Panthera Corporation
Encyclopedia
Panthera Corporation is a charity organization
devoted to preserving big cats
and their ecosystem
s around the globe. Founded in 2006, Panthera focuses its efforts on conservation of the world’s largest, most imperiled cats—tiger
s, lion
s, jaguar
s and snow leopard
s—while also developing conservation programs for cheetah
s, leopard
s and mountain lions.
to help protect the jaguar
. In recent years conservationists discovered that jaguar survival and health depend on a network of corridors that span the continent, while past efforts focused on developing distinct sanctuaries. The jaguar's ability to travel long distances prevents inbreeding and the resulting possibility of extinction. In early 2010, Panthera signed a deal with the Colombian government to protect and develop the corridors there—essential because the Central and South American jaguar corridors converge in Colombia.
In August, 2010, in Belize
, Panthera worked with the government to create the Labouring Creek Jaguar Corridor Wildlife Sanctuary, which set aside more than 7000 acres (28.3 km²) of land as a sanctuary and corridor for jaguars. The project is part of the Panthera Jaguar Corridor Initiative.
In Costa Rica, Panthera is researching the routes that jaguars travel, and encouraging politicians and developers to respect those routes. They are also sponsoring community outreach programs to alleviate “jaguar conflict issues.”
Panthera has also bought large cattle ranches in Brazil
, as part of their Pantanal
Jaguar Project, to protect jaguars and their habitat. They are working with local ranchers to find benign ways to protect their cattle, rather than the typical approach of shooting the jaguars. New approaches are sometimes simple, such as the discovery that a single light bulb in a cattle corral will discourage jaguars. In addition, they are helping ranchers develop general improvements that will increase the rancher's profits without having to harm the jaguar. Panthera is working with the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
to provide education and healthcare to those living in the jaguar corridors.
to Burma for wild tiger
populations. The corridor would also include land in northeast India
, Myanmar
, Thailand
, and Malaysia, and possibly Laos
, Cambodia
, and Vietnam
.
In August, 2010, the government of Burma announced the expansion, by 4248 square miles (11,002.3 km²), of the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve
, which is the world's largest tiger preserve. Panthera CEO Alan Rabinowitz helped bring together representatives from the Kachin Independence Army
and the Burma government to make the expansion possible.
In Johor State, Malaysia, Panthera is working with the state government and the Wildlife Conservation Society
to increase tiger numbers by 50% over a ten year period. As part of that project, in early 2010, Panthera cameras captured an image of a rare Spotted Leopard in Taman Negara Endau-Rompin National Park, where only Black Leopards were believed to exist.
Panthera's Snow Leopard
Program is studying the species in Mongolia
, and surveying new regions where the animals are likely to live, but haven't yet been discovered. They work with local animal herders to train them in new approaches that will reduce livestock lost to the leopards. They are also working at protection for the estimated 3,500 to 7,000 snow leopards living in Central Asia
. Programs include giving a bonus to Mongolian herding communities that have gone one year without killing a snow leopard, and livestock vaccinations in Pakistan, where loss to disease is greater than leopard depredation.
by Jim Corbett
at the age of seven. Kaplan serves as Panthera's executive chairman.
Alan Rabinowitz
is Panthera’s CEO, and was the main driving force behind the Jaguar Corridor that connects Mexico and Argentina. He also started the world’s first jaguar preserve in 1986, in Belize
.
Michael Cline serves as a director and chairman of Tigers Forever program. Luke Hunter
, formerly director of the Great Cats Program at WCS, acts as Panthera’s President. George Schaller
serves as both Panthera’s vice president and chairman of its Cat Advisory Council.
Panthera has offices in New York
and London
.
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
devoted to preserving big cats
Pantherinae
Pantherinae is the subfamily of the family Felidae, which includes the genera Panthera, Uncia and Neofelis.The divergence of Pantherinae from Felinae has been ranked between six and ten million years ago. DNA analysis suggests that the snow leopard Uncia uncia is basal to the entire Pantherinae and...
and their ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s around the globe. Founded in 2006, Panthera focuses its efforts on conservation of the world’s largest, most imperiled cats—tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
s and snow leopard
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...
s—while also developing conservation programs for cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
s, leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s and mountain lions.
Programs and Projects
Panthera works in partnership with local and international NGOs, scientific institutions, and government agencies to develop and implement range-wide species conservation strategies. Panthera has funded the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University, with a diploma program in international wildlife practice. Panthera also awards a number of grants to support promising field conservationists. These grant programs include the Kaplan Graduate Awards, the Research and Conservation Grants, the Small Cat Action Fund, and the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Jaguar Small Grants.South and Central America
In South America, Panthera is working on developing a transnational corridorWildlife corridor
A wildlife corridor or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities . This allows an exchange of individuals between populations, which may help prevent the negative effects of inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity that often occur within...
to help protect the jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
. In recent years conservationists discovered that jaguar survival and health depend on a network of corridors that span the continent, while past efforts focused on developing distinct sanctuaries. The jaguar's ability to travel long distances prevents inbreeding and the resulting possibility of extinction. In early 2010, Panthera signed a deal with the Colombian government to protect and develop the corridors there—essential because the Central and South American jaguar corridors converge in Colombia.
In August, 2010, in Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
, Panthera worked with the government to create the Labouring Creek Jaguar Corridor Wildlife Sanctuary, which set aside more than 7000 acres (28.3 km²) of land as a sanctuary and corridor for jaguars. The project is part of the Panthera Jaguar Corridor Initiative.
In Costa Rica, Panthera is researching the routes that jaguars travel, and encouraging politicians and developers to respect those routes. They are also sponsoring community outreach programs to alleviate “jaguar conflict issues.”
Panthera has also bought large cattle ranches in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, as part of their Pantanal
Pantanal
The Pantanal is a tropical wetland and one of the world's largest wetland of any kind. Most of it lies within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay, sprawling over an area estimated at between and...
Jaguar Project, to protect jaguars and their habitat. They are working with local ranchers to find benign ways to protect their cattle, rather than the typical approach of shooting the jaguars. New approaches are sometimes simple, such as the discovery that a single light bulb in a cattle corral will discourage jaguars. In addition, they are helping ranchers develop general improvements that will increase the rancher's profits without having to harm the jaguar. Panthera is working with the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is an American medical school in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, currently ranked among the top 20 medical schools in the United States. It was chartered by Mount Sinai Hospital in 1963....
to provide education and healthcare to those living in the jaguar corridors.
Asia
In Asia, Panthera's Tigers Forever project is planning a 5000 miles (8,046.7 km) long corridor from BhutanBhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
to Burma for wild tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
populations. The corridor would also include land in northeast India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and Malaysia, and possibly Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
In August, 2010, the government of Burma announced the expansion, by 4248 square miles (11,002.3 km²), of the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve
Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve
Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve is a wildlife reserve located in Hukawng Valley, near Tanai in Myitkyina District of Kachin State, Burma . Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve covers 21890 km². The Burmese government has also designated 6500 km² of the valley as the protected forest reserve...
, which is the world's largest tiger preserve. Panthera CEO Alan Rabinowitz helped bring together representatives from the Kachin Independence Army
Kachin Independence Army
The Kachin Independence Army is the military arm of the Kachin Independence Organization , a political group composed of ethnic Kachins in northern Burma...
and the Burma government to make the expansion possible.
In Johor State, Malaysia, Panthera is working with the state government and the Wildlife Conservation Society
Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society based at the Bronx Zoo was founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society and currently manages some of wild places around the world, with over 500 field conservation projects in 60 countries, and 200 scientists on staff...
to increase tiger numbers by 50% over a ten year period. As part of that project, in early 2010, Panthera cameras captured an image of a rare Spotted Leopard in Taman Negara Endau-Rompin National Park, where only Black Leopards were believed to exist.
Panthera's Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...
Program is studying the species in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, and surveying new regions where the animals are likely to live, but haven't yet been discovered. They work with local animal herders to train them in new approaches that will reduce livestock lost to the leopards. They are also working at protection for the estimated 3,500 to 7,000 snow leopards living in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. Programs include giving a bonus to Mongolian herding communities that have gone one year without killing a snow leopard, and livestock vaccinations in Pakistan, where loss to disease is greater than leopard depredation.
Founders and Leadership
Panthera was founded by American entrepreneur Thomas S. Kaplan. Kaplan was first inspired by big cats while reading Man-Eaters of KumaonMan-Eaters of Kumaon
Man-Eaters of Kumaon is a book written by hunter-naturalist Jim Corbett. It details the experiences Corbett had in the Kumaon region of India from the 1900s to the 1930s, while hunting man-eating tigers and leopards. One tiger, for example, was responsible for over 400 human deaths...
by Jim Corbett
Jim Corbett (hunter)
Edward James "Jim" Corbett was a British hunter, conservationist, author and naturalist, famous for slaying a large number of man-eating tigers and leopards in India....
at the age of seven. Kaplan serves as Panthera's executive chairman.
Alan Rabinowitz
Alan Rabinowitz
Alan Robert Rabinowitz is an American zoologist, conservationist, and field biologist and the CEO of Panthera, a nonprofit conservation organization devoted to protecting the world's 37 wild cat species...
is Panthera’s CEO, and was the main driving force behind the Jaguar Corridor that connects Mexico and Argentina. He also started the world’s first jaguar preserve in 1986, in Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
.
Michael Cline serves as a director and chairman of Tigers Forever program. Luke Hunter
Luke Hunter
Luke Hunter is an Australian biologist and is the President of Panthera Corporation, a New York-based conservation charity he helped to create in 2006 which is dedicated to the range-wide conservation of the world’s wild cat species....
, formerly director of the Great Cats Program at WCS, acts as Panthera’s President. George Schaller
George Schaller
George Beals Schaller is an American mammalogist, naturalist, conservationist and author. Schaller is recognized by many as the world's preeminent field biologist, studying wildlife throughout Africa, Asia and South America. Born in Berlin, Schaller grew up in Germany, but moved to Missouri as a...
serves as both Panthera’s vice president and chairman of its Cat Advisory Council.
Panthera has offices in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.