WCS Annual Gala Celebrates Wildlife and Wild Places

Wildlife and Wild Places: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will host its annual gala on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at the iconic Central Park Zoo, in celebration of WCS’s global mission to protect wildlife and wild places through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. 

This year’s event will honor Dr. Cristián Samper, an esteemed conservation biologist and environmental leader whose decade of leadership as WCS President and Chief Executive Officer helped shape the organization’s legacy and expand WCS’s impact on a global scale. Samper now serves as the Managing Director and Leader for Natural Solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund, overseeing its work related to the protection and restoration of nature and the transformation of food systems. He played a key role in launching the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, a $5 billion commitment from 11 global foundations supporting the 30x30 vision of protecting at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030, reversing species decline, and ensuring future generations inherit a thriving planet.

Said Alejandro Santo Domingo, Chair of the WCS Board of Trustees: “Dr. Cristián Samper made WCS stronger and more impactful during his ten years as our President and CEO, and he continues on his life-long path at the Bezos Earth Fund as a champion for wildlife and wild places. There is no better champion for nature than Cristián, and at WCS, we will always be thankful for his years of leadership with us.”

The WCS Gala is a signature event in New York City’s social season. It brings together WCS supporters, scientists, policymakers, and philanthropists to celebrate WCS’s impact on the planet’s most ecologically important wild places and the extraordinary species that call them home. Set beneath the stars within the spectacular outdoor setting of the zoo, the gala offers an experience unlike any other event in the city. 

WCS inspires and educates the next generation of conservationists through its five iconic wildlife parks in New York City: the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and New York Aquarium. With the largest site-based conservation program in the world, WCS is working on the ground to protect vast, climate-critical, biodiverse landscapes and seascapes in more than 55 countries and all the world’s oceans. WCS helps conserve habitat for 40 percent of the world’s biodiversity alongside governments, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, and other partners. With these partners, WCS is scaling up efforts to make sure these crucial landscapes are equipped to withstand escalating pressures while protecting and restoring populations of elephants, big cats, whales, and other priority species. Newswise/SP