They say that over 500,000 people visit New York City’s infamous Times Square every day. Dubbed “The Crossroads of the World,” Times Square is best known for its use of enormous digital television screens and advertisements. It is within the bustling chaos of Times Square that Panthera has chosen to deliver a critical message to the world:
Wild cats are vanishing.
Eradicated from over 93% of their historic range, tigers are by far the most endangered of the big cats. Just 100 years ago, as many as 100,000 wild tigers lived in Asia. Today, less than 3,000 live in the wild. Asia’s snow leopard population is also critically low, with estimates ranging between 3,500-7,000 cats. While they represent the heart of the African continent, today lions have vanished from over 80% of their historic range, and less than 30,000, down from 200,000, remain. Similarly, the jaguars of Latin America have lost over 40% of their historic range and have been eradicated from El Salvador, Uruguay, and the United States.
• Habitat loss and fragmentation as increasing human populations clear wildlands for agriculture, livestock, forestry, and settlements.
• Killing of cats by people who view them as a threat to their livelihoods.
• Killing of cats for the international illegal trade in wildlife.
• Loss of wild prey (like deer, antelope and wild boar) due to both overhunting by humans and habitat destruction.
To raise awareness about the rapid decline of the world’s four largest cats – tigers, lions, jaguars and snow leopards – Panthera created a 15 second video that ran on the CBS Challenge Board in Times Square from May 7 to June 27. In celebration of the 2010 Chinese Year of the Tiger, and to highlight the fragile state of this species, we have replaced the current clip with a similar video highlighting tigers, which will run for the next days.
During this time, your donation to Panthera will be matched dollar for dollar. 100% of your donation will go to our work in the field where it is needed most. Donate now.
This incredible opportunity came from our friends and partners in cat conservation, The Snow Leopard Trust, who suggested Panthera as the best NY organization to fill the gap when a major advertiser dropped out. We want to thank them for helping create this window; check their website for snow leopard news including updates on the joint SLT - Panthera study in Mongolia, now the world’s most comprehensive study of the species.
The five captivating photographs included in this video (created by Kunal Sen: http://kunalsen.net) were taken and generously donated to Panthera by three wildlife photographers – Philip Briggs, Nick Garbutt and Panthera’s own Director of Media and National Geographic photographer, Steve Winter. In honor of their devotion to wild cat conservation, we would like to share the stories of the faces behind the pictures, below.
Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs in his own words:
“Having been born and spent my early years in Kenya’s Maasailand, I have been intrigued by lions and the status they hold in Maasai society for as long as I can remember. I grew up hearing stories of how warriors had killed yet another large lion in a brave act of manhood, a conflict which has made the Maasai so infamous.
As a young boy I left Maasailand to go to Northern Ireland, but as soon as I had completed my education I craved to return to Kenya and see another lion. I spent the next three years working to save enough money to purchase everything I needed to travel around Kenya, photographing lions and other wildlife for a whole year – a 4x4 vehicle, which became my home for the year, and of course the all-important camera equipment. I then set off for Kenya with memories of my past fuelling my desire to capture these iconic beasts on camera.
During this year long trip my old Land Rover would often break down at the most difficult moments, and I was sometimes forced into the challenging position of trying to fix a mechanical problem while a group of hungry looking lions watched from close by, looking under the bonnet and over my shoulder at the same time!
I was in the Maasai Mara National Reserve when I found a pride of lions which I became very fond of – the Olkiombo pride, made up of a coalition of three males who headed the pride, six females and eight cubs. I cherished being in the presence of these lions and enjoyed the challenge of being creative with a much photographed subject. The Mara is often crowded with tourists, but by learning to predict the lions’ movements I was able to be the first to see them each morning before the sun had risen, and last to leave them every evening. This meant I was able to capture images many others couldn’t, often spending more than 14 hours a day in the field”.
“I sat watching and photographing the Olkiombo cubs playing together for over an hour as the day ended. After the sun had set, the sky was beginning to come alive in reds and oranges. I realised that a silhouette would not work, and decided I would try to carefully approach close enough to light the scene with flash and a wide-angle lens to emphasize the sunset. With the cubs comfortable with my presence and relaxing on the mound, I was able to capture the image I had hoped for. Both of these images were taken while no other vehicle was in the vicinity.
My year of photography led me further into the lion world. I began working for a Panthera funded project called ‘Lion Guardians’ that aims to safeguard lions outside of protected areas by employing their greatest enemy, the Maasai warrior, to monitor and protect local lions. I re-joined many of my old Maasai friends who I grew up with to work together with them in the conservation of lions. The challenge we face to conserve the remaining lions of Maasailand is a difficult one, but one which is possible with ongoing support and teamwork.”
Today, Philip spends most of his time in Kenya and Northern Ireland working on personal projects and commissioned photographic and filming assignments. Philip’s subjects often include a cocktail of African wildlife, including lions, giraffes, elephants, zebras, cheetahs and other animals. These photos often center around animal relationships, animals in their environments, animals on the move, animal portraits, and the people and cultures of Africa. Over the years, Philip has been commissioned to work within Uganda and Rwanda and his images have been published in a variety of international publications.
Nick Garbutt is a wildlife photographer and author whose stunning photograph of a male tiger is featured in Panthera’s Times Square video. Taken in Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India, this photograph portrays a male Bengal tiger (affectionately known as Swampy) casually resting in a tree, its tail draping down the thick branch. This photograph was a true gift for Nick – rarely are tigers seen or photographed in trees.
According to Nick, Swampy was the offspring of Laxmi, one of the well known tigresses in Bandhavgarh whose territory is close to the edge of the park. In early 2006, Laxmi had a litter of two cubs, a male (Swampy) and a female. As their mother was very relaxed and often seen, so too did the cubs become very tolerant of tourists and vehicles. Nick first saw them in April 2006 when they were around 3 months old. As the cubs matured they became incredibly confident and could easily be approached and viewed from safari vehicles. The shot below was taken nearly a year later at the end of March 2007, when the cubs were probably around 14 to 15 months old.
Sadly, as is the case with many big cats, Swampy became one of the tragedies of human-wildlife conflict. Due to human encroachment into tiger habitat, this young tiger came into deadly contact with local villagers, and was subsequently removed from the park as a means to alleviate conflict. Living with large predators is very challenging, and Panthera is working across the globe to mitigate conflict situations, and find and implement solutions so that people and wildlife can live together.
National parks such as Bandhavgarh and other regions of the world sprouting rich and diverse ecosystems is where Nick does the majority of his work. After receiving a zoology degree from the University of Nottingham in 1988, Nick worked on various research and conservation projects before becoming a freelance photographer in 1996. In 2000, he won the prestigious Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition and, as an accomplished illustrator, was also a finalist in the 2009 BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year Competition.
Today, he is based in Cumbria, England, but spends much of his time travelling the world taking photographs and leading lecture tours. Nick is currently working as a consultant with the BBC Natural History Unit on a three part series on the wildlife of Madagascar, which is scheduled for release in 2011. He also regularly contributes articles and photographs to a number of international publications, including National Geographic, Africa Geographic, BBC Wildlife and Outdoor Photography.
Learn more about Nick and see his wide range of galleries at
Steve Winter is Panthera’s Director of Media and a world renowned photographer for National Geographic. Two photographs in Panthera’s Times Square video were taken by Steve, including a camera trap photograph of an elusive snow leopard traipsing the mountains of northern India and a contrasting image of a regal jaguar in the Brazilian Pantanal.
The first photograph was taken in India’s Hemis National Park. Although there are estimated to be 3,500 – 7,000 snow leopards existing in the wild today, Steve spent an arduous 10 months in 2007/2008 capturing over 30,000 frames of snow leopards. Toting 33 bags of equipment, Steve flew from Delhi, India to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, India, where he and his crew spent several days adjusting to the intense 12,000 foot altitude. After riding in as far as possible on trucks and jeeps, Steve and his crew loaded 14 remote cameras, sleeping bags, tents, cots, food and other supplies on horseback and hiked into Hemis National Park, an area that, according to Steve, “looks like you’re on the moon.”
A group of local villagers who work with snow leopard non-governmental organizations in the region used territorial markings, including scat, spray and claw marks, to identify locations where snow leopards visited. At these sites, Steve “mined” snow leopard trails with camera traps, affixing them to the sides of mountains and shrubbery. Notorious for being elusive, Steve and his crew tracked the cat shown below for four days before capturing this spectacular photo. Blending in perfectly with the jagged brown and gray mountains, the snow leopard stares straight at you as it creeps out of the shadows, perhaps curious about what this foreign camera is doing in its territory.
When asked to describe this particular expedition, Steve explained that it was the “hardest story I’ve ever done physically because of the altitude and the steepness of the mountains… at night it was thirty below zero and I’ve spent my whole career working in jungles so this was a real switch for me.” Despite the immense amount of mental and physical endurance required, the trip was well worth it. In addition to the thrill of capturing such unique snow leopard photos, Steve earned the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award for a photograph taken during this adventure. Recently, another photograph taken on this trip was selected as one of the “Top 40 Nature Photos of All Time” by the International League of Conservation Photographers. To learn more about Steve’s journey into India’s snow leopard land, watch the National Geographic video, “Searching for the Snow Leopard.”
Steve’s second photograph was taken in 2008 while on assignment for Panthera in the Brazilian Pantanal – the world’s largest wetland known for its high density of jaguars, the Americas’ largest cat. Mostly lethargic during the day, these cats can commonly be found lying on the banks of the rivers during the dry season, which is exactly where Steve was able to capture this magnificent photograph. Against the backdrop of the Pantanal’s vivaciously green forest, Steve snapped this male jaguar relaxing and basking in the sun near a river. The contrast of the green jungle with the jaguar’s orange and black skin is truly stunning.
Growing up in rural Indiana, Steve’s father gave him his first camera at the age of seven, triggering Steve’s dream of one day becoming a wildlife photographer. Over the years, Steve’s work for NatGeo and Panthera has placed him in some of the world’s most exotic and harsh environments – he’s been stalked by jaguars in Brazil, charged by a grizzly bear in Siberia, and trapped in quicksand in the world's largest tiger reserve in Myanmar.
Steve began working as a photojournalist for Black Star Photo Agency after graduating from the Academy of Art and the University of San Francisco. Since then his work has been featured in GEO, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Natural History, Audubon, BusinessWeek, Scientific American, Stern and various other publications.
To read up about Steve’s work and see dozens of his photos of wildlife and human subjects, visit www.stevewinterphoto.com.
