“Pumas give you opportunities, and even open doors,” says Sandra Rodríguez, a local farmer from Costa Rica who has learned to live peacefully with wild cats. “They are part of the nature that surrounds us,” adds her husband, Jose Rodríguez, perfectly embodying the spirit of today, World Wildlife Day.
World Wildlife Day, established in 2013, is an important reminder of the critical role that plant and animal species play in our planet’s health. We share the planet with millions of these species, including, of course, the 40 species of wild cats.
There’s no better way to honor these species than by learning about and contributing to their conservation. Coexistence, which Panthera defines as a sustainable state where humans and wildlife share landscapes with minimal risk to both people and wildlife, is essential to protecting flora and fauna. To continue human-wildlife conflict mitigation and anti-poaching efforts, constant innovation is essential. I am proud that Panthera helps implement and develop cutting-edge digital technology using the most advanced science and equipment available to help people coexist with wild cats.
Southern Africa is home to three of the world’s seven big cat species — lions, leopards and cheetahs. Protecting these three species in Zambia’s Greater Kafue Ecosystem, where Panthera works alongside the country’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife, can pose a serious challenge due to the threats of habitat loss, poaching and human-cat conflict.
To navigate these dangers, the region’s big cats need a consistent protective force. This comes in the form of Panthera’s Halo Approach of Protection. Using a combination of traditional conservation techniques and new technology, our team can surround dispersing wild cats with a holistic guard. After a lion or cheetah is fitted with a GPS tracking collar, Panthera staff use EarthRanger technology to monitor how the wild cat uses its landscape. Complex digital innovations like EarthRanger’s database allow the Panthera Zambia team to implement foot patrols that remove poacher snares in the cat’s path and warn neighboring communities that the animal is in their vicinity. When communities are informed of a wild cat’s movements, they are better prepared to protect their livestock while also minimizing harm to a roving big cat. For example, Panthera and partners have helped construct carnivore-proof bomas (livestock enclosures), which have proven highly successful in preventing both livestock and wild cat deaths.
In fact, modern GPS collars are significant digital innovations in and of themselves. The latest GPS collars allow us to accurately and effectively monitor wild cat movements. Data gleaned from these collars allow Panthera scientists to assess where wild cats move and how they use their landscape. The result offers rare insight into wild cat ecology that can inform conservation action plans and drive coexistence.
For example, in recent years, GPS collars have enabled Panthera scientists to monitor the movements of Critically Endangered West African lions in Senegal, threatened fishing cats in Thailand and pumas in the Pacific Northwest’s Olympic Peninsula. Since these collarings, our staff has uncovered critical knowledge about these species and how we can coexist with them:
Knowledge of wild cats’ movements helps prepare communities to coexist with the wildlife around them.
Digital computing tools also help our researchers position where cats roam. In 2017, Panthera staff developed PantheraIDS (Integrated Data Systems), a data management tool to collate and process camera trap datasets and produce relevant modes of presenting these data. IDS’s complex database, which incorporates telemetry, remote camera, and observation data, helps us process and analyze the health of ecosystems across wild cat landscapes.
An important facet of this is artificial intelligence. A.I. helps our researchers identify individual cats and classify different species in thousands of images far faster than a human could. Once all data points have been collated, IDS transforms these data into various tables, maps, graphs and descriptive statistics and plots. This makes sophisticated analysis of conservation data far more expedient and accessible, allowing Panthera researchers to estimate species population trends and distribution.
This knowledge has proven invaluable to Panthera’s conservation efforts. Coexistence relies on an acute knowledge of how wild cats use ecosystems and where they might come into contact with humans. With IDS, scientists and communities can accurately pinpoint what needs to be done to keep people, livestock and wild cats safe.
To date, PantheraIDS has:
Additionally, innovative remote cameras play an integral role. In 2015, Panthera developed PoacherCams, covertly placed to image human activities in sites near wild cats. Triggered by motion, the software analyzes if humans have been detected. These data are stored in SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Recording Tool), an innovation that records and analyzes patrol activities and the illegal activities they encounter, so they can analyze their effectiveness. More effective anti-poaching law enforcement helps give coexistence between humans and wildlife a helping hand.
Coexistence also requires collaborating with local communities. In Zambia and South Africa, wild cats (and especially leopards) are harvested for their furs, which are used as regalia in traditional ceremonies. Panthera began the Furs for Life Initiative in partnership with the Nazareth Baptist Church eBuhleni (Shembe Church), who have historically worn up to 15,000 authentic leopard capes a year for use in traditional events. Historically supported by Cartier for Nature Philanthropy, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, the Royal Commission for AlUla, and Peace Parks Foundation, the Shembe Church, Panthera and graphic designers use machines to create highly realistic synthetic leopard furs called Heritage Furs (or amambatha) as a substitute. Through this initiative, over 19,500 capes have been distributed to members of the Shembe Church resulting in a significant reduction in the demand for and use of authentic leopard skins for ceremonial attire.
Digital innovation is inaugurating a new age for Heritage Furs. Furs for Life works with digital designers in Africa to design hyperrealistic patterns that blur the line between authentic and artificial. A direct replication of nature rather than a graphic design, the Heritage Fur pattern is based on digitized scans of authentic leopard skins.In 2023, Panthera and ECOPEL, an international synthetic fur textile manufacturer, partnered to create a new line of Heritage Furs using the world’s first bio-based fur textile, KOBA. This innovation, developed in collaboration with renowned vegan fashion designer Stella McCartney and debuted at her 2020 Paris Fashion Week show, uses corn-based fiber to increase durability and decrease emissions by approximately 63 percent. Thus, while synthetic furs are beneficial for both wild cats and communities, KOBA furs add new progress: by reducing carbon emissions, it fosters a healthier relationship between people, animals and the entire planet.
One significant goal for Furs for Life is to provide an alternative source of income for women reliant on tailoring illegally sourced wildlife products and increase their skills training, including business management, that will enable independent operation of tailoring micro-enterprises. Panthera has provided 20 sewing machines and tables, equipment and 280 hours of training to twenty women from the South Africa-based African Congregational Church to tailor thousands of Heritage Fur hats and other garments, including school uniforms, in high demand outside of the Church.
While ground-breaking tech can aid in human-cat coexistence, a holistic approach is needed to ensure the survival of wildlife species. Innovations in digital technology are most successful when implemented alongside foot patrols, anti-poaching measures, community activism, education and active participation in wildlife conservation.
World Wildlife Day reaffirms the notion that coexistence and conservation must be led by humans. With your support, we can drive meaningful innovations in wildlife conservation to protect current and future generations of wild cats.
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© Sebastian Kennerknecht
