Friday 31 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Cecil The Lion's Death: Stars React With Anger & Disgust

The world, including many stars in Hollywood, are expressing their outrage surrounding the death Cecil the Lion, one of Africa's most beloved big cats.
Following the news that Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, killed the lion and is now being investigated by Zimbabwean authorities; stars have taken to social media with harsh words for Palmer.
Read more...

ARTICLE: Milwaukee's great 'lion' hunt — of 1961

This isn't Milwaukee's first, well, catfight.


Reports of sightings of a lion — or "lion-like creature" — on the city's north side and thereabouts this past week sound surprisingly similar to a series of big-cat sightings that made front-page news in The Milwaukee Journal in February and March 1961.


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NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Man facing charges after jumping fence to pet cougars at Ohio Zoo

An Ohio man is in hot water after he climbed into the cougar enclosure and filmed himself interacting with the big cats, reports People.


Joshua Newell, 35, recently posted a video on YouTube of himself hopping a fence at the Columbus Zoo to pet the big cats through a second barrier. He is now charged with criminal trespassing.

Read more and watch the video...

NEWSLINK: Lions Are Now Free to Stroll Akagera Park

The gates of the quarantine Boma were opened, yesterday; the seven which were introduced into Akagera National Park nearly a month ago are now strolling outside their temporary enclosure.


By mid afternoon, the first lioness stepped out of the 1000sq meter perimeter Boma and a waterbuck corpse was placed outside the gates to encourage them move out of the enclosure to explore their new home.


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Thursday 30 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Bangladesh’s abundant tiger population has collapsed to just 100

In Bangladesh, a new census shows that tiger populations in the Sundarbans mangrove forest are more endangered than ever. 

The study, which used hidden cameras to track and record tigers, provides a more accurate update than previous surveys that used other methods. 

The year-long census, which ended this April, revealed only around 100 of the big cats remain in what was once home to the largest population of tigers on earth.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: World Tiger Day 2015

The number of tigers is dwindling by the day and if we do not put in effort to save them, the coming generations would only know them through pictures and descriptions. 

Many organisations like CITES and India's Project Tiger have made some advancement with regards to spreading awareness of tiger conservation, and even maintaining natural habitats for them.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Expert: Owning pet lion legal in Wisconsin

Police in Milwaukee are still looking for a lion reportedly seen walking around the city over the past few days - so if it is indeed a lion, who owns it and how is that legal?


If the lion turns out to be a pet of someone's, it is legal in Wisconsin, according to Jeff Kazlowski.

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NEWSLINK: ‘Lion’ on loose in Milwaukee could be pet or wild animal

If a lion-like creature is indeed on the loose in Milwaukee, it could just as easily be an escaped or released pet as a wild animal.


Officials say there are many more big cats owned by individuals and farms in the U.S. than most people would guess — perhaps 5,000 to 10,000.

Read more...

Wednesday 29 July 2015

VIDEO: Possible lion roaming Milwaukee streets

Milwaukee police say they are treating these reports regarding a possible lion in Milwaukee as “credible.”


Video surfaced Tuesday showing what appears to be a big cat sauntering through a neighborhood. The woman who shot the video planned to grill out on Tuesday evening — but with a baseball bat nearby — just in case.

Read more and watch the video here...

http://q13fox.com/2015/07/22/video-surfaces-of-possible-lion-roaming-milwaukee-streets-police-say-reports-credible/

NEWSLINK: A lion tale: Humans cause most mountain lion deaths in Southern California

The biggest threat to Southern California mountain lions is us, confirms a comprehensive 13-year study of the population's mortality and survival from the University of California, Davis.

The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, combined genetic and demographic data to determine that even though hunting mountain lions is prohibited in California, humans caused more than half the known deaths of mountain lions studied. Most were killed through vehicle collisions, depredation permits, illegal shootings, public-safety removals or human-caused wildfire. Annual survival rates were only about 56 percent.

Exacerbating the problem is an interstate highway, I-15, a major thoroughfare connecting San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties that has proven nearly impossible for the mountain lions to cross. It bisects the study area, which stretches from Orange County, south to the Mexican border and east to the Salton Sea. Crossing the interstate, especially for the animals of breeding age, is important for this population's declining genetic diversity -- and long-term health and survival.

NEWSLINK: Tiger mating attempt takes brutal turn

The city zoo authority's hopes of increasing the white tiger count came crashing down last week. A white tiger set free to mate with the tigress in an enclosure, left the female with injuries on her tail.

Read more...

Tuesday 28 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Goats killed in leopard attack

In a suspected leopard attack, four goats were killed in Marayur on Thursday.


The four goats found killed belonged to a couple - Amuda and Selvam - hailing from Chinnavara. 

The couple had gone away for work and when they returned home at around 11 am, they saw the carcasses of the goats lying in a pool of blood in the courtyard.


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Lion-like animal sighting confirmed in Milwaukee

Just when you might have thought the lion sightings last week in Milwaukee were a bit of the rumor mill gone off the rails, the Milwaukee Police Department late Saturday said there had been a confirmed sighting of a "lion-like animal" near N. 30th St. and W. Fairmount Ave.


At 7:15 p.m. police and staff of the Department of Natural Resources responded to the area.


Police said they had not located the animal but had "contained" the area and were in the neighborhood throughout the night.


Read more...

Monday 27 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Leopard attacks, injures, 4

A leopard attacked and injured four people at Bansauli village under Pathariya police station of Damoh district on Thursday.

The forest department team, along with police force, has cordoned off a nullah on the outskirts of the village, where the animal is probably hiding and rescue teams have been called from Pench Tiger Reserve and Jabalpur.

Read more...

VIDEO: Raccoon outfoxes lion's dinner plans

A trio of mountain lions frequenting a cave near Tucson, and a raccoon making off like a bandit with a bunny meant for a fox's dinner are featured in recent videos shot by a local big-game guide.


Chipper Beiner spotted the cave while he was out hunting with his hound dogs.


"When I crawled threw the brush into it it was cool and wet and has tons of bones laying around. There are bones from several kinds of animals including Coues deer and javelina," he said.


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NEWSLINK: Rare snow leopards arrive in the Highlands

A pair of endangered snow leopards have arrived at a wildlife park in the Highlands.


The big cats went on show at the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie - the only place in Scotland where the stunning species can be seen, The hope is that the pair will eventually have cubs and help to increase the worldwide population of these big cats.


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Thursday 23 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Forty-seven big cats, including 26 lions, died in Gujarat in past two months

As many as 47 big cats, including 26 lions and 21 leopards, have died during the last two months in Gujarat. These casualties include deaths of Asiatic lions in the recent flash floods that had wreaked havoc in the Gir forest area.

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NEWSLINK/VIDEO: 'Giant cat' caught on camera prowling city streets putting police on lion alert

There have now been five sighting and cops have been given mobile phone footage showing the giant cat padding its way through a residential neighbourhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Police Chief Edward Flynn confirmed they handed been given a video that showed a large "lion-ish creature" and said it was "theoretically possible" that a wild cat had travelled south.

Read more and watch the video...

NEWSLINK: Motion detection camera captures what could be the long-lost ‘Ourimbah panther’

Captured by a motion ­detection camera in the dead of night, the image shows a large feline shape walking along a “game trail” in dense bush behind Palmdale in the Ourimbah State Forest.

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NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Big Cat's Release Into The Wild Goes Wrong

A leopard in Central Kenya's Lake Nakuru National Park, who had been put in a cage after making farm animals its prey, almost took a ranger's life in a vicious attack. 

The spotted animal would have made the man his lunch if not for the ranger's courageous kick.

Read more and watch the video here...

NEWSLINK: Death of Zimbabwe's Best-Loved Lion Ignites Debate

Zimbabwe’s most well-known and much-photographed black-maned lion, affectionately named Cecil, was killed by sport hunters just outside the nation’s premier wildlife park, Hwange, last week.


Wildlife enthusiasts say Cecil, possibly Hwanges’s largest lion, was a favorite among visitors to the park as he was relaxed around safari vehicles.


Read more...

Tuesday 21 July 2015

NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Musical lions are a roaring success

A handful of lucky visitors were treated to an impromptu performance by the musical predators during a game drive in South Africa.


The lions had just woke up from an afternoon nap at Etali Safari Lodge, Madikwe.

Read more and watch the video...

ARTICLE: South Africa’s ‘Blood Lions’

South Africa has upwards of 10 000 lions, but those number s conceal a classification system whereby breeders or farms class them as captive, managed and wild. If you look at the real numbers, only about 3000 lions are truly wild, with 7000 others residing on private farms and of those, a large portion are kept in stable-like conditions under terrible conditions.

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NEWSLINK: Oldest white tigress at Indore Zoo dies

After losing white tigress Diya earlier this month, the Kamla Nehru Zoological Park lost the oldest white tigress in its compound on Tuesday morning.

Seventeen-year-old Sita, who was one of the first white tigresses to be brought to the Indore zoo 11 years ago from Aurangabad under an animal exchange programme, was on the upper end of the average lifespan of big cats in captivity.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: What was the big cat seen on Redstone Arsenal?

A blurry photo of a large cat taken on Redstone Arsenal over the weekend is almost certainly not a cougar, says the base's wildlife biologist.

The picture, posted Monday on Reddit under the headline "Cougar spotted on Redstone Arsenal," shows a big cat with an upturned tail walking near a fire hydrant at the edge of some woods. The Reddit user who shared the photo, "jaydubya10," said a friend of his father's spotted the animal on base over the weekend.

Read more...

Monday 20 July 2015

NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Close shave at Wrexham-bound Big Cat Show

The footage, which was taken during a display in Welshpool, captures the heart-stopping moment Tsavo the lion lashes out at trainer Thomas Chipperfield.

The show “An Evening with Lions and Tigers” is due to start a week-long run in Wrexham tonight with protests from animal campaigners expected.

Read more and watch the video here...

NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Cougar sightings in Whistler have conservation officers concerned

Close encounters with cougars happen from time to time, but the number of sightings in Whistler this year has conservation officers concerned.

“We’ve received about six within July so far, which is a bit of a spike from previous months,” said conservation officer Tim Schumacher.

Cougars are not just being spotted on trails. The cats have been seen at Alpha Lake, Lost Lake, Blueberry Hill, Blackcomb Base II and even the Village Gate Boulevard bus loop.

Read more and watch video...

Sunday 19 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Camera trick reveals undetectable spots on black leopards

A simple camera adjustment has helped scientists illuminate the usually undetectable spots on black leopards -- a trick they say will help them tell individual animals apart and aid the animals' conservation.

Scientists studying leopards on the Malay Peninsula, where most of the big cats are jet black, had difficulty telling the animals apart, an obstacle which was hindering research.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: More big cats on the move, mark turf on city borders.

The wild tiger sighted a few days ago in Bannerghatta, 37km from Bengaluru, need not be the lone ranger in the city's backyard. Young tigers looking for their own turf have proliferated forests closer home, encouraged by vast expanses of protected area. 

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Living Treasures animal park looking for new home for lion cub

A 1-year-old lion cub was separated from his mother and father at the Living Treasures Wild Animal Park in Donegal after a customer complained that she heard the cub had been repeatedly attacked by his father.
Tom Guiher, owner of the Westmoreland County facility that houses 300 animals, said he removed Thor from the enclosure where he has lived his entire life with Thunder, his father, and Nevara, his mother, “so that people do not have to worry about him.”

Thursday 16 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Big cats show ringmasters ‘under attack’ in Wrexham

Anthony Beckwith, of Big Cats Live, which will come to a site off Mold Road in Wrexham tomorrow, says the company has come under fire from protesters.
He said: “Since advertisements went up to announce the arrival of our educational big cat training display coming to Wrexham, we’ve had sabotage efforts from radical animal rights group, Animal Defenders [International].”

NEWSLINK: Lion Headcount Continues After Floods Wreck Gujarat Forest

Almost a month after devastating floods in Amreli, Gujarat left 10 Asiatic lions and hundreds of wild animals dead, forest officials are still taking stock of the big cat population.

Teams of specialised trackers from the wildlife department in Amreli district are trekking through the forest areas to track down the majestic Asiatic lions.


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Tiger-trade crackdown boosts lion-bone sales

A crackdown on illegal tiger products in China has created a soaring trade in lion bones from South Africa to Asia, ecologists say.
Alleged ‘tiger’-infused wines and traditional medicines are popular in China. But when the country tightened its rules on selling parts from tigers and other Asian big cats in 2006 and 2007, it may have "inadvertently set off a chain reaction of interlinking and unexpected events" that led to the bones of African lions being exported to fill the gap in demand, according to a 16 July study. The report is published jointly by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the University of Oxford, UK, and the international wildlife organization TRAFFIC.

Tuesday 14 July 2015

NEWSLINK: State justifies lifting of big cats hunting ban

Government has said the lifting of the ban on hunting big cats in Zambia is aimed at protecting the endangered species from poachers, Parliament has heard.

Tourism and Arts Minister Jean Kapata said in a ministerial statement that the resumption of hunting of big cats in Game Management Areas (GMAs) will help address challenges of human-animal conflict in rural areas.


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Extremely Endangered Snow Leopard Captured On Camera In The Himalayas

An image of the elusive snow leopard, one of the world's endangered species of big cats, was recently captured on camera in Kumaon, Himalayas, in northern India.
Officials of the Uttarakhand forest department said that the camera trap image of the animal provides the first ever documented proof of the species' presence in the Kumaon region, albeit the big feline is known to also lurk in the wilds in other areas of the state.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Police Warn Of Increased Mountain Lion Sightings

Morgan Hill police have received a spike in calls of a mountain lion sighted in the city’s southwest area within the past two weeks, a police spokesman said.
The sightings occurred near Spring and Barnell avenues near Mount Hope Cemetery, police Sgt. Ray Ramos said.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Panjo the pet Bengal tiger up for sale

Panjo the pet Bengal tiger, who shot to fame in 2010 when he escaped from his owners, is back in the spotlight, but this time his plight is far more serious.
His owners are in financial trouble and on Thursday he and 11 other big cats were sedated and loaded up to be sold.
Liquidators of the predator park wanted the cats removed as part of the settlement.

Monday 13 July 2015

ARTICLE: Roar: the long-forgotten wildlife movie that injured 70 cast and crew

It is one of cinema's most disastrous shoots. And one of the most fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. 

To shoot the long-forgotten 1981 wildlife thriller Roar, producer-director Noel Marshall lived with 150 lions, tigers, cheetahs and jaguars along with his actress wife Tippi Hedren​ (The Birds) and her daughter Melanie Griffith (Working Girl).

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NEWSLINK: Cheetahs jump into car with tourists in Kenya

Silly or brave? This tourist got a little more than he bargained for while on safari in Kenya.
With its razor sharp claws and teeth, this is one moggy you certainly don’t want curling up in your lap.
The bold big cat jumped into the back seat of the jeep as it drove through the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya.
Slowly it sauntered over to where Irish tourist Mickey McCaldin until it was barely a foot away from his face.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Numerous reports of panther sighting surface

The elusive Macarthur Panther is back on the prowl after Werombi resident Shelly Sawka spotted a big cat-like creature on her way home from work.
Mrs Sawka stared in stunned disbelief as the feline crossed Werombi Rd in front of her about 9.30pm on Wednesday.
“It was a very dark brown and about the size of a normal dog but slender,” she said. “It had very bright eyes. It was really unusual.”

Read more...

Friday 10 July 2015

NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Mountain lion spotted at least 4 times in San Francisco

Officials say a mountain lion spotted at least four times in San Francisco last week is believed to have left town, making its way down the coast.

Animal care officials were at first uncertain that the mountain lion sightings were founded as it has been years since one has been spotted in the city, but surveillance footage surfaced Monday confirming the reports.


Read more and watch the video...

NEWSLINK: Ancient Native Americans May Have Had Pet Bobcat

by Tia Ghose, Senior Writer | July 08, 2015 10:37am ET


Bobcat2.jpgA 2,000-year-old burial mound discovered in the area that's now Illinois contained the remains of a young bobcat, new research reveals.

The ancient bobcat was wearing a special collar and was found in a ritual burial mound normally reserved for humans.

"It really looked like it had been buried not because it was a feral accessory for a human, but because it was, in some way, kind of respected on its own," said study co-author Angela Perri, a zooarchaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. 

NEWSLINK: Cheetahs hop aboard vehicle and get up close and personal with tourists in Kenya


5 HOURS AGO JULY 10, 2015 3:32PM

SILLY or brave? This tourist got a little more than he bargained for while on safari in Kenya.

With its razor sharp claws and teeth, this is one moggy you certainly don’t want curling up in your lap.

The bold big cat jumped into the back seat of the jeep as it drove through the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya.

Slowly it sauntered over to where Irish tourist Mickey McCaldin until it was barely a foot away from his face.

Cheetahs are seen as being the less threatening member of the big cat family, although attacks aren’t unheard of. Adam Sandler was the victim of a threatening cheetah attackin 2013.

Scottish tourist Violet D’Mello was also attacked by a cheetah back in 2012 in Kragga Kamma game reserve in South Africa. And in this case the big cats were hand reared, not wild.

“I just remember … something biting my head and dragging me down,” D’Mello said of the attack.

In her case, the attack lasted three minutes, and injuries included cuts to the face, one which was dangerously close to her eye.

Thursday 9 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Mystery cat spotted in Cornwall

Has the beast of Bodmin Moor crossed the border?
This mystery animal was spotted prowling in the garden of a house on the outskirts of Plymouth.

Office worker Carole Desforges saw the creature from her living room and managed to get a few snaps of it through the window before it ran off.



Read more...

NEWSLINK: Two Lion Cubs Rescued In Gaza

Huge relief for the FOUR PAWS team and its supporters: Sunday afternoon the animal welfare workers could finally take the lion cubs from the crisis area and cross the last border post on their way to Israel. The journey of the young big cats is now almost complete. On the same evening, they were released to an outdoor enclosure at the transit station in Jordan. In autumn, the animals (together with other wild animals) will be released at the sanctuary Al Ma'wa for Nature and Wildlife.

Read more.. 

NEWSLINK: Documentary reveals the true relationship between man and big cat

Film-maker Praveen Singh of Discovery Channel has captured the incredible tolerance of the people to big cats in a documentary India’s Wandering Lions. 
The filmmaker took three years to capture on his camera, and on his notepad, this unique bond between humans and beasts.


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NEWSLINK: Big cats hurt by fireworks

The owner of McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary in The Acreage reports that fireworks launched nearby on July 4 resulted in injuries to several big cats, according to WPTV NewsChannel 5 in West Palm Beach.
Read more..

Wednesday 8 July 2015

VIDEO: Boulder house cat enjoys close encounter with mountain lion

Curiosity killed the cat? Well, not this time — perhaps thanks to a thin pane of glass and a man with a camera.

Watch it here...

NEWSLINK: Lions to be reintroduced to Akagera NP in Rwanda

Seven lions in top breeding condition will be translocated in the next few days from South Africa to Akagera National Park in Rwanda in a ground-breaking conservation initiative.

Lions became extinct in Akagera 15 years ago when the species was poisoned by cattle herders in the years following the 1994 genocide when the park was unmanaged.

The lions destined for Akagera include five females donated by &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, and two males that have been donated by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife from Tembe Elephant Park.

Both are relatively small, confined reserves in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, where good management dictates that it is necessary to remove surplus lions for the future wellbeing of the reserves' prides.

The Rwanda-bound lions have been selected based on future reproductive potential and their ability to contribute to social cohesion. They are sub-adult females and young adult males from different genetic stock.


Monday 6 July 2015

NEWSLINK: Big cat sightings reported around Amarillo

There have been two reported sightings of a large cat in rural Potter County.
The first sighting was approximately two weeks ago in northwest Potter County in the Valley de Oro community, and the second was the morning of June 25 around 7:45 a.m. in the Tierra Grande community, north Western and Diez Ranch Road.

NEWSLINK: Fewer tiger subspecies, better protection?

Date: June 27, 2015

Source: Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Summary: New scientific research could help to protect tigers (Panthera tigris) from extinction. The findings indicate that tigers should be classified as only two subspecies – up to now nine subspecies were previously recognized. This will have a significant impact on species conservation since management efforts and breeding programs can now be organized in a simpler, more flexible and effective way.

NEWSLINK: Magnetic Hill Zoo unveils new $1.4M Big Cat exhibit

The Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton is opening a $1.4-million exhibit on Saturday that will showcase three big cats. 
Visitors will be treated to a new exhibit featuring two Amur Tigers — Alik and Anya — and a leopard, named Katushka. 
Jeremy Nelson, a board member of Friends of the Zoo and chair of the fundraising campaign, said the new exhibit is the biggest project the zoo has ever undertaken.

Sunday 5 July 2015

NEWSLINK: London River Junk Recycled Into Big Cat Toys

Lions and leopards from a cat sanctuary in Kent are playing with recycled toys made of bits of river junk.
They come from the Port of London Authority (PLA) which is sending materials that otherwise would be thrown away, to be used at the sanctuary as scratch posts and play pens.

NEWSLINK: Exotic animals banned from entering Beaufort County

Transporting certain exotic animals into Beaufort County became illegal Monday, under an emergency ordinance passed unanimously by Beaufort County Council.
The ordinance, good for 61 days, buys time for the county to craft a permanent rule amid uncertainty about the plans of a Beaufort business owner who recently purchased a Colorado wildlife center.

NEWSLINK: Does Florida have enough panthers?

For the second year in a row, the Florida panther is dying from road kills in record numbers.
To conservationists, that’s a clear signal more needs to be done to protect the 100 to 180 cats that remain. But in a state heavily influenced by big developers, big ranchers and the rush to build on the last remaining tracts of open land in the heart of panther country, wildlife managers say the number represents something entirely different: the successful rebound of a cat back from the brink of extinction.
In a meeting Tuesday, state officials will ask to scale back a federal conservation plan that calls for two additional populations in Central Florida long considered critical to the panther’s survival.





RRead more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article25145704.html#storylink=cpy

NEWSLINK: WWF films tiger being released back to the wild




WWF has filmed an Amur Tiger being released back into the wild after spending time in a wild animal rehabilitation centre in the Russian Far East.

The tiger is a young male called Uporny, who was captured in November 2014 after being identified as a ‘conflict’ tiger.
He had been living in an area where there was a lack of prey and had killed dogs to survive. There were also fears that he could come into conflict with humans in a nearby town. 
After undergoing the necessary health checks in a wild animal rehabilitation centre in the Russian Far East, Uporny was released into a sparsely inhabited mountainous area. 

Uporny’s new home is an area with a good source of prey. It’s also home to a female Amur tiger, which provides hope that Uporny will not only continue to live wild and free, but also breed – contributing to the recovering tiger population in Russia.

Continued ...

Thursday 2 July 2015

ARTICLE: The Sad Truth About Animal Hybrids

Mix a zebra and a horse, and you get a zorse. Swap the horse for a donkey, and you have yourself a zonkey. When a pony and a zebra love each other very much, you wind up with a zoni.
It’s fun to think of animal hybrids as the Reese’s peanut butter cups of nature. You take a little of this and mix it with a little of that, and voilà—you get an end product more interesting (and delicious?) than the creatures you started with. But hybridization has its costs.

NEWSLINK: Tiger count goes up in Srisailam reserve forest

Tigers are roaring in the Srisailam-Nagarjunasagar tiger reserve literally. 

In a sense, the reserve forest that earned the moniker as a safe haven for wild cats is living up to its name. 

Home to 72 tigers now, the big cat population is set to go up in the forest that spans across five districts. 

This roaring revelation has come to the fore after the final phase of camera trapping exercise, which concluded on June 12. 

Read more...

ARTICLE: Photographer Steve Winter's dangerous quest to photograph 'big cats'

Steve Winter, one of the world's pre-eminent wildlife photographers, did not capture an animal on camera until he was 34 years old.
On a work trip to the Costa Rican rainforest, his inaugural wildlife subject was a turtle.
"It was of a marine turtle coming back into the sea at dawn after laying its eggs under the sand on a beach."

NEWSLINK: Vintage jewellery designer fined £2,000 for selling illegal big cat claws

A vintage jewellery designer popular with Kate Moss has been fined £2,000 for selling illegal big cat claws in her shop at an upmarket London department store.

Annina Vogel was seen selling antique Victorian panther, leopard and lynx claws by a customer in December 2013 at her boutique in Liberty on London's busy Regent Street.

The shopper became concerned when she heard the assistant refer to 14 items as 'tiger claws' and reported the company to the council's senior trading standards officer.

Wednesday 1 July 2015

ARTICLE: How Facebook Changed the Lives of Rescued Big Cats Forever

Tigers splashing in pools... 
Lions and mountain lions surveying their kingdom from lofty heights... 
Bobcats and servals curled up in hammocks enjoying the breezes... 
A jaguar and leopard stalking each other as they play hide and seek in the tall grass...
Lynx catnapping under evergreen trees...
Tiny hybrid wild cats enjoying the company of others in their custom-designed wild habitats...
A rare, endangered clouded leopard recuperating in our on-site hospital from another major surgery she's survived...

These are the sights we see as we make our daily rounds. And we never take one of these special moments for granted! But, we also know all of it comes at a tremendous price. It averages over $50,000 every single month to provide this quality of life to the 100+ wild cats we've rescued.

Read more...

ARTICLE: Are Mountain Lions Solitary Hunters...Or Party Animals?

A researcher studying the social behaviors of mountain lions will present his findings on Thursday, June 18, in the first of a series of summer talks co-sponsored by the University of Wyoming and the National Parks.
Mark Elbroch is a wildlife biologist with Panthera, a conservation group studying big cats and their habitats. He says new technology like GPS collars and remote video cameras have given him unprecedented access to the lives of mountain lions.

NEWSLINK: Lion expert to explain altruism in big cats

Most people would cower when confronting a mountain lion.
The mental image many have of the carnivorous cats is teeth bared and claws ready to shred, but Dr. Mark Elbroch of Panthera’s Puma Program knows their compassionate side.

NEWSLINK: Plan to boost numbers of rarest big cat in the world

The Amur branch of wildlife organisation WWF Russia has announced it is ready to start work on creating a new population of an endangered leopard.
Under a plan to help conserve the rare Amur leopard, cubs will be created from some of the big cats currently living in zoos around the world.
They would then be nurtured and raised in a special way to prepare them for life in the wild, before being released into the Lazovsky Nature Reserve, in Primorsky Krai.