Return the Call of the Wild is the Philadelphia Zoo Docent Council’s effort to raise awareness about the effects of cell phones on the environment and to offer a solution. To date, Zoo-goers have recycled more than 2,600 cell phones, raising over $4,300 for the Endangered Primate Rescue Center in Vietnam, a conservation project supported by the Zoo.
Cell phones contain many toxic substances, such as arsenic and cobalt. In landfills, toxins often escape into the environment, contaminating natural resources and polluting wildlife habitat. These poisons can travel through animal and human food chains causing birth defects, neurological damage and cancer.
The Philadelphia Zoo receives cash back on all recycled cell phones, some of which are re-used as emergency phones for victims of domestic abuse or redistributed into developing markets such as Latin America for first-time, low-income users. Funds raised through the Return the Call of the Wild program go to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, a nonprofit organization working to conserve endangered primates in Vietnam, home of the beautiful douc langur monkey, one of the most-endangered primates in the world.
The Philadelphia Zoo is the only zoo in the country currently exhibiting douc langurs. They can be seen at the Rare Animal Conservation Center. As part of its global conservation efforts, the Zoo is working to raise awareness on the conservation issues affecting douc wild populations and has also successfully bred its doucs, which are among the most sensitive and delicate of all primates. .
Return the Call of the Wild collection boxes are located before the Zoo’s main entrance at North Gate, inside the Rare Animal Conservation Center and near PECO Primate Reserve.
Contact the Zoo’s docent office at 215-243-5317 or by email at dcouncil@phillyzoo.org for information on how you can join the Zoo’s Return the Call of the Wild project by collecting cell phones at your school or business.