Innovative Solutions for People        Living With Physical Disabilities

Innovative Solutions for People
       Living With Physical Disabilities

Louis Perrotti

Lou Perrotti

Director of Conservation Programs for the Rhode Island Zoological Society/Roger Williams Park Zoo

Louis Perrotti is the director of conservation programs for the Rhode Island Zoological Society/Roger Williams Park Zoo (RWPZ) in Providence, Rhode Island. He serves as the Zoo’s representative on local and national conservation collaborations including those at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) while managing the Zoo’s on-going conservation and research initiatives.

Perrotti has been heralded around the country for his work as project coordinator for the endangered American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) captive breeding and reintroduction project at the RWPZ in partnership with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and many other state agencies. He is currently the species coordinator for the AZA American burying beetle species survival program.

Perrotti is project coordinator for the Karner Blue Butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) habitat restoration and reintroduction project. He designed and implemented a working partnership with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and USFWS involving the RWPZ in the recovery efforts of the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly.

In 2019 Perrotti joined the San Antonio Zoo to set up an amphibian rescue facility (Chilean Amphibian Conservation Center) for five critically endangered endemic frog species in Chile, where in addition to supporting amphibian husbandry and reproduction efforts he created sustainable feeder insect colonies. He has served as Field Conservation Advisor for the AZA Terrestrial Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group (TITIG) for the last nine years and appointed to the steering committee in 2008. In 2010 he was elected co-chair with the goals to help initiate invertebrate-based husbandry, conservation, and education programs in AZA institutions nationwide.

From 2007-2012 he established a feeder insect breeding facility in Panama to support the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center, an endangered amphibian rescue project. In 2004 he introduced a pilot conservation education curriculum (International Bug Club) in partnership with the Woodland Park Zoo and the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program in remote village schools in Peninsular in Papua New Guinea where a year before he had taken part in an extensive three-month bio-diversity survey on the Huon Peninsular in Papua New Guinea.

Locally, Perrotti started the first Rhode Island chapter of FrogWatchUSA in 2008. He then worked with the National Wildlife Federation and the AZA to transition the program and make FrogWatchUSA the AZA’s signature citizen science program. In 2007 Perrotti started the New England Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Collaborative to form a working partnership with the New England Zoo and Aquarium community that will significantly contribute to local and regional conservation efforts in the field

Perrotti continues to design, implement, and manage working partnerships with state and federal agencies involving the RWPZ in the recovery efforts of the federally endangered Karner Blue Butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis), American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) and state listed species such as the New England cotton-tail rabbit (Sylvilagus transitionalis) Wood turtle(Glyptemys insculpta) Eastern box turtle (Terrapene Carolina Carolina) Eastern Spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii) and Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

Perrotti is the Board President for the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (2021-2023); formerly he was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Rhode Island where he taught Herpetology.
 
Join Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers and Lou Perrotti Wednesday, November 9, 6:00 – 7:00 PM (EST) for Faces for the Rainforest.