23
Apr
A Letter from Panthera’s President Dr. Luke Hunter: Remove a Snare. Save a Life.
Dear Friend of Panthera,
Did you know it can cost less than a dollar to kill a big cat?
A wire snare is cheap to make, easy to set and deadly for big cats. Whether used by local people hunting for food, or by highly organized poachers killing cats for their skins and bones, snares are used around the world to hunt wildlife. Snares almost always result in drawn-out, painful deaths due to infection or starvation.
20
Apr
Panthera Celebrates Earth Day 2012 in Collaboration with Maya Lin’s What’s Missing? Project
In celebration of Earth Day this Sunday, April 22nd, Panthera has partnered with the acclaimed artist Maya Lin, for her ‘What’s Missing?’ project - a memorial to promote awareness of the current crisis surrounding the mass extinction of species worldwide. The project will connect this loss of species to one of its primary causes -- habitat degradation and loss -- by creating innovative artworks that utilize sound, media, and science to connect people to both the species and places that have disappeared, or are on the path to disappear if they are not protected.
18
Apr
Video On Demand: Panthera’s CEO Dr. Alan Rabinowitz’s Fortune GREEN Conference Lecture on ‘The Future of Big Cats’
‘The Future of Big Cats’ lecture given yesterday by Panthera's CEO, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, at the 2012 Fortune Brainstorm GREEN conference is now available on demand. Register for free and click on the Tuesday, April 17th, afternoon lectures button to watch Dr.
17
Apr
April 17: ‘The Future of Big Cats’ Lecture by Panthera’s CEO, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, at the Fortune Brainstorm Green Conference
Panthera’s CEO and wild cat expert, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, will lead a session on ‘The Future of Big Cats’ at the 2012 Fortune Brainstorm GREEN conference today at 4:40pm PT/7:40pm ET in Laguna Niguel, California. This conference, which runs April 16th-18th, is known as the premier green business event of the year, carried out by Fortune in partnership with Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, NRDC, and the Environmental Defense Fund.
13
Apr
National Geographic: Panthera’s President, Dr. Luke Hunter, Explains the Science of a “Strawberry” Leopard
National Geographic recently featured an interesting photograph of a “strawberry” leopard shown walking in South Africa’s Madikwe Game Reserve, and asked Panthera’s President and leopard expert, Dr. Luke Hunter, to weigh in on the science behind this leopard’s rare coloring. Read what Dr. Hunter had to say about this leopard’s erythrism - a little-understood genetic condition that's thought to cause either an overproduction of red pigments or an underproduction of dark pigments – which is the first color variation of its kind that Dr. Hunter has ever seen in a wild leopard.
12
Apr
Vital Evidence: A Jaguar Camera Trap Photo
Costa Rica, ‘the Rich Coast,’ is often rightly associated as a highly desired vacation hub, distinguished by its beautiful beaches, ecotourism operations and tropical jungles that are home to thousands of animal and plant species, including multiple healthy populations of the Americas’ largest cat – the jaguar.
11
Apr
Just Released: Panthera’s April Newsletter
Read our April newsletter to learn about the first camera trap photos of a tiger just taken in a remote Northeast Indian Reserve, the historic commitment made by the Honduran government in partnership with Panthera to protect jaguars, and a study on the snow leopard's diet that is helping Panthera's scientists better conserve 'Asia's Mountain Ghost.' Learn about the significance of the first jaguar camera trap photo from Costa Rica’s Barbilla Corridor, the recent rescue of a cow and her newborn calf by Kenyan Maasai warriors known as ‘Lion Guardians,’ and watch a video of two snow leopard cubs upending a camera trap in Pakistan. Be sure to listen to an interview with Panthera’s CEO, Dr.
09
Apr
Where Science and the Human Element Collide
While snow leopards are extremely rare and are seldom seen in the wild (only 3,500-7,000 exist), local people who share their home with this big cat consider it to be one of the major threats to their livelihoods, by killing and feeding off livestock, including cattle, goats, and other domesticated animals. One of the biggest threats to snow leopards is retaliatory killing by people who have lost livestock. And often times, their fears may be real. A survey conducted in four regions of Mongolia revealed that 14% of livestock owners admitted to hunting snow leopards as retribution for loss of their livestock [*1]. A separate study found that 38% of the total livestock losses in Ladakh, India could be attributed to snow leopards [*2].
06
Apr
Press Release: Study Reveals First Ever Camera Trap Photos of a Tiger in Remote Northeast Indian Reserve
New York, NY – New data from a camera trap survey have revealed the first ever photos of a tiger (left), and images of more than 30 other mammal species from India’s Namdapha Tiger Reserve. While Namdapha is located on the remote and wild border with Myanmar, it has been impacted over the years by poaching for the illegal wildlife market and has even been declared an ‘empty forest,’ making these recent findings all the more surprising.
05
Apr
The New York Times Green Blog Interview with Panthera’s CEO Dr. Alan Rabinowitz on Research Cuts at Indian Tiger Reserves
A recent New York Times Green blog post reported on a decision by the chief wildlife warden of India's Karnataka state that denies new research permits and the extension of current research permits in five tiger reserves.
