BIG CATS INITIATIVE REPORT TO DONORS

PROTECT PROTECT

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BIG CATS INITIATIVESublime and terrifying. Magnificent and fearsome. The world’s big cats are complicated, challenging, and critical to the natural balance of our world.

Thanks to the support of donors like you, National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative is a unique model of conservation that seeks out and invests in the ideas and programs that will have the greatest impact on the dire situation facing big cats around the globe. Co-founded by National Geographic and Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert, BCI has allocated nearly $2.3 million towards 73 different big cat conservation projects in 25 countries since 2010. This work is helping seven big cat species—lions, cheetahs, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards, and, for the first time in 2014, jaguars.

Your support is helping us work alongside local communities to protect big cats and engage people around the world who are committed to their survival. Thanks to you, we are taking action to make sure big cats thrive for generations to come.

On the cover: A watchful leopard in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Above: Building on National Geographic’s successful work to protect lions, cheetahs, leopards, and other big cats, in 2014, BCI made its first grants to support jaguar conservation in Central and South America.

“ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S BIG CATS INITIATIVE FUNDS THE BEST SCIENTISTS

AND CONSERVATIONISTS IN THE FIELD, WHO ARE BREAKING NEW GROUND

IN THE FIGHT TO PROTECT BIG CATS AND ADDRESSING THREATS HEAD ON.

IS BCI MAKING A DIFFERENCE? ABSOLUTELY.”

—THOMAS LOVEJOY, CHAIR, BCI GRANTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND PROFESSOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

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PROTECTING BIG CATS

BCI grantees work with communities to understand and combat threats directly through on-the-ground efforts. For example, some grantees help communities create anti-poaching and snare patrols while also providing medical treatment for snared animals.

SAVING JAGUARS While doing fieldwork to study plant species in Guyana’s Amazon basin, Anthony Cummings saw something shocking. He was approached by a man who showed him photos of miners capturing and killing a jaguar.

A BCI grant in 2014 allowed Cummings to conduct preliminary research into the relationship between jaguars and gold miners. By examining how the increased demand for gold is pushing miners farther into the hinterlands of Guyana where jaguars live, Cummings hopes to develop a plan to work with communities to keep jaguars safe and prevent their extinction.

“Only by understanding the processes that lead to habitat change and destruction can we respond to change and ensure that people and cats can coexist,” says Cummings.

THE WASIMA CAMPAIGN Traditionally, Sukuma culture has rewarded community members who have killed a lion in response to livestock loss. In recent years, some hunters have ventured into Katavi National Park in Tanzania to kill lions and reap the rewards—even when no livestock have been lost and there is no threat to people or animals.

Fortunately, communities have begun to question the value and effectiveness of lion killing. The WASIMA Campaign (Watu, Simba, na Mazingira—People, Lions, and the Environment) uses wildlife and environmental films, community workshops, and tours of Katavi to empower the local Samburu people to protect lions. Initial work was supported by a 2012 BCI grant, and 2014 grantee Monique Borgerhoff-Mulder continues this work, expanding WASIMA’s efforts to six additional villages.

REDUCING THREATS

Opposite page: A lion and her cub, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

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LION RESCUE

More than 100 lions have been saved in Zambia thanks to anti-snaring, anti-poaching, and other conservation work headed by BCI grantees Matthew Becker, Thandiwe Mweetwa, and Paul Schuette.

“ THE GRANT RECEIVED FROM BCI HAS

ENABLED US TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT

IMPACT ON REDUCING CONFLICT BETWEEN

FARMERS AND LIONS. THESE EFFORTS

ARE CHANGING ATTITUDES, INCREASING

COLLABORATION, AND CREATING HOPE

WITHIN FARMING COMMUNITIES.”

—LISE HANSSEN, 2014 BCI GRANTEE

KEEPING THE PEACE

WHEN PEOPLE AND BIG CATS LIVE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY, THERE IS OFTEN

CONFLICT. BCI GRANTEES WORK WITH LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO FIND

WAYS TO HELP BOTH CATS AND COMMUNITIES FLOURISH THROUGH

METHODS LIKE COLLARING AND TRACKING BIG CATS, TRAINING

LOCAL VILLAGERS TO SERVE AS CONFLICT OFFICERS, AND IMPROVING

LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT PRACTICES.

Bomas are a simple solution to a big problem. By building or improving

traditional livestock corrals and protecting livestock from predation,

BCI grantees are saving big cats from retaliatory killings by the herders

who depend on livestock for their livelihoods.

With the support of National Geographic’s Build a Boma campaign, our

grantees constructed 262 new bomas in Kenya and Tanzania in 2014.

These bomas protect more than 50 lions annually from retaliatory killings

and keep 48,000 head of livestock safe each night. Bomas built with your

support are helping more than 4,500 people in East Africa feel secure

about the safety of their livestock.

A donation of as little as $25 can help maintain a boma for a year, and a gift of

$500 can help a family build a new boma. To learn more, visit buildaboma.org.

BIG CATS INITIATIVE REPORT TO DONORS 5

Opposite page, from top: Two children walk next to a Living Wall, an innovative boma fortification that combines fast-growing trees with chain-link fencing; a lion in the Okavango Delta, Botswana; a herder with his goats, safe inside their boma.

KEEPINGTHE PEACE

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COMMUNITY OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT

VALUING BIG CATS

BCI grantees partner with local communities to develop outreach and education programs that help people understand and appreciate big cats as an important part of the ecosystem and promote sustainable management practices that serve both communities and cats.

COMING OF AGE For centuries, a young Maasai man could only become a warrior by hunting a lion. But in December, groups of young warriors took up javelins instead of spears and pursued medals rather than lions.

The Maasai Olympics was developed by Maasai elders with BCI grantee Tom Hill as an alternative to the traditional cultural practice of lion hunting and as a way to educate young Maasai about the threats faced by lions and other wildlife.

In an educational film developed for the Olympics, Kimani Oltalesoi, the traditional spiritual leader of the Maasai, speaks to a new generation of

young Maasai men who are coming of age as warriors saying, “Lion killing is finished. We must protect our wildlife like we do our livestock. If we don’t, our way of life will be destroyed.”

BECOMING THE PROTECTORS Zambia’s Luangwa Valley is one of the last remaining strongholds for big cats in Africa. BCI grantee Thandiwe Mweetwa is working with fellow grantee Matthew Becker’s organization, Zambian Carnivore Programme, to train Zambian students to become big cat conservation leaders. By teaching them field-based techniques such as the use of camera traps and radio tracking to monitor animals, data collection about prey species, and community survey methods, Mweetwa’s team is increasing the body of knowledge about big cats in Zambia and strengthening local participation in wildlife conservation.

Opposite page, from top left: Grantee Laly Lichtenfeld’s African People and Wildlife Fund works with a Noloholo Wildlife Club to promote big cat conservation among students like Kelvin Shabban; warriors participate in the Maasai Olympics; a cheetah and her cub in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

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SPOTTING CHEETAHS

In 2014 BCI grantee Esther van der Meer’s Cheetah Conservation Project Zimbabwe received 279 cheetah reports and 1,192 pictures from the public, adding 23 new cheetahs to their national cheetah database, providing key information about the status of cheetah populations.

2014 GRANTEES

2014 GRANTEES2014 GRANTEES

In 2014 National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative made 18 grants representing an investment of $531,000 in big cat conservation in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.

CHEETAH

LEAH ANDRESENCheetah Meta-Population Viability in the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area

NICK MITCHELLThe Cheetah Spot Campaign

PAUL SCHUETTEEvaluating and Addressing Viability Threats to Cheetah, Their Competitors, and Prey in The Greater Kafue Ecosystem, Zambia

ESTHER VAN DER MEERFinding the Cheetahs of Zimbabwe: Cheetah Population and Human-Cheetah Conflict Survey in Southwest Zimbabwe

ROSIE WOODROFFEConserving Cheetahs in Kenya’s Rangelands

LION

MONIQUE BORGERHOFF MULDERWASIMA Campaign: People, Lions, and Environment

LISE HANSSENMitigating Human-Lion Conflict in the Zambezi Region, Namibia

TOM HILLThe Maasai Olympics: Engaging Warriors and Communities to Stop Lion Hunting

BERNARD KISSUIEcology, Demography, and Human-Lion Conflict Mitigation in the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem, Tanzania

THANDIWE MWEETWABuilding Capacity for Big Cats: Supporting and Training Secondary School Conservation Clubs in Zambia’s Lion Stronghold

JESSICA WATERMEYERImproving the Long-Term Viability of the Lion Population in the Greater Gonarezhou Ecosystem, Zimbabwe

JAGUAR

ANTHONY CUMMINGSMan versus Cat: The Case of Jaguar- Gold Miner Interactions in Guyana

REBECCA FOSTERReducing Livestock Depredation in Belize Through Farm Interventions to Promote Jaguar Movement Through Critical Corridors

SNOW LEOPARD

PETER ZAHLERSaving Snow Leopards in Afghanistan’s New Wakhan National Park

MULTIPLE SPECIES

SHIVANI BHALLACarnivore Connections: Maintaining Connectivity for Large Carnivores Across the Laikipia-Samburu Ecosystem Through Community-Based Conservation

LALY LICHTENFELDThe Maasai Steppe Big Cats Conservation Initiative: Countryside for Cats

The Maasai Steppe Big Cats Conservation Initiative: Increasing Community Capacity to Advance Habitat and Wildlife

ANNE KENT TAYLORPreventing Big Cat Conflict in the Maasai Mara: Boma Fortification and Wildlife Protection Programs

2014 GRANTEES

THANK YOUBig Cats Initiative grantees are part of a larger National Geographic commitment to empower the world’s best scientists, explorers, and storytellers to change the world for the better. Your generous investment in BCI is helping us work with local communities on three continents to ensure a safe future for lions, cheetahs, tigers, and other big cats.

A lion reclines in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve during the rainy season.

BIG CATS INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP

Award-winning filmmakers, conservationists, and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert are co-founders of National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative. They work to conserve and understand the large predators and key African wildlife species that determine the course of all conservation in Africa. They have been filming, researching, and exploring in Africa for more than 25 years.

BCI STEERING COMMITTEE

Dereck Joubert, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence (Chair)

Thomas E. Lovejoy, National Geographic Fellow and Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University

Alan Rabinowitz, CEO, Panthera

BCI GRANTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Sarah Durant, Senior Research Fellow, Zoological Society of London

Luke Hunter, President, PantheraDereck and Beverly Joubert, National

Geographic Explorers-in-ResidenceThomas E. Lovejoy, National Geographic Fellow

and Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University

Tico McNutt, Founder and Director, Botswana Predator Conservation Trust

Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology, Duke University

George Rabb, former President, Chicago Zoological Society

Rudi van Aarde, Chair of Conservation Ecology Research Unit, University of Pretoria

BCI PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Luke Dollar

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To learn more about what National Geographic is doing to save big cats in the wild, please visit nationalgeographic.org/bigcats.

TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION

Please visit donate.nationalgeographic.org/supportnatgeo.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

Development Office 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036-4688 U.S.A. 202 862-8638 800 373-1717

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Award-winning National Geographic photographer Steve Winter’s National Geographic Live presentation “On the Trail of Big Cats” takes listeners to big cat country, from India’s Himalaya to Latin American jungles. His decade-long project to document the world’s shrinking tiger populations culminated in the stunning National Geographic book, Tigers Forever, co-authored with Sharon Guynup.