Big Cats Initiative Report to Donors

A FUTURE FOR BIG CATS

Dear Friends,

Your investment in the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative is making the world safer for big cats in the wild.

These iconic animals are in decline across the globe—there has never been a more important time to take action.

We made progress together over the past year by addressing immediate threats to cats, like poaching, snaring, and human-wildlife conflict. We also supported work with local communities to develop long-term solutions that address the underlying risks to big cats. With your help, we are building bomas that provide decades of protection for livestock and lions, educating local communities about big cats, and providing job training to empower community members to find fulfilling opportunities through wildlife protection.

As we move forward in this new era of exploration, the Society is committed to redoubling its efforts to protect critical wildlife. We know that the most effective solutions come from scientists and conservationists working with communities to understand the unique challenges and opportunities in each region. The work they do to keep big cats and other wildlife safe from harm is only possible because of your generosity.

I’m inspired every day by the work we’re doing together to protect the extraordinary and diverse creatures that share our world. With your help, we are saving big cats.

GARY E. KNELLPresident and CEO National Geographic Society

On the cover: A male lion in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Below: Lion cubs play in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

You have made possible 64 on-the-ground projects through 80 grants in 27 countries to protect 7 iconic big cat species.

YOUR IMPACT

TRAINING LOCAL COMMUNITIES

A native Kenyan, Shivani Bhalla works in northern Kenya where people and lions must coexist. Her Warrior Watch program has trained and employed 18 young Samburu warriors to be ambassadors for lions. The warriors have prevented the killing of lions 35 times in the last five years. The High-Five contributions are helping Shivani train and employ eight additional warriors in this critical work.

REDUCING HUMAN-LION CONFLICT

Amy Dickman works in Tanzania’s Ruaha region. Amy has worked with five communities to implement innovative solutions to reduce human-lion conflict, like fortified livestock fences (bomas) and livestock guard dogs. A grant made possible through the High-Five donations will allow Amy to expand her work to a total of 15 villages, positively impacting thousands of households, more than 1,000 lions, and an estimated 200 cheetahs.

Big Cats Initiative Report to Donors

YOU’RE MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR BIG CATS

When a hunter illegally killed Cecil, one of Zimbabwe’s most studied and celebrated lions, people around the world were

deeply saddened. In the aftermath of this tragedy, many of you found a way to take action and make a positive impact.

More than 7,000 individuals joined the Big Cats Initiative through our High-Five Give $5 campaign. Through social media,

caring donors gave more than $200,000 in just a few weeks.

This funding was put to work immediately to make a real difference—investing in the work of BCI grantees Shivani Bhalla

and Amy Dickman to grow the impact of their projects.

A cheetah on the grassy plain of Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. As few as 10,000 of these big cats remain in the wild.

Since 2010, your support has helped BCI build and improve 1,000 bomas, resulting in the protection of 200 lions per year.

Bomas, living walls, and other improved livestock enclosures like the one here, built with support from one of our BCI grantees, provide better protection from wildlife than traditional corrals.

1,000 BOMAS

A SIMPLE SOLUTION WITH A BIG IMPACT

Yamati Ninii must keep his cows safe from attack by lions and other predators in order to provide income for his family and a future for his children. It used to take the family weeks to collect thorn bushes for their boma—a corral to protect livestock from predators—that would only last a few months.

Thanks to your donations, Big Cats Initiative grantee Laly Lichtenfeld and her team worked with Yamati to install a “living wall,” a boma that protects people, livestock, and big cats while preserving the environment. Local Commiphora africana trees and chain link fencing provide an impenetrable barrier of fence and foliage—and don’t have to be replaced for another 25 years. And by keeping predators away from livestock, the bomas save lions from being killed by herders who are anxious to keep their herds safe.

Since 2010, through Build a Boma and other BCI-supported projects, you’ve helped build and improve 1,000 bomas in East Africa. For a cost of only $500 to build a boma, and maintenance of only $25 per year, families feel secure knowing their livelihoods are safe. The result? Lions and other big cats are more secure too.

“ I am an uneducated man. To me, my cows are everything. Without the habitat to sustain them, I have nothing. My cows are educating my children, and they are the future.”

—YAMATI NINII recipient of a living wall from BCI grantee Laly Lichtenfeld’s team

A young leopard standing in a tree in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.

“ We’re losing lions and other big cats at an alarming rate and pushing them to extinction. The National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative is an emergency intervention to stop the decline right now. The great thing is everybody can make a difference.”

—BEVERLY JOUBERT National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence and Co-Founder of the Big Cats Initiative

THE NEXT GENERATION OF WILDLIFE PROTECTORS

Thandi Mweetwa is training the next generation of big cat researchers and conservationists in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley. Inspired by her uncle who worked as a safari guide, she joined a local conservation club as a young student and began working in the field to care for big cats and other wildlife. Thandi realized that many people in her community had never seen big cats in the wild and perceived them only as a threat. Others, needing to provide for their families, resorted to poaching or other actions that harm big cats and their habitats. Today, Thandi is leading her own conservation clubs. Big Cats Initiative grant funds are allowing her to provide education and training in field-based research techniques for young people who want to pursue careers in science and conservation to help communities and big cats live peacefully together.

EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES TO SAVE CATS

Laly Lichtenfeld has lived and worked in northern Tanzania for more than ten years, partnering with Maasai communities to protect big cats and the environment. Her organization helps herders build living walls to protect livestock, and trains community members to serve as wildlife conflict officers, lead anti-poaching patrols, and monitor the health of wildlife populations. Grant funds from the Society are allowing Laly and her team to bring this work to three new regions in Tanzania. Her team will also expand environmental education programs, community land conservation efforts, and environmentally friendly beekeeping enterprises in the Maasai Steppe.

Big Cats Initiative Report to Donors

OUR TEAM IN THE FIELDThe National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative seeks out

and supports scientists and conservationists working on the ground with communities living among big cat populations to develop effective and sustainable approaches to big cat conservation.

Since 2010, you’ve made it possible for us to award 80 grants to support 64 projects in the field in 27 countries.

A male tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park, India.

Your support is making it possible for lions, cheetahs, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards, and jaguars to survive and thrive.

THANK YOU

Thanks to donors like you, the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative has invested nearly $6 million in

big cat conservation in 27 countries around the world. Together, we are saving big cats and helping the communities

that live alongside them.

“ Seeing the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative experts in the field was an incredibly emotional experience for me. BCI grantees are so passionate about what they do, and I could see that they are truly making a difference for big cats. That’s why I give to the Big Cats Initiative.”

—LAURA NG Big Cats Initiative Donor

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

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

BIG CATS INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP

Award-winning filmmakers, conservationists, and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert are co-founders of the Big Cats Initiative with the National Geographic Society.

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

Colby BishopLuke Dollar

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