Wild About Cats
Conservation Efforts
You can make an online donation to some of these projects at our Paypal secure online store!
Read about our cheetahs that arrived in 1998 from De Wildt in S. Africa. Wild About Cats is the first private facility to receive an import permit for cheetahs, something we are very proud of accomplishing after many years of hard work and preparation. These cats are ambassador animals to the good work at De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre in Africa, to which we promote and contribute. Check out the fantastic videos on our cheetahs' page. These were taken at one of the fundraisers for Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, in which over $1,000,000 USD have been raised!
Our annual trek to Africa. This brings important U.S. Dollars to conservation efforts there and the guests get unique opportunities through our contacts there. Everybody wins! Check out the exciting journal series that Director Dawn Simas wrote while on this trip in 1998. You can also still read a previous series from 1996, including photos of tracking lions, radio collaring sable antelope, and dehorning a white rhino! Check out the 1999 and 2000 reports, written by trekker Nancy Vandermey, who joined us both years.Details, prices, and itinerary for future safaris can be found by going to Prowler Safaris webpage. Contact LouAnn Kelsheimer of Prowler Safari's for more information.
Wild About Cats highly promotes grass roots organizations that help animals in the wild. Of course, we would all ideally like to see species survive in their indigenous areas. However, the number one reason for extinction is habitat loss. Hunting and poaching is number two. It is not so much the species that are endangered, it is the habitat that they live in. Many people ask us, "What can I do to help?" We like to refer them to these smaller organizations that are largely run by volunteers and all of their money goes directly to the project at hand; rather than to advertising, salaries, and administrative costs. We've listed the following ones that are supported by us. You can make tax deductible donations to some of them on our Paypal secure online store. If you know of any that you would like to recommend, let us know!
South African Leopard Study. Hands-on Volunteer Project! WAC has channeled from volunteers: $149,858 - As leopard populations become increasingly surrounded by farms and other human expansion, authorities are concerned about the number of leopards which are being killed. Become a part of this rare opportunity to participate in the study with Dr. Luke Hunter.
Sand Cat in Saudi Arabia. WAC funding: $4373 - Collaring study to learn the impact of desertification on the tiny sand cat.
Bornean Wild Cat Study. WAC funding: $7704 - Three year project aims to protect the five species of Borneo's endangered wild cats.
De Wildt Cheetah Research Centre. WAC funding: $17,580 - This link goes directly to their site, but you can read about our involvement on our cheetah's page.
Amur Leopard Project. WAC funding: $17,009.83 - The Siberian tigers get all of the attention, but did you know that there are endangered leopards in Russia? Possibly as few as thirty.
Touch The Jungle. WAC funding: $3700 (matched by Earthways Foundation to total $7400) - Rainforest reserve in Ecuador protecting the indigenous people and the ecosystem, including six species of wild felines.
Tuberculosis in Lions.WAC funding: $4000 - Relocation of lions into the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Reserve in S. Africa to help with an inbred population that is very susceptible to TB.
Pallas' Cat in Mongolia.WAC funding: $37,250.50 - Also known as the "manul". Very little is known about this furry small cat in the wild. This continuing project funds collaring and monitoring their behavior.
Asiatic Cheetah.WAC funding: $2500 - There was one known pure Asiatic cheetah in captivity in Iran and she had been ill.
Wildlife Breeding Resource Centre.WAC funding: $2000 - Studying the technology of artificial insemination in felids. This will assist in an alternative to relocation of cats for better genetic diversity in S. African game reserves.
Andean Mountain Cat Project.WAC funding: $30,793.71 - Proposing to finally learn more about the little known small cat in Argentina, with the help of the native people.
LiFeline Project.WAC funding: $1000 - Setting up a conservation center in Belize to study and protect the little known Central American cats.
Small Cats of Argentina.WAC funding: $647.38 - This project started out studying Geoffoys cats, and now has expanded to four cat species in Argentina.
India Small Wildcat Project.WAC funding: $8625 - Over the years the sightings of the Caracal have became so rare that the Bombay natural history society reported less than 5 Caracal sightings in the entire country over the last 10 years.
Jim Sanderson Projects.WAC funding: $21,743.14 - Jim Sanderson is recognized as one of the top field researchers of small cats in the world. He has agreed to help student-run field projects by bringing equipment and himself to train them as an advisor and support them with advice to make them self-sufficient. The money Wild About Cats raises for him will go exclusively to purchase equipment to allow him to do this work.
Cougar Managment Project.WAC funding: $5000 - A study of the management strategies regarding the harvesting of cougars.
