Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Alan Rabinowitz is one of the world’s leading big cat experts, and has been called ‘The Indiana Jones of Wildlife Conservation’ by TIME Magazine. Dr. Rabinowitz graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1981 with an M.S. in zoology and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology and is currently the CEO of Panthera, a nonprofit organization devoted to saving the world’s wild cat species. Prior to co-founding Panthera with the organization’s Chairman, Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan, Rabinowitz served as the Executive Director of the Science and Exploration Division for the Wildlife Conservation Society for almost 30 years.
Dr. Rabinowitz has traveled the world on behalf of wildlife conservation and over the years has studied jaguars, clouded leopards, Asiatic leopards, tigers, Sumatran rhinos, bears, leopard cats, raccoons, and civets. His work in Belize resulted in the world's first jaguar sanctuary; his work in Taiwan resulted in the establishment of this country's largest protected area and last piece of intact lowland forest; his work in Thailand generated the first field research on Indochinese tigers, Asiatic leopards, and leopard cats, in what was to become the region's first World Heritage Site; and his work in Myanmar has led to the creation of five new protected areas, including the country's first marine national park, first and largest Himalayan national park, and the world’s largest tiger reserve in the Hukaung Valley. In northern Myanmar, Dr. Rabinowitz also discovered a new large mammal species and the world’s most primitive deer, the leaf deer.
Dr. Rabinowitz has authored over one hundred scientific and popular articles and six books, including Jaguar: One Man’s Struggle to Establish the First Jaguar Preserve (1986/ 2000), Chasing the Dragon’s Tail: The Struggle to Save Thailand’s Wild Cats (1991/ 2002), Beyond the Last Village: A Journey of Discovery in Asia’s Forbidden Wilderness (2001), and, most recently, Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed (2008). He has been profiled in The New York Times, Scientific American, Audubon, Men’s Journal, Newsweek, Outside, Explorer, The Jerusalem Report, and National Geographic Adventure Magazine, and is the subject of an acclaimed PBS/National Geographic television special, “In Search of the Jaguar” and was featured in the BBC special “Lost Land of the Tiger” filmed in Bhutan in 2010.
Dr. Rabinowitz has dedicated his life to surveying the world’s last wild places, with the goal of preserving wild habitats and securing homes, on a large scale, for some of the world’s most endangered mammals. His focus on cats is based on conserving top predators, which affect entire ecosystems. By saving cats, the impacts are far reaching and conserve vast landscapes upon which many species depend, including humans. One of Dr. Rabinowitz's greatest achievements was the conceptualization and implementation of the Jaguar Corridor - a series of biological and genetic corridors for jaguars across their entire range from Mexico to Argentina. Dr. Rabinowitz also initiated Panthera's Tiger Corridor Initiative, an effort to identify and protect the world's last remaining large interconnected tiger landscapes, with a primary focus on the remote and rugged Indo-Himalayan region of Asia.
Watch Dr. Rabinowitz's interview with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report to learn how he became interested in wildlife conservation. Selected Videos and Podcasts Featuring Dr. Rabinowitz
Click here to find more interviews with Dr. Rabinowitz and other Panthera staff.
Selected Books by Dr. Rabinowitz
- Rabinowitz, A. 2008. Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
- Woodroffe, R., Thirgood, S., Rabinowitz, R. (Eds.). (2005). People and Wildlife: Conflict or Coexistence? New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
- Rabinowitz, A. 1991/2002. Chasing the Dragon’s Tail: The Struggle to Save Thailand’s Wild Cats. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
- Rabinowitz, A. 2001. Beyond the Last Village: A Journey of Discovery in Asia’s Forbidden Wilderness. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
- Rabinowitz, A. 1986/2000. Jaguar: One Man’s Struggle to Establish the First Jaguar Preserve. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Click here to find more books by Dr. Rabinowitz.
Selected Popular Articles and Blog Posts by Dr. Rabinowitz
- Rabinowitz, A. (2010, January 24). Jaguars Don't Live Here Anymore. The New York Times, pp. A17.
- Rabinowitz, A. (2009, December 9). Ah Puch. Huffington Post: Panthera's Cat Tales.
- Rabinowitz, A. (2009, April 15). Why Living with Big Cats is Critical for Future Generations. Huffington Post: Panthera's Cat Tales.
Click here to find more publications by Dr. Rabinowitz and other Panthera staff.
Click here to read more of Panthera's Cat Tales on the Huffington Post.
Selected Scientific Publications by Dr. Rabinowitz
- Zeller, K. and A. Rabinowitz. 2011. Using geographic information systems for range-wide species conservation planning. Chapter 4 IN Geographic Information Systems, Editor: Christopher J. Dawsen. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
- Rabinowitz, A., Walston, J., Robinson, J.G., Bennett, E. L., et al. 2010. Bringing the tiger back from the brink – The six percent solution. PLoS Biology, 8(9): e1000485.
- Rabinowitz, A. and K. Zeller. 2010. A range-wide model of landscape connectivity and conservation for the jaguar, Panthera onca. Biological Conservation, 143: 939-945.
- Rao, M., A. Rabinowitz, And Saw Tun Khaing. 2002. A status review of the protected area system in Myanmar with recommendations for conservation planning. Conservation Biology, 16(2):360-368.
- Amato, G., M.G. Egan, and A. Rabinowitz. 1999. A new species of muntjac, Muntiacus putaoensis (Artiodactyla:Cervidae) from northern Myanmar. Animal Conservation, 2:1-7.
- Rabinowitz, A. R. and S. R. Walker. 1991. The carnivore community in a dry forest mosaic in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 7:37-47.
Click here to find more Scientific Publications by Dr. Rabinowitz.
Selected Technical Manuals by Dr. Rabinowitz
- Rabinowitz, A. 2009. Stop the bleeding: implementing a strategic Tiger Conservation Protocol. IUCN Species Survival Commission Cat Specialist Group. CATNews, 51: 30-31.
- Rabinowitz, A.R. 1993/1997. Wildlife Field Research and Conservation Training Manual. Wildlife Conservation Society. New York City: Paul-Art Press, Inc.
- Rabinowitz, A.R. 2003. Manual de Capacitación para la Investigación de Campo y la Conservación de la Vida Silvestre. Wildlife Conservation Society. New York City: Paul-Art Press, Inc.
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Recent Awards
- 2011 Jackson Hole Lifetime Achievement Award in Conservation
- 2010 Cincinnati Zoo Wildlife Conservation Award
- 2008 International Wildlife Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2006 Kaplan Big Cat Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2005 Flying Elephant Foundation Award
- 2005 George Rabb Conservation Award – Chicago Zoological Society
- 2004 Lowell Thomas Award – New York Explorer’s Club
- 2004 Our Time Theatre Company Award
