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WHO WE ARE
CAT - Cat Action Treasury
CAT was established in 1996 to organize
and fund high priority conservation projects for the world’s 36
species of wild cat. CAT is a U.S.-based,
IRS-certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity directed by
Kristin Nowell, the chief compiler of the Cat Action
Plan and member of the Cat Specialist Group’s Steering Committee.
All donations to CAT are fully tax-deductible
and go directly to vitally important conservation projects for wild
cats, with a minimum of administrative costs. Since
its inception in 1996, CAT has directed over 2 million dollars to
high priority conservation projects for wild cats in their natural
habitats, in cooperation with the IUCN Cat Specialist Group.
Please join our group of supporters!
CAT – Cat Action Treasury
Kristin Nowell, Director
PO Box 332, Cape Neddick, ME 03902
Email: cat@felidae.org
•Cat
Action Treasury 1996-2003: An Eight Year Overview (MS Word document)
Cat
Specialist Group
 The
Cat Specialist Group is an association of over 200 of the world’s
leading experts on the 36 wild cat species which comprise the family
Felidae. Our members are at the forefront of cat conservation
through their positions as wildlife biologists, rangers, conservation
planners, photographers and writers, geneticists, taxonomists, veterinarians,
and captive breeders. Unlike other major conservation organizations
where the staff is largely based in urban centers in Europe and
the U.S., the Cat Specialist Group has members working in more than
70 countries around the world, from Armenia to Zimbabwe. We
offer a comprehensive and scientific body of expertise on the world’s
cats which is unmatched by any other group. Our members have
carried out the first radiotelemetry field studies of snow leopards,
tigers, lions, cheetahs, jaguars, and mountain lions - all the big
cats, and we are beginning to tackle the difficult task of getting
to know the smaller, more mysterious species. We teach students
about predators and wildlife biology in the major university zoology
programs of the world. We draw up and implement cat conservation
strategies for governments. We are at the cutting edge of
efforts to bring the illegal trade in cat products such as tiger
bone under control, and to develop ways to minimize the inevitable
conflict that exists between big cats and livestock farmers.
The Cat Specialist Group is one of over 100 specialist groups, ranging
from Medicinal Plants to Hippos, organized by the Species
Survival Commission of IUCN-the World Conservation Union.
The World Conservation
Union is the world’s oldest international nature conservation
organization, and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the
United Nations of the conservation community, a forum where member
states and organizations convene every three years to plan and coordinate
global conservation efforts. The United States government
is an active member and plays a leading role. Although IUCN
is not widely known outside the professional conservation community,
its sister organization, the World Wildlife Fund,
has a much higher public profile. The IUCN’s Species Survival
Commission, similar to UN commissions such as the High Commission
on Refugees, is a consultative, volunteer network of scientific
experts. Altogether there are nearly 7,000 members of the
Species Survival Commission around the world, forming a unique resource
network for biodiversity conservation.
IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group
Co-Chairs: Drs. Urs Breitenmoser and Christine Breitenmoser-Wursten
KORA
Thunstrasse 31, CH-3074 Muri, Switzerland
Email: Urs: breitenmoser@ivv.unibe.ch
Christine: ch.breitenmoser@kora.ch
Peter Jackson, who served as Chair of
the Cat Specialist Group for 17 years, continues to edit and produce
the group’s bi-annual newsletter, Cat News. An index
of articles in all issues is available from CarnivoreConservation.Org.
The
Cat Action Plan
 Cats present conservationists with special challenges. They are secretive and nocturnal, making
them difficult to study and to count. Most of the world’s parks and reserves are too small to shelter minimum viable populations of the larger cats, and when these predators seek sustenance
outside protected areas, they often come into serious conflict with local people. Big cats have been described by biologists as “umbrella” or “keystone” species critical to healthy ecosystems.
The IUCN Species Survival Commission’s specialist groups are tasked with producing action plans, which represent the state of the art of species-specific knowledge. The Cat Action Plan,
published in 1996, was five years in the making and runs to more than 400 pages. Realizing its vision is the mission of CAT and our Cat Specialist Group associates. The Cat Action Plan
identifies more than 100 priority projects which need to be carried out if the full spectrum of felid diversity is to be saved for future generations.
Wild Cats: Status Survey and Conservation
Action Plan. 1996. Compiled and edited by Kristin
Nowell and Peter Jackson. 382 pages, 16 color photo plates.
IUCN Publications, Cambridge, UK. Available in the U.S. through
Island Press, Covelo, California for $40. Also available as
a large PDF file from CarnivoreConservation.Org: click
here for instructions for PDF download.
WHO WE SERVE
CAT works most closely with the professional
conservation community . The Cat Action Plan
has been sent to the wildlife agencies of every country in the world,
and to every major conservation organization. These agencies
and groups are the employers of Cat Specialist Group members, and
are CAT’s project partners.
We are increasing our contact with the professional
development community, ranging from small grassroots
groups focused on a local community to major organizations such
as the World Bank. This is in part due to increasing awareness
in the development world about the danger of neglecting biodiversity
in their project planning. Also, the conservation community
is realizing that a project has the best chance of long-term success
if local people benefit from conservation.
Many Cat Specialist Group members are part of the academic
research community , and are associated with most
major papers published in scientific journals about cats.
Our areas of expertise include felid behavior and ecology, predation
and population management, genetics, taxonomy, disease and pathology.
Our members also write popular books and articles for the general
public (example: Elizabeth Marshall Thomas’s best-selling
book Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture. Most nature
films featuring cats have benefited from working closely with us.
We respond to numerous requests from students of all ages seeking
more information about their favorite cats, or seeking to get involved
in conservation efforts.
We are often consulted by the media, and have
been instrumental in raising public awareness about critical issues
in cat conservation. For example, the Cat Specialist Group
first raised the alarm about the crisis facing the tiger due to
poaching for the traditional Asian medicinal market.
We like to think of ourselves as serving cats,
having devoted our lives to looking after them, as well as future
generations, that they too should have the privilege and
opportunity.
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