Cats: Big, beautiful, and bound for extinction?

Poaching. Lack of prey. Fewer places to roam. Big, beautiful cats are facing more problems than at any other point in history. Big cats are in crisis: We need $50,000 by May 15 to help turn the tide. Could you contribute at little as $5? Dear Friend of Wildlife,  Picture a tiger, quietly padding through the jungle, bright eyes slowly scanning, muscles rippling just below the surface, waiting, waiting for the right moment. Poised always to pounce! Big cats have an air of mystique, of power, and beauty, that's captivated humans for centuries. A world without tigers, leopards, lions, jaguars, and snow leopards is a world without its most alluring, unique, and fascinating inhabitants. Yet we stand devastatingly close to that reality. Without a comprehensive, multinational strategy to combat poaching, loss of habitat and prey, and targeted revenge killing, we will lose them. WCS has that strategy, and we have more staff working on the ground to protect big cats than any other conservation organization. A gift to WCS is one of the most important things you can do to save big cats. We need to raise $50,000 by May 15 – will you chip in? It may sound like a lot but that's just 10,000 people giving $5 each! We're confident that there are at least 10,000 big cat champions out there! You'd be surprised at how far your gift today can go toward helping save a big cat tomorrow. We need funding immediately to expand our tried and true strategies into new territory. Last month, we helped finalize the creation of Afghanistan's Wakhan National Park. Covering one of the remotest regions in the world, truly the last of the wild, it will protect 70% of the country's remaining snow leopard population. Plus, the Nigerian Government just asked us to work with them to manage Yankari National Park, home to one of the last populations of lions in West Africa. In both of these parks, we'll need funds to build infrastructure, secure the park's borders, and train rangers to protect wildlife: that's everything from a $75 uniform to a $250 GPS unit, to annual salaries for the WCS staff that trains these park rangers. And our expertise spans well beyond protection. WCS scientists are globally recognized pioneers in methods to monitor large cats. Our scientists use the state-of-the-art methods to count tigers and jaguars: using sophisticated software to identify them by their individual stripes and spots. With camera traps they can identify new cats, their condition, and the status of the population, all without intrusion. These advances are astounding, but the work ahead of us is formidable. Luckily, with interventions like these big cats CAN recover. With protection from harm and enough prey cats can breed and their numbers can spring back rapidly. Help us hit our $50,000 goal for big cats. It all starts with a $5 gift. Please, give what you can. Every dollar helps. We go to the ends of the earth to protect big cats, but what we can accomplish is directly tied to what you contribute. I hope you'll support this ongoing work for cats. Thanks, Liz Bennett Vice President, Species Conservation Wildlife Conservation Society

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