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The Tapir Gallery
The Official Web Site of The Tapir Preservation Fund

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Heidi Frohring, 1967 - 2005

The Heidi Frohring Memorial Fund

Heidi Frohring greets a new tapir at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, October 2003. Photo by Rana Bayrakci.

Heidi Frohring died May 1, 2005. Her passing has left a huge sadness in so many lives. But she was a fun and funny person, and we try to remember her that way. Her family has suggested that memorial contributions may be made to the Tapir Preservation Fund. The Heidi Frohring Memorial Fund will be kept as a perpetual memorial by the Tapir Preservation Fund. Donations will be used for the tapir projects we believe Heidi would have wanted to fund most. As of March 25, 2008, $5,449.81 has been donated. We will continue to update this page. Our thanks to the contributors to this fund. Type in the even dollar amount you wish to donate. Please use numbers only - do not use a dollar sign. Here are some other ways to donate.

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Our first use of Heidi's fund was to help support Elena Rivadeneyra's tapir project in Mexico: "Hábitos alimentarios del Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) en la Reserva de la Biósfera Montes Azules, Chiapas, México," ("Feeding Habits of the Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, Mexico"). We supported the project at $200.00 per month from June 2005 to January 2006. Details and photos to come. Ongoing donations are very welcome, because our goal is to keep a balance in Heidi's fund for additional and future projects.

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You might have met Heidi around the tapir enclosure at the Woodland Park Zoo. If you did, you won't have forgotten her. Red-haired, vivacious, and always happy to talk to visitors about the tapirs she cared for so much, her belief was that tapirs in zoos are ambassadors for the endangered animals in the wild. She worked hard to make people aware of their wild counterparts.

Heidi was an amazing keeper, both in respect to the animals and the visitors, and she was a person with irrepressible energy and personality. She was a generous contributor to tapir projects, and one of the first tapir people I communicated with at length when I went online with the Tapir Gallery in 1996. She contributed to Patricia Medici's project in Brazil. In the early days especially, she helped with funding, and she spent 3 weeks or a month visiting Pati (see photo) and helping with a capture round. She got Woodland Park Zoo involved in supporting Pati's project. Her name was on my Club Tapir list every month as a generous donor.

May 2007: Jeff has created a permanent page as Heidi's memorial. You can contribute photos and stories.

Heidi with zoo friends Cheryl Frederick (left) and Stephanie Forbes (right) in 1999. Photo by Dana Payne.

At a barbeque the Woodland Park Zoo, June 2000. Photo by Dana Payne.

"Viva la Tapirus!" ~ Viva la Heidi!

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Heidi's funeral notice from the Ohio News-Herald, published May 7, 2005:

Services for Heidi Jean Frohring, 38, of Seattle, Wash., a zookeeper, will be 10 a.m. Tuesday at Stroud-Lawrence Funeral Home, 95 S. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls.

Ms. Frohring died May 1, 2005, in Seattle.

Born April 6, 1967, in Cleveland, she lived in Atlanta, Ga. before moving to Seattle 12 years ago.

She graduated from Franklin, N.C. High School in 1985. She attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, and Seattle Central Community College in Seattle. She graduated with a bachelor's of science degree in Biology from the University of Washington in Seattle. She was involved with the Tapir Preservation Fund. She traveled for the zoo to Antarctica, Belize and Brazil on study trips.

Ms. Frohring was recently employed as a zookeeper at the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

Survivors are her father, Glenn Henry (Joretta) Frohring of Newbury; brothers, Glenn W. Frohring of Newbury and Christopher Frohring of Cleveland; and step-brothers, D. Bradford Kelley of Newbury and Evan D. Kelley of Nelson Township.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Jean Marion (Clemson) Davis, formerly of Franklin, N.C.

Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Burial will be at Knollwood Cemetery in Mayfield Heights at a later date.

The family suggests memorial contributions to Tapir Preservation Fund, P.O. Box 118, Astoria, Oregon 97103. http://www.tapirback.com

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Our thanks to the contributors to Heidi's Fund -
Some are listed below, while others preferred to remain anonymous

AAZK (American Association of Zoo Keepers) - Puget Sound Chapter
Rhett A. Bumblis
Elizabeth W. Campbell
Clara Childs
Jill Dugovics and Henry Coerdt, McDonald Financial Group
Marilyn Cornelius
Mary Durkee
William W. Falsgraf
Brian Frohring
Evelyn R. Frohring
Jean Frohring
Wayne and Connie Frohring
The William O. and Gertrude Lewis Frohring Foundation
Jane T. Haylor and Melvin Berger, MD
Roger and JoAnn Houser
Stephanie Jacobs
Kendall Keeling
Bill Prior, Kinetico Incorporated
Sharon Matola, The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center
Bethany Mitchell
Pete and Jackie Moore
Quentin Pain
John Beowulf Pearce
Joan and Roger Pettibone
Cynthia Salopek
Jean B. Smith
Steve Szilagyi



If you would like to add anything to this page, please send us a note.

Photos courtesy of the Woodland Park Zoo.

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OTHER DONATION OPTIONS

Click on the logo and you will be taken to the PayPal web site. Just follow the instructions on their site.

Phone -- Call (503) 325-3179. We're sorry, we do not have a toll-free number. If we are unavailable, please leave a message, including your phone number, and we will call you back

Check or Money order -- Must be in your own currency made out to the Tapir Preservation Fund. Mail to:

PO Box 118
Astoria, Oregon 97103
USA

Non-US checks are welcome.

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