Status and Conservation of the Felidae Kristin Nowell For the upcoming Handbook of the Mammals of the World (Lynx Edicions, in press) As predators, wild cat populations need relatively large blocks of habitat and sufficient quantities of suitable wild prey. With the increasing pace of human population growth and development over the last century, both habitat and prey for cats have declined widely. The big cats have been heavily persecuted because they are a danger to humans and livestock, and for their skins, and some small cat species have been subject to heavy offtakes for the fur trade. All species have declined in range and number, but the situation is illustrated most acutely by the decline of the big cats over the last century. Big cats once ranged widely across North Africa and Southwest Asia, and some countries in the region were home to a spectacular big cat assemblage: Tiger, Lions, Cheetahs, Leopards. But over the last century the Tiger was eliminated from Southwest and Central Asia, while the cheetah survives only in a small part of Iran, and the Lion as a single population in the Gir Forest of western India. In North Africa, the Lion was lost, and the Leopard and Cheetah have become very rare. The Tiger disappeared from the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali, and in other countries its range has been reduced to only a fraction of the original distribution. In the Americas, the Jaguar lost an estimated 50% of its range, and by the early 1900s the Puma was already gone from the eastern half of North America (except for the Everglades swamp region of Florida). These extirpations all share common factors: loss of habitat, depletion of the large ungulate prey base, and direct persecution of cats for trade, predator control, and sport. Today the Felidae are among the most threatened groups of mammals. The IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group’s review of felid status for the 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals includes 17 of the 36 species, or almost half of the family Felidae. Five species are included in the categories Critically Endangered and Endangered (Table 1). In general, the felids categorized as Threatened fall into two groups: those that appear to be naturally rare, with a limited distribution; and those that have become threatened due to human factors. The Critically Endangered Iberian Lynx fits both criteria, and is near to becoming the first cat species to go extinct in modern times. Between 1960 and 1990, the Iberian Lynx suffered a drastic 80% range loss, and over the 1990s has continued to lose ground. In Spain, Lynx live in nine isolated populations – one of which, in the eastern Sierra Madre mountains, holds over 70% of the total Spanish population - and have a total range of approximately 12,000 km2. In Portugal, there are an estimated five populations, with a total range of only about 2,400 km2 in extent. The total population of breeding adult Iberian lynx is estimated at just 300. The small, isolated sub-populations of Iberian lynx are theoretically vulnerable to genetic drift, where alleles with low frequency are likely to disappear from the population gene pool. There is preliminary evidence for this happening in Coto Doñana National Park, where the population of approximately 40-50 lynx has been isolated from other lynx populations

since the early 1960s. Three pelage patterns were present in the population at that time, but now no animals exhibit the rarer fine-spotted pattern. Table 1. Status of the Felidae according to the 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals Critically Endangered Iberian Lynx Endangered Andean Mountain Cat Borneo Bay Cat Snow Leopard Tiger

Vulnerable African golden cat Asiatic Golden Cat Black-footed cat Cheetah Chinese Mountain Cat Clouded leopard Fishing cat Flat-headed cat Guigna Lion Marbled cat Rusty-spotted cat

Near Threatened Geoffroy’s Cat Jaguar Lynx Manul Oncilla Pampas cat Puma Sand cat

Least Concern Bobcat Canada lynx Caracal Jaguarundi Jungle cat Leopard Leopard cat Margay Ocelot Serval Wildcat

The steep decline of the Iberian lynx has been primarily caused by a decline of their main prey species, the European rabbit, due to two virulent imported diseases, Myxomatosis and Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease. Rabbit populations have completely disappeared in many areas, and remnant populations still undergo severe periodic mortality. Rabbit populations are now estimated to be at 5-10% of their mid-century abundance. Although some populations are developing immunity, rabbits are still legally and illegally trapped. They are also preyed upon by competing predators including the Red Fox which, unlike the Lynx, is more tolerant of the agriculture and settlement that have come to dominate much of the peninsula. Traps set for rabbits and for Red Fox are estimated to result in an annual 25% mortality rate for the main Iberian Lynx population in the Sierra Morena mountains. Road kills have also become an increasingly significant cause of mortality for Iberian Lynx. Lynx pardinus is a close relative of the Eurasian Lynx Lynx lynx, and only relatively recently has acceptance of its status as a full species been widely recognized. In part for this reason, conservation effort for the Iberian Lynx has lagged behind that of other cat species. Awareness is now growing of the severity of this Lynx’s plight. The Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe published a comprehensive action plan detailing the status of Iberian Lynx populations, threats, and recommended conservation action. The World Wide Fund for Nature-UK is leading a campaign for implementation of the action plan, with a major focus on habitat protection under the Europe-wide Natura 2000 conservation initiative. An international workshop to focus on the need for Spain and Portugal to implement habitat protection measures and improved hunting controls will be held in 2002 by the IUCN Cat Specialist Group.

In recent years, the greatest conservation efforts have been directed toward the Tiger, classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. As previously discussed, the Tiger has suffered steep population declines over the last century, disappearing from much of its historically wide range. However, great advances were made in protecting remaining populations in the 1970s-80s. India led the way with its government-sponsored Project Tiger, which protected a network of key habitats as Tiger Reserves. Most other range states also created important protected areas for tigers and enacted legal proscriptions against tiger hunting. Tigers were banned from international trade through their listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1975. The first behavioral and ecological studies were carried out, and conservationists began actively monitoring the status of many tiger populations. In the early 1990s, the Cat Specialist Group sounded the alarm that Tigers were being poached in significant numbers, linking this to the use of Tiger bone in traditional Asian medicines. Tiger medicines had been used to treat rheumatism and other conditions for thousands of years, but increasing Asian economic prosperity gave rise to devastating levels of commercial demand. Reports of intensive poaching in the Tiger’s South Asian strongholds of India and Nepal were underscored in 1993, when Indian officials seized nearly 400 kg of Tiger bone and uncovered a major smuggling route through Nepal into China. Poaching hit even the rare and formerly well-protected Amur tiger population of the Russian Far East, during the time of dissolution of the former Soviet Republic. Trade investigations found Tiger bone medicines available in Asian pharmacies around the world. Shutting down medicinal markets for Tiger bone shot to the top of the global environmental agenda. Under diplomatic pressure and threat of trade sanctions, China, Taiwan, and South Korea took rapid and extraordinary legal and enforcement actions against their domestic traditional medicine markets. In many cases both consumers and practitioners of traditional medicine showed willingness to stop using Tiger bone to help save the species. The conservation community increased its investment in conserving tiger populations, with major new funding sources developing uniquely for Tigers, such as the ExxonMobil Save the Tiger Fund (the Tiger being Exxon’s corporate logo). Most Tiger range states drew up national Tiger Action Plans, and an international body to coordinate conservation in the range states has been established, the Global Tiger Forum. There has been great improvement in reducing trade in traditional Asian Tiger bone medicines, and analyses have shown that many of the Tiger parts and medicines were fake. Still, Tigers continue to be poached throughout their Asian range, and it is likely that black markets have persisted even though their wares are not displayed openly. The Tiger probably numbers no more than 5,000-7,500. Tigers breed well in captivity, and it is a sad fact that there are now more animals in zoos and other collections than in the wild. But although captive Tigers have served as an illicit source of supply for traditional Asian medicines, with several notorious “Tiger farms” in China and Thailand (which now appear to function only as zoos, and draw large crowds of tourists), the primary source has been wild Tigers.

Tigers are not only killed illegally for trade, but also because they can be a danger to people, and an intolerable economic burden when they prey on livestock. Population models suggest that Tiger populations may be able to sustain low levels of mortality, such as would be expected to result from persistent but infrequent conflict with humans. However, moderate to high levels of mortality greatly increases extinction risk, even tens of years after the deaths occur. Also of fundamental importance for tiger survival over the long term is viable populations of their main wild ungulate prey species. An impoverished prey base will support only occasional reproduction. If prey populations continue to decline across the Tiger’s range an increasing number of tiger populations will come to exist at low densities, increasing their vulnerability. With the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and computer-based habitat mapping and monitoring, progress is being made toward mapping species distributions in detail, evaluating the adequacy of existing habitats for supporting viable cat populations, and identifying priority blocks of habitat for felid conservation. On the species level, Tiger range definition is most advanced. A 1997 mapping exercise by the World Wildlife Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society delineated habitat for Tigers into blocks of “Tiger Conservation Units” (TCUs). Each TCU was scored for habitat integrity (size and degree of habitat fragmentation within the TCU, and degree of habitat modification and degradation by people), poaching pressure, and Tiger population status, and these scores were used to rank the TCUs in importance for tiger conservation. A total of 159 separate TCUs were identified, with 1/3 ranked as highest priority. However, in most cases the Tiger population status was scored as unknown. Efforts to improve monitoring and protection of Tiger populations are increasing. Track and camera trap surveys are being carried out in all fourteen range states; prey base abundance is also being measured. There has been increased investment in antipoaching, protected area infrastructure and capacity building, and conservation education. In a growing number of range states Tiger conservationists are allying with the development community to address the root causes of rural poverty and develop alternative sources of livelihood for people living close to important Tiger populations, and thus relieve the stress on the natural resource base. The Snow Leopard is the other Endangered big cat of Asia. Dwelling in remote high mountains, the Snow Leopard has not suffered the steep declines of Tiger populations in the crowded tropics, but it still faces similar threats to its survival. There is demand for Snow Leopard bones for use as a substitute for Tiger Bone in traditional Asian medicines. Many Central Asian protected areas are too small to support viable populations of Snow Leopards. Large ungulates have been hunted out of many areas, and Snow Leopards prey on domestic livestock more frequently in areas where wild sheep and goat populations have been depleted. Dietary analyses in a number of areas have shown domestic livestock to be a major prey source for Snow Leopards. In such areas, impoverished villagers and herders feel they have no choice but to protect their livelihood by killing Snow Leopards.

Conservation efforts for the Snow Leopard have been improving. Several range states have approved comprehensive action plans. Under the auspices of the International Snow Leopard Trust, a network of Snow Leopard specialists is working to draw up a comprehensive survival strategy for the species. One component is implementation of a standard protocol for recording Snow Leopard sign during transects, to be built into a database for monitoring every major Snow Leopard population. Several conservation programs focus on reducing incidence of livestock predation, by helping construct predator proof corrals and improve other livestock management measures. New mechanisms are being developed to help local people benefit from eco-tourism, with emphasis on participatory techniques that fully engage them in the process. The third Asian felid classified as Endangered is the Borneo Bay Cat. It has a very restricted range, being found only on the island of Borneo. It appears to be a naturally rare species, described as such by British naturalist Charles Hose back in the late 1800s, long before the onset of current threats such as commercial logging. In stark contrast to the three previously discussed species, the Borneo Bay Cat has never been studied and little is known about it. The Endangered Andean Mountain Cat occurs only in the rocky, arid, sparsely vegetated areas of the high Andes in South America above the timberline (approx. 3,500-4,800 m). There are few museum specimens, none known in captivity, no skins in the illegal fur trade, and it has only been observed a handful of times in the wild by biologists. Its distribution is similar to the historic range of the mountain chinchilla (Chinchilla brevicaudata), which was hunted nearly to extinction for the fur trade a century ago, and this may be a factor in the present-day rarity of the Andean Mountain Cat. The Andean Mountain Cat is also hunted with dogs, as it is a tradition throughout much of the high Andes to keep dried and stuffed wild cat specimens for harvest festivals, when they are decorated with ribbons and money. The Pampas Cat (Near Threatened) is very similar in appearance to the Andean Mountain Cat, and may be sympatric with the Andean Mountain Cat at lower elevations. There has been increased research into the status of the Andean Mountain Cat since publication of the Cat Specialist Group’s Cat Action Plan in 1996, which drew attention to conservation needs of the smaller less-studied felids. Status surveys were carried out in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The first video footage of a male Andean mountain cat has been made, although thus far attempts to capture the species in baited box traps for radio collaring have not been successful. Publication of a detailed morphological key is helping field researchers distinguish between Andean Mountain Cats and Pampas Cats. Interested members of the Cat Specialist Group formed the Committee for Conservation of the Gato Andino (COCGA), and researchers share information, and are cooperating to map the species range and define priority areas for conservation. COCGA has published a booklet about the species for distribution to schools and protected areas. Again, as with the Endangered category, the majority of the species categorized as Vulnerable are found primarily in Asia. Of these seven, five are most strongly associated with forest habitats. Asian forests, particularly rain forests, have undergone the highest

rates of deforestation in the world over the last 20-30 years. Three Vulnerable felids which often occur together in tropical Asian forests are the Clouded Leopard, Asiatic Golden Cat, and Marbled Cat. More information about these cats has become available in the late 1990s with the first radio telemetry studies in Thailand, and many new records collected from camera traps across Southeast Asia. While the Marbled Cat appears to be naturally rare and is not frequently seen in trade, there is concern about substantial illegal trade in skins of Clouded Leopard and Asiatic Golden Cat. A survey in 1999 found 95 Clouded Leopard pelts for sale in Myanmar’s notorious Tachilek wildlife market, on the Thai border. Both Clouded Leopard and Asiatic Golden Cat bones are also used as substitutes for Tiger Bone in traditional Asian medicines. Two Vulnerable Asian species, the Flat-Headed Cat and the Fishing Cat, are specialized for wetland habitats, and their distribution within forests is strongly localized around water sources. People also tend to concentrate around water sources, and these species are rapidly losing habitat to agriculture and aquaculture, and threatened by pollution and the use of pesticides. Fishing cats have become very scarce because of these threats in Java and Pakistan. The world’s three smallest felid species are all classified as Vulnerable, and appear to be naturally rare. Although found in different parts of the world, the three species are similar in being found in just a few habitats with small overall ranges: the Guigna of Chile and Argentina, the Rusty-Spotted Cat of India and Sri Lanka, and the Black-Footed Cat of Southern Africa. The first radio telemetry studies of the Guigna and the BlackFooted Cat were carried out in the 1990s, but the Rusty-Spotted Cat remains poorly known, as do the Chinese Mountain Cat and African Golden Cat. The two Vulnerable big cats, the Lion and the Cheetah, still occur widely in Sub-Saharan Africa, but human-predator conflict is rife. Scores of people are killed by lions every year, particularly in East Africa; the number of lions killed by people is less easy to know, but is considered a major theat to the lion’s survival. Lions are vulnerable to poisoning of their kills. Cheetahs do not return to their kills, and are therefore not vulnerable to being killed in this way. However, they are considered a major source of livestock depredation, particularly in southern Africa, and in Namibia many cheetahs are captured each year in box traps set by cattle and game ranchers. Lions are increasingly becoming restricted to protected areas, where they are vulnerable to threats facing isolated populations, including loss of genetic variation, and susceptibility to disease: in the mid 1990s an outbreak of Canine Distemper Virus killed 20-30% of the lion population of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. The cheetah, on the other hand, tends to occur at lower densities in protected areas with large lion populations and, in some parts of East and Southern Africa, is found at higher densities outside parks, in mixed-use bushland where lions have been eliminated by people. There has been much more conservation effort directed toward the Lion and the Cheetah than for the ten Vulnerable small cats. Both have been studied for decades in key locations in East and Southern Africa, providing a solid foundation for understanding species biology. Namibia was the first country to implement a national cheetah action

plan, and has established a unique Large Carnivore Management Forum, which brings together stakeholders for regular meetings to share information and coordinate conservation reserach and actions. In southern Africa, Lion and Cheetah populations are actively managed, with frequent translocation of problem animals. An African Lion Working Group has been established under the auspices of the Cat Specialist Group, and has highlighted West Africa as the region of greatest conservation concern for the species. Both the Lion and the Cheetah have small remnant populations outside Sub-Saharan Africa. The Asiatic Lion Panthera leo persica now exists as a single isolated population numbering approximately 300 in India’s Gir Forest complex, in the state of Rajasthan, witha total area of about 1,400 km2. A considerable number of people live in the area surrounding the Gir, and graze their livestock in the buffer area. There have been a number of people killed by Gir lions, and there is continual conflict due to lions preying on livestock. Conservationists have long been interested in establishing a second wild population to relieve some of the pressure on the Gir population and to decrease the extinction risk, but there is no suitable habitat unoccupied by people. One experiment in the 1960s failed, with reintroduced Lions apparently being shot or poisoned in the Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary. Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Madhya Pradesh has now been selected as the best candidate area. Communities will require resettlement to make room for the Lions, but this time great care is being taken to make the process participatory and to attempt to satisfy local needs, and not engender hostility toward Lion conservation. The Cheetah has disappeared from most of its North African and South West Asian range primarily due to depletion of its gazelle prey base by illegal hunting. In Asia, the Cheetah is now found only in Iran, where preliminary population estimates suggest a scattered population at low density, probably totaling only 50-100. Neglected for years, the Asiatic Cheetah now stands to benefit from a major World Bank funded conservation program, which will carry out the first status surveys and fund park protection measures. In North Africa, small populations remain in western Egypt and around the Saharan mountain massifs of Algeria, Mali and Niger. Nomadic Bedouin herders consider Cheetahs to be important predators of small livestock. The Near Threatened category includes seven species that may in the future qualify as Vulnerable, if declining trends persist (Table 1). This category includes mainly New World species, and of these five species, only the two big cats, the Jaguar and the Puma, occur in the vast lowland rainforest of the Amazon basin. The more threatened Latin American species are those that occur outside the tropical rain forest. This is in marked contrast to Asia, where most of the threatened species are associated with tropical rainforest, and threatened primarily by deforestation. While the conservation community works to reduce high rates of deforestation in the Amazon, it still forms a large refuge for Neotropical felids (approximately 5.5 million km2). More heavily settled and degraded are the montane cloud forests, dry deciduous forests, and pampas scrub grasslands, with resulting range loss for the Oncilla, Geoffroy’s Cat and Pampas Cat.

The Jaguar has been eliminated from much of the drier northern parts of its range, as well as the pampas scrub grasslands of Argentina and throughout Uruguay. A meeting of jaguar specialists in 1999 estimated that 50% of the species range was lost in the last century. The most urgent conservation problem for the Jaguar throughout much of its range is the current level of conflict with livestock ranchers. The vulnerability of the Jaguar to persecution is demonstrated by its disappearance in the mid-1900s from the southwestern US and northern Mexico, areas which remain today home to important puma populations. While the puma is a more adaptable cat, being found in every major habitat type of the Americas, it was nevertheless eliminated from the entire eastern half of North America within 200 years following European colonization. As forests were cut down for timber and fuel, and deer populations were greatly reduced, Cougars were hunted out. The last remaining known population of Puma concolor in eastern North America is found in the Florida Everglades. The Florida Panther population varies between 30-50, and for two decades the world’s most intensive, and expensive, felid conservation program has struggled to maintain the population’s viability. The Manul and Sand Cat are still relatively common, but populations of both species are more sparse and threatened in the region of the Caspian Sea, and in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The first radio telemetry studies of these species were carried out in the 1990s. The Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) is also still found across a wide range, and is commercially trapped for the international fur trade, primarily in Russia. There is concern about the effects of uncontrolled trapping for local fur markets in China and the Central Asian republics, where there is little information available about the distribution and status of Lynx populations. Conservation efforts have been most intensive for the Lynx in Europe, where the population is estimated at about 7,000, most numerous in the north and east of the region. The Lynx was completely eradicated from Western Europe over the past 150 years, and was reintroduced clandestinely in several countries in the 1970s. Populations have been well studied and monitored, and a comprehensive pan-European action plan provides the basis for coordinating and prioritizing conservation action. The primary problem for Lynx conservationists in Western Europe is to convince local people that large predators are a necessary part of the rural landscape. Compensation is paid for livestock killed by Lynx, and problem animals that repeatedly kill livestock are removed. Local people remain largely hostile to large predators, viewing conservation as an urban concept that restricts their opportunities for economic development. The category “Least Concern” can be misleading. For example, the wildcat Felis silvestris is probably the most widespread and numerous of the felids. Yet it may be one of the most threatened. Much more research is needed into the extent of hybridization with feral domestic cats, and the resulting loss of unique wildcat alleles and traits. The origin of the domestication process resulting in our pet cats (Felis silvestris domesticus) was probably North Africa and Southwest Asia, around the time of the rise of agriculture, when grain stores attracted rodent pests, which attracted wildcats. Hybridization has been well documented in parts of Europe, particulary Scotland, where feral cat hybrids are estimated to make up approximately 40% of the “wild” population. But the

phenomenon is unstudied in Africa, where the process has probably been underway the longest. Habitat loss and fragmentation intensifies the process by bringing people and their cats in closer contact with wildcats – although feral domestic cats can survive in the wild hundreds of miles from civilization, even in the desert. Also, the Leopard Cat is probably the most common small cat of Asia, despite having been trapped in large numbers for the fur trade in China in the 1980s (hundreds of thousands per year). But there is debate among cat specialists about whether the Iriomote cat, found only on the small Japanese island of Iriomote off the eastern coast of Taiwan, is a unique species (as suggested by morphology) or an isolated subspecies of Leopard Cat (as suggested by genetic analysis). As a species, the Iriomote cat would qualify as the world’s most endangered cat, with a single population of less than 100 animals. As a subspecies or “Evolutionarily Significant Unit,” it is one of many that face serious extinction risk. The Leopard is good example of an adaptable, widespread species that nonetheless has many Critically Endangered sub-populations. While still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats from which the other big cats have disappeared in many parts of SubSaharan Africa, in North Africa leopards are on the verge of extinction, or may already have disappeared. The most recent record from Morocco is from the early 1990s. Across Southwest and Central Asia Leopard populations are small, threatened and widely separated. Leopards are relatively abundant still in India, China, and Southeast Asia, but are Critically Endangered in the northeast of this range. The Amur leopard, characterized by its large rosettes and lush winter coat, has been reduced to very small populations in Russia, China and North Korea. The Leopard is also rare on the islands of Java and Sri Lanka. The three species of the genus Leopardus – the Ocelot, Margay and Oncilla (Near Threatened) - are very similar in appearance, and were staples of the spotted cat fur trade of the 1960s and 1970s, with nearly a million skins entering international trade during this period. These species are now all protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and international commercial trade has ceased, although local illegal trade persists. The Jaguarundi still occurs widely in Latin America in a variety of habitats, and is not generally hunted for the fur trade. Ocelot and Jaguarundi populations at the extreme north of their range, in the Mexico-US border region, are rare and threatened. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caracal and Serval are relatively common and widely distributed. In southern Africa, Caracals are trapped in large numbers as livestock predators, and in western Africa, there is concern about the volume of Serval skins in the local fur trade. Servals appear to have become extinct north of the Sahara, with the last confirmed record from Algeria dating back to the 1930s, and the Caracal is threatened in parts of Southwest and Central Asia. Jungle Cats are relatively abundant in most of India and parts of Southwest and Southeast Asia, and are frequently spotted amidst human

settlement. The species has been little studied, however, and is reportedly uncommon at the edges of its range: in Egypt, Central Asia, China and Sri Lanka. The Canada lynx is primarily found in Canada, and its distribution and status are tied closely to its main prey species the Snowshoe Hare Lepus americanus. In the south of its range, in the US, Snowshoe Hares are less abundant and Lynx populations are small and threatened. Lynx were reintroduced unsuccessfully in northern New York state in the late 1980s, and more recently, apparently successfully, in Colorado. Snowshoe hares go through strong periodic cycles in abundance, and with a 1-2 year lag, so do Canada Lynx and, in the far north of its range, the Bobcat. Both species are trapped for the international fur trade in Canada, and extensive research has gone into developing management programs to protect against overharvest during cyclic lows, when pelt prices typically rise due to the drop in supply. However, opposition to trapping and hunting of cats as inhumane is growing in North America, as it is around the world. In Mexico, the Bobcat has been designated a priority for conservation research, as little is known about the species from the south of its range. This chapter has focused on species-specific conservation, but it is important to keep in mind that cats are the beneficiaries of a wide range of general conservation actions, with the protection of healthy ecosystems within parks and reserves being of primary importance. Protected areas safeguard important populations, but at present they still comprise only a minority of felid species ranges. Outside protected areas, cats benefit from land use such as sustainable forestry and managed hunting, which prevent habitat loss while providing an economic incentive for conservation. In most range states habitat and species protection laws are gradually being strengthened, with increased public support for and governmental investment in conserving biodiversity. In combination with the dedicated conservation efforts of cat specialists, it is hoped that such positive trends will soon come to reverse the current pattern of decline that threatens many felids with extinction. While captive populations of cats are being increasingly well managed, and great advances have been made in assisted reproduction techniques and gene banking, viable wild habitat with supportive and tolerant neighboring communities and effective species conservation management programs are necessary conditions for longterm survival of wild cat populations.