quality exhibits and facilities that sustain its growing collection of wildlife. Since 1969, the Palm Beach Zoo has been a place where children can participate in an open-air classroom of living creatures while fostering an awareness, appreciation, and respect for animals. The Palm Beach Zoo is one of the largest educational institutions in Palm Beach County, reaching more than 100,000 individuals over the past year alone. The Palm Beach zoo is home to more than 1,400 animals and is nationally accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). For more information on the zoo, please visit www.palmbeachzoo.org.

For more information on this topic or to schedule an interview, please contact: Linda Soper by emailing: linda@lindalanemarketing.com or calling 612.308.4159.

Photos Courtesy of: Lucien Capehart Photography

Karin Luter and Whitney Bylin


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