welcome to our Google+ Hangout
celebrating 125 years of it hello
everyone and welcome to national
Geographics google+ hangout for the big
cats initiative on this google on this
givingtuesday i’m luke dollar a National
Geographic Explorer and I help manage
the big cats initiative it’s big cat
week at National Geographic and today
we’re talking about the endangered
felines with the people that are raising
awareness and doing something to
conserve them we’ve got a great lineup
of participants who are here joining me
today are four partners in big cat
conservation that we have and I’ll
introduce them one by one and let them
say hello very briefly first on the
lineup is photographer Steve winter
Steve where are you and where are you
headed right now I’m in hoboken new
jersey hi everyone and I am heading to
india in a couple hours do some tiger
work fantastic also on the line is
National Geographic channel’s big cat
tracker Boone Smith Boone hi where are
you and where are you headed next
everybody i am in I selfies died over
right now geared up to head back to
Wyoming for not like a thurs and joining
us on the phone from Tanzania are big
cats initiative grantee Amy dyckman and
Leigh Leigh lichtenfeld Amy are you on
the line with us and where are you
calling from hi everyone yes I’m on
design I’m encoding from a case in the
middle of the company at such a tall
sales so we’ve got 11 caller from a tent
in ruaha and tanzania and Leigh Leigh
lichtenfeld I think you’re also there in
Tanzania in the bush can you hear me and
where are you I guess one yep I’m like
here and I can hear you all I’m calling
in from the Magnificent Masai except for
our environment
Center where we had a beautiful view of
the stars this evening fantastic and
don’t forget everyone that’s on the
Hangout we want to hear from you post
your questions on social media for a big
cat experts with the hashtag big cats bi
G C 80s and we’ll try our best to answer
them and get to them during this Google
hangout I thought what we might do to
open the call and the Hangout was to ask
each of the participants how they got
involved with their field specifically
why big cats we’ve already got one
question here Amy this is from stephanie
kolp via facebook a lot of people are
fascinated with your work Amy you have
some pretty amazing stories how did you
get started as a big cat conservationist
Amy what do you specifically do and how
did you get started it can interesting
question I was always fascinated by
state cat I’m not quite sure why so
anyhow domestic cats or where they were
quite large and grumpy so it was always
it’s a real transformation ever since I
small and that are all the way through
school and that is the wallet in degree
and after that when she joins the
wildlife conservation research unit
adopts the University and that’s a lot
of work that doesn’t beat ass that’s a
great place significant fields i started
in Numidia with the cheetah conservation
funds before i started my own work here
in Tanzania so it was just meeting lots
of good people who are all search didn’t
think at fantastic thanks Amy Layla
you’re also there in Tanzania where did
you start your path to being where you
are now in doing what you’re doing I
always had another one since I was a
little girl and I forget first got the
opportunity to see them in Kenya with
the National Outdoor Leadership School
or no that’s nice too and after that I
was fortunate to get a Fulbright
scholarships do research in Kenya and
you know on with my work masters and PhD
at Yale and just have a love of Africa
the people in the wildlife and it’s been
here ever since lately about how many
months a year do you spend there and the
in Tanzania gardania’s home so as many
months as I can usually 10 must be at
least a little jaunt to the space to
raise awareness of what we do fantastic
and and Boone I think a little bit
closer to home you’re here in America
tell us a little bit about how you got
started as a big cat tracker and big cat
Wrangler um yeah yo Mike was just kind
of the way I was brought up when I was a
kid every last second was spending the
outdoors I grew up in a family that
really took a lot of pride in and being
good and some of the things that I hope
your gotta grab on and the father that
taught me to try and do a lot of things
and so as it came time to make a
transition to go to school and choose a
career wildlife bio ha you just seem to
be the natural way and i was watching
enough to work with some of them the
best scientists and biologists in the
world and kind of really refined some
techniques be part of them some really
great studies and it’s just kind of
exploded from there you know now i get
an opportunity to spend a bunch of days
out in the field tracking big calcium
right you have a captain is kind of
turned into a dream job awesome I
believe we’ve actually got a photograph
of Steve winters newest book that will
try to put up online but will try to
roll in for you guys to see Steve you’re
out in the field quite a bit behind a
camera your recently published book
Tigers forever saving the world’s most
endangered big cat plus a lot of
magazine work and a recent article about
Cougars features your work what for you
too big cats and specifically
photography as a medium for promoting
big cats and communicating issues around
them well I wanted to be a National
Geographic photographer since I was
eight years old growing up in Indiana I
think cats chose me I didn’t choose big
cats my first story I did for the
magazine a Jaguar came to my door 19 and
scratched under the door and sniffed and
scared me to death and then I some about
three
weeks later and then I decided I was
going to leave and and because I kind of
didn’t know how to react so I came back
and called Alan Rabinowitz up who is now
CEO of panthera and asked him whether he
thought we’d get it would be possible do
a Jaguar story so I did the first Jaguar
story for National Geographic magazine
and that began my career working uh you
know mainly with him he got me started
on Tigers too and my 10 years with
Tigers that resulted in the book Tigers
forever that was just published two
weeks ago thanks Steve you photographed
Cougars snow leopards tigers and jaguars
if you had to pick one big cat to
photograph again what would it be well I
love all of them i mean you know not not
having a background in biology or
anything you know they’re also unique in
their own way snow leopards were so
difficult because of the physical nests
and the cold sleeping out at 30 to 50
degrees below zero you can see Tigers
and they’re the most endangered so I
would say that you know like I’m going
back to do tiger work right now with my
wife wrote the book we’re doing some
videos for National Geographic magazine
website and I want to keep doing that
that’s what we need to do to raise
awareness and give people reason to care
the most popular animal or cat in the
world is also the most endangered big
cat now there’s something wrong about
that balance and we need to figure it
out absolutely Steve we’ve got a
question for you that came from
anne-marie Corp and Denmark on google+
and her question for you is in order to
get the picture where is your limit in
terms of the distance to big cats you
know not only for the cat safety but
your own safety what’s your limit Steve
well I think respect is number one that
we don’t do anything that will harm the
animal in any way shape or form I use
remote cameras because of that uh I like
getting a very intimate view that the
animal ends up taking itself with a
camera trap so I do that as far as
danger goes I work with local people the
guards that protect these animals I need
to trust them and to trust them I need
to respect them a hundred percent and
what they tell me to do I do and because
they’re the experts not me so you don’t
get close you just follow their lead and
go from there in Steve you’ve actually
been out in the field with Boone so I’d
like to kind of throw this question to
him you know Boone has hosted the film
crews and photographers and and also
works very closely with researchers
colouring cats tracking cats taking
measurements etc Boone what’s what’s
your what’s your limit in terms of your
own safety and the safety of the cats
when you’re in the field with them yeah
our scenario is just a little bit
different don’t because obviously we’re
going out and you have an animal like a
cougar or a Snow Leopard extremely
secretive elusive it’s really hard to be
able to go out just observe it so that’s
we need those radio colors not to be
able to get the information and that
means we need to physically have the cat
and I hands at some point in time and I
feel fortunate in the sense that I
didn’t even look work with what your
groups like that pantera Wildlife
Conservation Society Craig energy saw
some other groups where we really been
able to fine-tune and hone something
these capture techniques and you know
the two general rules are the safety of
the animal is first and foremost and
then our safety assessing and so in
doing that I you know I’m rely on a lot
of different experience from just being
out there in the woods from going up to
working with different researchers you
know I got the chance to work with Steve
um and you know and was able to learn
things from him and so every time you go
get to work with the different person
different group you pay attention you
put those things in your toolbox in your
notes and then although it sounds kind
of crazy there’s a lot of common sense
that goes into it when you approach your
cat now these cats are no different than
people in the sense that they’re going
to tell you where that line is and
everyone’s lying for people
m and so those cats there same thing
some have a little more tolerance some
don’t i know you know f 51 is the
cabinet the crew i think of this key
photograph that was magazine she was
taller she she was willing to tolerate
us coming in and i’m doing some things
and some others like f 109 was like yeah
see you guys and so you know reading the
body language these got to tell you
what’s going on and you respect that and
I know Steve mention that it’s you got
to have that respect and if you give me
the respect I you know that’s how we
keep the captain and ourselves and
everybody out there safe sounds good
leili you’re there in Tanzania 10 months
a year um you are in big cat country out
there I don’t think you’re behind a
fence all the time and I don’t think
you’re inside all the time either so you
and your husband Charles trout and and
your young young newest addition what
what are the limits what are the lines
for you in doing lion conservation for
example in Tanzania well we’re going to
be really careful with our work we do a
lot of different ways of estimating the
population of lions some of the ideas
work is putting out camera traps if you
can meet the cameras out my addictions
attacks when we lose five but we also
like to track our cats you know where
they are and where they’re moving so we
work with positioning trackers these are
the guys that really have the sense to
the big test they can read the landscape
they can understand where the cats is
moved and sometimes we’re going on foot
with them and you have to be really
careful you can supply the lioness in a
Corral go with there’s a gully or
ravines and you can get into some scary
situations so light foods that you can
really go to let Big Tex tell you their
limits you don’t want to get too close
with them and I certainly don’t want to
get too close to them with my little
girl ki much you going to turn one year
old and in about six days so we just put
some of the fat but we have to get the
information so that we know that our
work is being affected and that were
helping increase population of these in
dangerous kata forms
and and that work that’s being done in
the field is in part supported by
national Geographics big cats initiative
this being givingtuesday I’d like to
give you guys a little background and
what the big cats initiative is the big
cats initiative is national Geographics
program that supports projects and field
work education outreach incentive
efforts global public awareness
campaigns to save big cats and stop the
declines of their populations worldwide
a few years ago longtime explorers and
residents with National Geographic Derek
and Beverly zubair push National
Geographic to go one step beyond the
mission of the organization which is
inspiring people to care about the
planet and to actually do something more
than just reporting and delivering the
messages which is very important and the
big cats initiative was formed the big
cats initiative is based on sound
science informing good decisions to fund
field-based conservation actions Amy and
Leigh Leigh who you’re hearing from
today are both grantees multiple time
grantees of the big cats initiative in
order to halt the decline as quickly as
possible of big cats in the places where
they are in the three years since the
big cats initiative launched the BCI
which is the cat’s initiative has funded
43 projects in 18 countries to the tune
of nearly 1.3 million dollars and all of
them are field based programs and one of
the things we set out to do was identify
what are some of the best fastest things
that can be done in order to protect big
cats where they are we have to know
their status so assessment is important
but you know we already know that there
are fewer than 3,200 tigers left in the
wild six to eight thousand snow leopards
left in the wild somewhere in the
neighborhood of 30,000 lions but
regardless it’s a ninety percent decline
in under a century no more than 10,000
cheetahs left those numbers are
staggering enough and that’s what led
the shoe barriers and National
Geographic to launch the big cats
initiative to fund grassroots level
campaigns and actions to do that a lot
of great questions are now coming in
they’ve been tweeted they’ve been posted
counted on social media remember it’s
not too late to ask a question please
post tweet or comment from wherever
you’re watching with hashtag big cats
there’s a new question that comes from
celeste leander on facebook that was
which species of big cat is most
critically endangered steve i think you
spoke to that just now and would you
want to give us some feedback on what
the answer to that question is well the
most endangered big cat is the tiger
there’s only 32 maybe only 3000 left in
the wild and it’s an incredibly dramatic
decline in tiger populations and it’s at
a critical point right now and that was
one of the reasons that we had the idea
to put all my work together 10 years
into the book tigers forever which is
named after Pantera’s tiger program
where I’m director of media besides my
20 years working as a photographer at
national geographic magazine and it’s on
the ground protection that’s number one
and I learned from the scientists I work
with that the way you’re going to save
them is to protect their prey first
protect the protected areas where the
source populations are I add and if
those areas are protected Tigers will
take care of themselves but protection
and good science is the background
towards saving Tigers and they need you
no more land and in the in the areas
that they’re in and corridors to move
from one area to another and so my goal
right now is to the promotion of the
book is actually promotion of the saving
of tigers because the book is not just a
bunch of pictures it’s it’s 45 thousand
words and and 68 interviews and 12
profiles of the people that I worked
with and we need to save the tiger we
can do it thank you Steve I’m Amy you
are a specialist and the reasons that
people kill all big cats like lions Amy
dyckman there in Tanzania can you tell
me what kinds of things have you learned
about the reasons why people kill lions
and and what sort of things are you
doing there
with the ruaha carnivore project to
prevent the further loss of big cats in
the places where you are well I think
one of the importance of things the
people there’s also lots of is a little
bit with fairies on areas where the
human dominated and way bak got very
poor human communities you can use
columns the little people benefited my
stock and there’s pretty service
benefits and rehearse in those spaces so
it’s very simple i think people ought to
demonize a little communities killing
species like lions the eagle businesses
wasn’t an animal the iminium i stopped
you know destroying all sort of wealth
and make such the killing of children at
work so the first performance thing we
have to do is work the cemeteries did
and try to sleep sighs their livestock
and that’s important or substance within
various it is a fitting mass-produces
pci slots in soma campaign you built the
Burma Campaign you know the true
dimension building on that this almost
as important or more importantly we’ve
really got to give local people are
benefit from being at rest so we thought
the villages they wanted essence in
school some works with National
Geographic from the pfister Schools
program they want invested in health
care exactly else but making sure that
people see a side west benefit from
concerning test it is up to these
worthless community I totally agree with
speeds we have to protect the source
core populations but if we or if we
ignore this human don’t make demands I
think that it would be a des sell for
lots of the remaining lion populations
certainly I think you may be met that’s
great thank you Amy leili you’re there
in Tanzania a little bit north of where
Amy is right now you know Amy Amy
pointed out to us that conflict is a big
cause of mortality in wildlife
populations and pointed out some of the
things that can be done to mitigate that
can you speak specifically about what
the African people and Wildlife Fund is
doing there in the tarangire e region
thankfully the African people and
wildlife funds were leading a four-step
process the big cat conservation starts
with putting out fire conflicts with our
living walls projects is way of
reinforcing people’s livestock corral
and it’s supported very heavily by the
National Geographic Phil diploma project
we’ve got 300 of these living walls in
place heading towards 350 thanks to
supporters that are helping National
Geographic and a CW Bill Bowman once we
put out those fires pumps like well then
you have to really help people who look
at natural resource management how do we
manage landscapes for people and big
test we have a large educational program
that helps build the skills tools and
the knowledge that people need to manage
their resources and then we actually
help them implement them so we’re
working on range land four sections
watershed protection and finally like
Amy says finding ways for bills
conservation incentives how can we build
an economically friendly community on
the hot side step for supporting women’s
microloan initiatives from biometric
friendly projects and while supporting
large land conservation projects help
communities to conserve their lands is
benefit from it Thank You Leigh Leigh
that’s a perfect segue into introducing
the build a boma campaign the big cats
initiative cause marketing push for
right now is called build a boma if you
go to build a boma org you’ll learn more
about how loss of livestock is a major
factor in people wanting to retaliate
and kill big cat specifically lines but
all sorts of wildlife as you know really
all over the world but we’re focusing
right now in kenya and tanzania with
four of the big cats initiative grantees
who are fortifying the corrals that keep
these livestock’s safe so that avoids
the conflict in the first place if you
go to build a boma org you’ll learn a
lot more about how helping people
protect the livestock in their
livelihoods actually translates into
more cats in the field education is
something that that both Amy and Leigh
Leigh pointed on as well and Boone I
think you’ve actually visited a big cats
initiatives
sister school where we have schools in
the u.s. that are twinned with schools
in big cat range countries and you
visited at least one of those that I’m
aware of could you speak a little bit
about that experience in how education
even in America is important for helping
to protect big cats worldwide yeah that
was actually a really really neat
experience to go be parted out with the
sisters colder had a chance to go to a
couple of it’s a great program because
it it’s kind of run by the kids like
that there’s some guidelines set up the
kids have to participate in fundraisers
but they have these interactions with
the Sister school’s over over in Africa
and different places and get a glimpse
into the lives two other books live over
down and I’m their wildlife and their
their landscape friends and their
natural resources and so as far as an
educational come from one of the schools
i went to is in the was in the Bronx
accent in the I mean inner city which
you know the African savannah is the
most boring thing to them and it was so
cool to walk in in that school and see
the posters they made that the different
interactions they had back and forth
with the kids over there in Africa the
little videos they step back and forth
and and I mean these kids were so
ridiculously excited about big cats I
mean I i I’ve never felt like a rock
star when I walked in somewhere I think
that wanted to talking big cats they
wanted what could they do how do we get
that I mean it was absolutely incredible
and and they done fundraisers they’ve
done awareness programs in campaigns and
so it’s an absolutely a great a great
thing to be involved with you know
because a lot of times I think folks we
hear you know I see Steve’s book that I
hear it’s like yeah you know you need to
save the Tigers and people go good don’t
say that Steve now get on it and we
don’t realize that even just sit at home
even if you’re not the researcher out
there in the field there’s ways to be
involved I know the big cats initiative
is that cause enough for program they’re
going to be involved and support to help
and I zip it closed and I think that I
see about that the victim
to do this when people do become
involved financially and monetarily and
they fit puts him up it done overhead it
goes right into the field of these guys
it goes to the things they need to do
and then I think that is so great
because he’ll work is tough I mean it
just is it beats people up the boots up
equipment and to know that you can get
some equipment and how better in Gotham
do you work to be more effective I think
great programs all the way around thanks
boon lei Li I’m speaking from the field
side of how you know kids in America are
learning about in supporting big cats
can you speak very briefly about how I
school near you has benefited from the
cat’s initiative sister school program
is a way that kids can get involved well
through the sister school program we’ve
been so lucky that our sister school in
Philadelphia help to donate a laptop
computer solar panels and an inverse so
that I school I here in Tanzania and the
Masai stuff to get connected because
learn more about the big cats online
we’re working towards a system or the
kids can actually talk to one another
across the across the ocean so we were
so lucky to have that support from big
big fat sister school program fantastic
I would like to switch gears and go to
some of our questions that are coming in
via social media right now Steve I have
a question from epi ballina from Bombay
nueva vizcaya via Facebook Steve epi
says thank you for sharing your photos
the picture of the Tigers especially the
mother and cub makes me teary it looks
as if she’s asking to be kept safe from
poachers how do you capture such emotion
I wonder if big cats really feel that
way Steve what do you think I think this
is the picture right there if you can
see it her friend the cover of the book
all mothers are the same he has young
babies and she wants to protect them and
it was my job to get the image
it took me 28 days to finally get the
one second where that happened five
frames five seconds and you want to talk
about Terry I wouldn’t look at the back
of the camera for about three hours
because I didn’t get it until like the
24th day and when I looked at the back
of the camera it was perfect one frame
and I cried like a baby and couldn’t
stop it’s only happened to me twice in
my life I’ve looked at the back of the
camera one with snow leopards and one
was Tigers so all moms feel the same
protecting their young so they will have
a future in this instance so the Tigers
will have a future fantastic Steve I’ve
got to follow up question from chance
barber via Facebook from Illinois what
were your best and worst experiences
photographing all of these amazing
animals Steve well golly best
experiences they happen all the time you
know you could say well it’s when I got
a photograph I’m trying to get like the
one on the cover but you know just being
out in nature is is just so rewarding
working with wonderful local people that
you know they have to find a way to
benefit from the fact that they’re
living with predators we want on the
face of the earth so great things happen
all the time with every species I’ve
worked with the worst thing that’s ever
happened is always when you almost died
the worst the the worst it’s animal
attacks that ever happened to me are all
microscopic animals but there was that
Rhino that attacked us when I was on
elephant once in India that scared me to
death but uh you know so the best happen
constantly and luckily the worst don’t
happen that often but except for the
parasites on that note Boone let’s move
over to you I’ve got a couple of
questions Noah Hirsch on Google+ says
he’s been tracking mountain
lines for three years now and he’s
trying to understand their movement in
urban city areas and asks how do you
know when it becomes too dangerous to
keep tracking them in terms of your own
safety we’ve touched on this a bit but
it’s a perfect segue into the question
I’d like you to respond to as well which
is from Ann Marie core up in Denmark via
Google Google Plus that says what is
your view on this idea that humans can
bring up cats raise them themselves
either out in the bush or in captivity
and essentially befriend these big cats
what is what’s your view on that you
know we see Cougars moving into urban
areas and we also see people wanting to
keep big cats as pets within the bush in
the wild how do you see the line being
drawn on that I look at that and that’s
definitely a hot topic right now you
know I look at first and foremost for
incredible adaptability of an animal you
know we come in and change your
environment to habitat edited out and it
becomes efficient data it can thrive um
you know always you need to give animals
their space and be safe about what
you’re doing out there you know when we
fix the question is part is dealing with
tracking the cougar movies are pretty
secretive if you’ve been out they’ve
probably seen you you probably haven’t
seen them and so when you defeat those
opportunities to see if that not
everyone always ask what do i do when i
see a cougar take a moment enjoy because
you’re getting a rare and unique
opportunity um you know as far as
interaction when we have caps and bring
them into captivity we will have to
recognize these animals they’re
hardwired over you know thousands and
thousands of years for certain instincts
to survive in the wild and and we don’t
just change that because we give them a
full of milk or we pedal or things like
that and um no similar sort of instances
here and there where we have captured
captains and we looked at down gold out
is that good or bad you know there’s one
with a couple groups that have you know
some rescue facilities for really for
that purpose right there if someone’s
had a calf they raise it as a kitten
they got it was Judy got too big to
handle and so they had to do something
with the submit your feet into the
facilities there’s some opportunities
there for ambassador animals I think you
know for people to see things up close
excited about what these are animals are
and what they can do and some education
opportunities but certainly the more we
can keep in the wild being wild animals
doing their thing that’s just the
baddest time if we have those
unfortunate circumstances where things
change if we can get the greater good
out of it I think that’s important too
but certainly it’s not something we want
to promote that you know people go and
get baby tigers and try and raising
because they’re so beautiful and they’re
dangerous so you raised your own and I
heaven is probably a disaster so again
it comes through it back to common sense
I don’t let your emotions get caught a
fish games and useful common sense about
it and we’ll be okay thanks Ben another
question we got here from Rick in the US
via ng via National Geographic is what
can the average person do to help and to
that end I think we’ve heard a lot of
wonderful input today from from all of
our participants in here Boone in the
States Steve there in New York on his
way to India both Amy and Amy dyckman
and Leigh Leigh Lichtenfeld there in the
field in Tanzania about the things that
can be done not only raising awareness
and educating each other but also
supporting the idea of big cat
conservation in any way possible
spreading the word on this givingtuesday
you can support build obama by going to
build a boma org bui LD a bo ma org and
learn more about how we can protect big
cats through that very cost effective
way or you can go to cause an uproar at
work which is the big cats initiatives
home on the web causing up for org and
learn more about the big cats initiative
and all that’s being done in the field
by all of our wonderful partners and
grantees thank you so much for being
here on this givingtuesday thank you for
joining us today we’ll hope you’ll
support the work of all of these great
people we’ve heard from and do what you
can as well to save the world’s
remaining big cats thank you very much
thank you thank you thank you so much
from Tanzania
celebrating 125 years of it hello
everyone and welcome to national
Geographics google+ hangout for the big
cats initiative on this google on this
givingtuesday i’m luke dollar a National
Geographic Explorer and I help manage
the big cats initiative it’s big cat
week at National Geographic and today
we’re talking about the endangered
felines with the people that are raising
awareness and doing something to
conserve them we’ve got a great lineup
of participants who are here joining me
today are four partners in big cat
conservation that we have and I’ll
introduce them one by one and let them
say hello very briefly first on the
lineup is photographer Steve winter
Steve where are you and where are you
headed right now I’m in hoboken new
jersey hi everyone and I am heading to
india in a couple hours do some tiger
work fantastic also on the line is
National Geographic channel’s big cat
tracker Boone Smith Boone hi where are
you and where are you headed next
everybody i am in I selfies died over
right now geared up to head back to
Wyoming for not like a thurs and joining
us on the phone from Tanzania are big
cats initiative grantee Amy dyckman and
Leigh Leigh lichtenfeld Amy are you on
the line with us and where are you
calling from hi everyone yes I’m on
design I’m encoding from a case in the
middle of the company at such a tall
sales so we’ve got 11 caller from a tent
in ruaha and tanzania and Leigh Leigh
lichtenfeld I think you’re also there in
Tanzania in the bush can you hear me and
where are you I guess one yep I’m like
here and I can hear you all I’m calling
in from the Magnificent Masai except for
our environment
Center where we had a beautiful view of
the stars this evening fantastic and
don’t forget everyone that’s on the
Hangout we want to hear from you post
your questions on social media for a big
cat experts with the hashtag big cats bi
G C 80s and we’ll try our best to answer
them and get to them during this Google
hangout I thought what we might do to
open the call and the Hangout was to ask
each of the participants how they got
involved with their field specifically
why big cats we’ve already got one
question here Amy this is from stephanie
kolp via facebook a lot of people are
fascinated with your work Amy you have
some pretty amazing stories how did you
get started as a big cat conservationist
Amy what do you specifically do and how
did you get started it can interesting
question I was always fascinated by
state cat I’m not quite sure why so
anyhow domestic cats or where they were
quite large and grumpy so it was always
it’s a real transformation ever since I
small and that are all the way through
school and that is the wallet in degree
and after that when she joins the
wildlife conservation research unit
adopts the University and that’s a lot
of work that doesn’t beat ass that’s a
great place significant fields i started
in Numidia with the cheetah conservation
funds before i started my own work here
in Tanzania so it was just meeting lots
of good people who are all search didn’t
think at fantastic thanks Amy Layla
you’re also there in Tanzania where did
you start your path to being where you
are now in doing what you’re doing I
always had another one since I was a
little girl and I forget first got the
opportunity to see them in Kenya with
the National Outdoor Leadership School
or no that’s nice too and after that I
was fortunate to get a Fulbright
scholarships do research in Kenya and
you know on with my work masters and PhD
at Yale and just have a love of Africa
the people in the wildlife and it’s been
here ever since lately about how many
months a year do you spend there and the
in Tanzania gardania’s home so as many
months as I can usually 10 must be at
least a little jaunt to the space to
raise awareness of what we do fantastic
and and Boone I think a little bit
closer to home you’re here in America
tell us a little bit about how you got
started as a big cat tracker and big cat
Wrangler um yeah yo Mike was just kind
of the way I was brought up when I was a
kid every last second was spending the
outdoors I grew up in a family that
really took a lot of pride in and being
good and some of the things that I hope
your gotta grab on and the father that
taught me to try and do a lot of things
and so as it came time to make a
transition to go to school and choose a
career wildlife bio ha you just seem to
be the natural way and i was watching
enough to work with some of them the
best scientists and biologists in the
world and kind of really refined some
techniques be part of them some really
great studies and it’s just kind of
exploded from there you know now i get
an opportunity to spend a bunch of days
out in the field tracking big calcium
right you have a captain is kind of
turned into a dream job awesome I
believe we’ve actually got a photograph
of Steve winters newest book that will
try to put up online but will try to
roll in for you guys to see Steve you’re
out in the field quite a bit behind a
camera your recently published book
Tigers forever saving the world’s most
endangered big cat plus a lot of
magazine work and a recent article about
Cougars features your work what for you
too big cats and specifically
photography as a medium for promoting
big cats and communicating issues around
them well I wanted to be a National
Geographic photographer since I was
eight years old growing up in Indiana I
think cats chose me I didn’t choose big
cats my first story I did for the
magazine a Jaguar came to my door 19 and
scratched under the door and sniffed and
scared me to death and then I some about
three
weeks later and then I decided I was
going to leave and and because I kind of
didn’t know how to react so I came back
and called Alan Rabinowitz up who is now
CEO of panthera and asked him whether he
thought we’d get it would be possible do
a Jaguar story so I did the first Jaguar
story for National Geographic magazine
and that began my career working uh you
know mainly with him he got me started
on Tigers too and my 10 years with
Tigers that resulted in the book Tigers
forever that was just published two
weeks ago thanks Steve you photographed
Cougars snow leopards tigers and jaguars
if you had to pick one big cat to
photograph again what would it be well I
love all of them i mean you know not not
having a background in biology or
anything you know they’re also unique in
their own way snow leopards were so
difficult because of the physical nests
and the cold sleeping out at 30 to 50
degrees below zero you can see Tigers
and they’re the most endangered so I
would say that you know like I’m going
back to do tiger work right now with my
wife wrote the book we’re doing some
videos for National Geographic magazine
website and I want to keep doing that
that’s what we need to do to raise
awareness and give people reason to care
the most popular animal or cat in the
world is also the most endangered big
cat now there’s something wrong about
that balance and we need to figure it
out absolutely Steve we’ve got a
question for you that came from
anne-marie Corp and Denmark on google+
and her question for you is in order to
get the picture where is your limit in
terms of the distance to big cats you
know not only for the cat safety but
your own safety what’s your limit Steve
well I think respect is number one that
we don’t do anything that will harm the
animal in any way shape or form I use
remote cameras because of that uh I like
getting a very intimate view that the
animal ends up taking itself with a
camera trap so I do that as far as
danger goes I work with local people the
guards that protect these animals I need
to trust them and to trust them I need
to respect them a hundred percent and
what they tell me to do I do and because
they’re the experts not me so you don’t
get close you just follow their lead and
go from there in Steve you’ve actually
been out in the field with Boone so I’d
like to kind of throw this question to
him you know Boone has hosted the film
crews and photographers and and also
works very closely with researchers
colouring cats tracking cats taking
measurements etc Boone what’s what’s
your what’s your limit in terms of your
own safety and the safety of the cats
when you’re in the field with them yeah
our scenario is just a little bit
different don’t because obviously we’re
going out and you have an animal like a
cougar or a Snow Leopard extremely
secretive elusive it’s really hard to be
able to go out just observe it so that’s
we need those radio colors not to be
able to get the information and that
means we need to physically have the cat
and I hands at some point in time and I
feel fortunate in the sense that I
didn’t even look work with what your
groups like that pantera Wildlife
Conservation Society Craig energy saw
some other groups where we really been
able to fine-tune and hone something
these capture techniques and you know
the two general rules are the safety of
the animal is first and foremost and
then our safety assessing and so in
doing that I you know I’m rely on a lot
of different experience from just being
out there in the woods from going up to
working with different researchers you
know I got the chance to work with Steve
um and you know and was able to learn
things from him and so every time you go
get to work with the different person
different group you pay attention you
put those things in your toolbox in your
notes and then although it sounds kind
of crazy there’s a lot of common sense
that goes into it when you approach your
cat now these cats are no different than
people in the sense that they’re going
to tell you where that line is and
everyone’s lying for people
m and so those cats there same thing
some have a little more tolerance some
don’t i know you know f 51 is the
cabinet the crew i think of this key
photograph that was magazine she was
taller she she was willing to tolerate
us coming in and i’m doing some things
and some others like f 109 was like yeah
see you guys and so you know reading the
body language these got to tell you
what’s going on and you respect that and
I know Steve mention that it’s you got
to have that respect and if you give me
the respect I you know that’s how we
keep the captain and ourselves and
everybody out there safe sounds good
leili you’re there in Tanzania 10 months
a year um you are in big cat country out
there I don’t think you’re behind a
fence all the time and I don’t think
you’re inside all the time either so you
and your husband Charles trout and and
your young young newest addition what
what are the limits what are the lines
for you in doing lion conservation for
example in Tanzania well we’re going to
be really careful with our work we do a
lot of different ways of estimating the
population of lions some of the ideas
work is putting out camera traps if you
can meet the cameras out my addictions
attacks when we lose five but we also
like to track our cats you know where
they are and where they’re moving so we
work with positioning trackers these are
the guys that really have the sense to
the big test they can read the landscape
they can understand where the cats is
moved and sometimes we’re going on foot
with them and you have to be really
careful you can supply the lioness in a
Corral go with there’s a gully or
ravines and you can get into some scary
situations so light foods that you can
really go to let Big Tex tell you their
limits you don’t want to get too close
with them and I certainly don’t want to
get too close to them with my little
girl ki much you going to turn one year
old and in about six days so we just put
some of the fat but we have to get the
information so that we know that our
work is being affected and that were
helping increase population of these in
dangerous kata forms
and and that work that’s being done in
the field is in part supported by
national Geographics big cats initiative
this being givingtuesday I’d like to
give you guys a little background and
what the big cats initiative is the big
cats initiative is national Geographics
program that supports projects and field
work education outreach incentive
efforts global public awareness
campaigns to save big cats and stop the
declines of their populations worldwide
a few years ago longtime explorers and
residents with National Geographic Derek
and Beverly zubair push National
Geographic to go one step beyond the
mission of the organization which is
inspiring people to care about the
planet and to actually do something more
than just reporting and delivering the
messages which is very important and the
big cats initiative was formed the big
cats initiative is based on sound
science informing good decisions to fund
field-based conservation actions Amy and
Leigh Leigh who you’re hearing from
today are both grantees multiple time
grantees of the big cats initiative in
order to halt the decline as quickly as
possible of big cats in the places where
they are in the three years since the
big cats initiative launched the BCI
which is the cat’s initiative has funded
43 projects in 18 countries to the tune
of nearly 1.3 million dollars and all of
them are field based programs and one of
the things we set out to do was identify
what are some of the best fastest things
that can be done in order to protect big
cats where they are we have to know
their status so assessment is important
but you know we already know that there
are fewer than 3,200 tigers left in the
wild six to eight thousand snow leopards
left in the wild somewhere in the
neighborhood of 30,000 lions but
regardless it’s a ninety percent decline
in under a century no more than 10,000
cheetahs left those numbers are
staggering enough and that’s what led
the shoe barriers and National
Geographic to launch the big cats
initiative to fund grassroots level
campaigns and actions to do that a lot
of great questions are now coming in
they’ve been tweeted they’ve been posted
counted on social media remember it’s
not too late to ask a question please
post tweet or comment from wherever
you’re watching with hashtag big cats
there’s a new question that comes from
celeste leander on facebook that was
which species of big cat is most
critically endangered steve i think you
spoke to that just now and would you
want to give us some feedback on what
the answer to that question is well the
most endangered big cat is the tiger
there’s only 32 maybe only 3000 left in
the wild and it’s an incredibly dramatic
decline in tiger populations and it’s at
a critical point right now and that was
one of the reasons that we had the idea
to put all my work together 10 years
into the book tigers forever which is
named after Pantera’s tiger program
where I’m director of media besides my
20 years working as a photographer at
national geographic magazine and it’s on
the ground protection that’s number one
and I learned from the scientists I work
with that the way you’re going to save
them is to protect their prey first
protect the protected areas where the
source populations are I add and if
those areas are protected Tigers will
take care of themselves but protection
and good science is the background
towards saving Tigers and they need you
no more land and in the in the areas
that they’re in and corridors to move
from one area to another and so my goal
right now is to the promotion of the
book is actually promotion of the saving
of tigers because the book is not just a
bunch of pictures it’s it’s 45 thousand
words and and 68 interviews and 12
profiles of the people that I worked
with and we need to save the tiger we
can do it thank you Steve I’m Amy you
are a specialist and the reasons that
people kill all big cats like lions Amy
dyckman there in Tanzania can you tell
me what kinds of things have you learned
about the reasons why people kill lions
and and what sort of things are you
doing there
with the ruaha carnivore project to
prevent the further loss of big cats in
the places where you are well I think
one of the importance of things the
people there’s also lots of is a little
bit with fairies on areas where the
human dominated and way bak got very
poor human communities you can use
columns the little people benefited my
stock and there’s pretty service
benefits and rehearse in those spaces so
it’s very simple i think people ought to
demonize a little communities killing
species like lions the eagle businesses
wasn’t an animal the iminium i stopped
you know destroying all sort of wealth
and make such the killing of children at
work so the first performance thing we
have to do is work the cemeteries did
and try to sleep sighs their livestock
and that’s important or substance within
various it is a fitting mass-produces
pci slots in soma campaign you built the
Burma Campaign you know the true
dimension building on that this almost
as important or more importantly we’ve
really got to give local people are
benefit from being at rest so we thought
the villages they wanted essence in
school some works with National
Geographic from the pfister Schools
program they want invested in health
care exactly else but making sure that
people see a side west benefit from
concerning test it is up to these
worthless community I totally agree with
speeds we have to protect the source
core populations but if we or if we
ignore this human don’t make demands I
think that it would be a des sell for
lots of the remaining lion populations
certainly I think you may be met that’s
great thank you Amy leili you’re there
in Tanzania a little bit north of where
Amy is right now you know Amy Amy
pointed out to us that conflict is a big
cause of mortality in wildlife
populations and pointed out some of the
things that can be done to mitigate that
can you speak specifically about what
the African people and Wildlife Fund is
doing there in the tarangire e region
thankfully the African people and
wildlife funds were leading a four-step
process the big cat conservation starts
with putting out fire conflicts with our
living walls projects is way of
reinforcing people’s livestock corral
and it’s supported very heavily by the
National Geographic Phil diploma project
we’ve got 300 of these living walls in
place heading towards 350 thanks to
supporters that are helping National
Geographic and a CW Bill Bowman once we
put out those fires pumps like well then
you have to really help people who look
at natural resource management how do we
manage landscapes for people and big
test we have a large educational program
that helps build the skills tools and
the knowledge that people need to manage
their resources and then we actually
help them implement them so we’re
working on range land four sections
watershed protection and finally like
Amy says finding ways for bills
conservation incentives how can we build
an economically friendly community on
the hot side step for supporting women’s
microloan initiatives from biometric
friendly projects and while supporting
large land conservation projects help
communities to conserve their lands is
benefit from it Thank You Leigh Leigh
that’s a perfect segue into introducing
the build a boma campaign the big cats
initiative cause marketing push for
right now is called build a boma if you
go to build a boma org you’ll learn more
about how loss of livestock is a major
factor in people wanting to retaliate
and kill big cat specifically lines but
all sorts of wildlife as you know really
all over the world but we’re focusing
right now in kenya and tanzania with
four of the big cats initiative grantees
who are fortifying the corrals that keep
these livestock’s safe so that avoids
the conflict in the first place if you
go to build a boma org you’ll learn a
lot more about how helping people
protect the livestock in their
livelihoods actually translates into
more cats in the field education is
something that that both Amy and Leigh
Leigh pointed on as well and Boone I
think you’ve actually visited a big cats
initiatives
sister school where we have schools in
the u.s. that are twinned with schools
in big cat range countries and you
visited at least one of those that I’m
aware of could you speak a little bit
about that experience in how education
even in America is important for helping
to protect big cats worldwide yeah that
was actually a really really neat
experience to go be parted out with the
sisters colder had a chance to go to a
couple of it’s a great program because
it it’s kind of run by the kids like
that there’s some guidelines set up the
kids have to participate in fundraisers
but they have these interactions with
the Sister school’s over over in Africa
and different places and get a glimpse
into the lives two other books live over
down and I’m their wildlife and their
their landscape friends and their
natural resources and so as far as an
educational come from one of the schools
i went to is in the was in the Bronx
accent in the I mean inner city which
you know the African savannah is the
most boring thing to them and it was so
cool to walk in in that school and see
the posters they made that the different
interactions they had back and forth
with the kids over there in Africa the
little videos they step back and forth
and and I mean these kids were so
ridiculously excited about big cats I
mean I i I’ve never felt like a rock
star when I walked in somewhere I think
that wanted to talking big cats they
wanted what could they do how do we get
that I mean it was absolutely incredible
and and they done fundraisers they’ve
done awareness programs in campaigns and
so it’s an absolutely a great a great
thing to be involved with you know
because a lot of times I think folks we
hear you know I see Steve’s book that I
hear it’s like yeah you know you need to
save the Tigers and people go good don’t
say that Steve now get on it and we
don’t realize that even just sit at home
even if you’re not the researcher out
there in the field there’s ways to be
involved I know the big cats initiative
is that cause enough for program they’re
going to be involved and support to help
and I zip it closed and I think that I
see about that the victim
to do this when people do become
involved financially and monetarily and
they fit puts him up it done overhead it
goes right into the field of these guys
it goes to the things they need to do
and then I think that is so great
because he’ll work is tough I mean it
just is it beats people up the boots up
equipment and to know that you can get
some equipment and how better in Gotham
do you work to be more effective I think
great programs all the way around thanks
boon lei Li I’m speaking from the field
side of how you know kids in America are
learning about in supporting big cats
can you speak very briefly about how I
school near you has benefited from the
cat’s initiative sister school program
is a way that kids can get involved well
through the sister school program we’ve
been so lucky that our sister school in
Philadelphia help to donate a laptop
computer solar panels and an inverse so
that I school I here in Tanzania and the
Masai stuff to get connected because
learn more about the big cats online
we’re working towards a system or the
kids can actually talk to one another
across the across the ocean so we were
so lucky to have that support from big
big fat sister school program fantastic
I would like to switch gears and go to
some of our questions that are coming in
via social media right now Steve I have
a question from epi ballina from Bombay
nueva vizcaya via Facebook Steve epi
says thank you for sharing your photos
the picture of the Tigers especially the
mother and cub makes me teary it looks
as if she’s asking to be kept safe from
poachers how do you capture such emotion
I wonder if big cats really feel that
way Steve what do you think I think this
is the picture right there if you can
see it her friend the cover of the book
all mothers are the same he has young
babies and she wants to protect them and
it was my job to get the image
it took me 28 days to finally get the
one second where that happened five
frames five seconds and you want to talk
about Terry I wouldn’t look at the back
of the camera for about three hours
because I didn’t get it until like the
24th day and when I looked at the back
of the camera it was perfect one frame
and I cried like a baby and couldn’t
stop it’s only happened to me twice in
my life I’ve looked at the back of the
camera one with snow leopards and one
was Tigers so all moms feel the same
protecting their young so they will have
a future in this instance so the Tigers
will have a future fantastic Steve I’ve
got to follow up question from chance
barber via Facebook from Illinois what
were your best and worst experiences
photographing all of these amazing
animals Steve well golly best
experiences they happen all the time you
know you could say well it’s when I got
a photograph I’m trying to get like the
one on the cover but you know just being
out in nature is is just so rewarding
working with wonderful local people that
you know they have to find a way to
benefit from the fact that they’re
living with predators we want on the
face of the earth so great things happen
all the time with every species I’ve
worked with the worst thing that’s ever
happened is always when you almost died
the worst the the worst it’s animal
attacks that ever happened to me are all
microscopic animals but there was that
Rhino that attacked us when I was on
elephant once in India that scared me to
death but uh you know so the best happen
constantly and luckily the worst don’t
happen that often but except for the
parasites on that note Boone let’s move
over to you I’ve got a couple of
questions Noah Hirsch on Google+ says
he’s been tracking mountain
lines for three years now and he’s
trying to understand their movement in
urban city areas and asks how do you
know when it becomes too dangerous to
keep tracking them in terms of your own
safety we’ve touched on this a bit but
it’s a perfect segue into the question
I’d like you to respond to as well which
is from Ann Marie core up in Denmark via
Google Google Plus that says what is
your view on this idea that humans can
bring up cats raise them themselves
either out in the bush or in captivity
and essentially befriend these big cats
what is what’s your view on that you
know we see Cougars moving into urban
areas and we also see people wanting to
keep big cats as pets within the bush in
the wild how do you see the line being
drawn on that I look at that and that’s
definitely a hot topic right now you
know I look at first and foremost for
incredible adaptability of an animal you
know we come in and change your
environment to habitat edited out and it
becomes efficient data it can thrive um
you know always you need to give animals
their space and be safe about what
you’re doing out there you know when we
fix the question is part is dealing with
tracking the cougar movies are pretty
secretive if you’ve been out they’ve
probably seen you you probably haven’t
seen them and so when you defeat those
opportunities to see if that not
everyone always ask what do i do when i
see a cougar take a moment enjoy because
you’re getting a rare and unique
opportunity um you know as far as
interaction when we have caps and bring
them into captivity we will have to
recognize these animals they’re
hardwired over you know thousands and
thousands of years for certain instincts
to survive in the wild and and we don’t
just change that because we give them a
full of milk or we pedal or things like
that and um no similar sort of instances
here and there where we have captured
captains and we looked at down gold out
is that good or bad you know there’s one
with a couple groups that have you know
some rescue facilities for really for
that purpose right there if someone’s
had a calf they raise it as a kitten
they got it was Judy got too big to
handle and so they had to do something
with the submit your feet into the
facilities there’s some opportunities
there for ambassador animals I think you
know for people to see things up close
excited about what these are animals are
and what they can do and some education
opportunities but certainly the more we
can keep in the wild being wild animals
doing their thing that’s just the
baddest time if we have those
unfortunate circumstances where things
change if we can get the greater good
out of it I think that’s important too
but certainly it’s not something we want
to promote that you know people go and
get baby tigers and try and raising
because they’re so beautiful and they’re
dangerous so you raised your own and I
heaven is probably a disaster so again
it comes through it back to common sense
I don’t let your emotions get caught a
fish games and useful common sense about
it and we’ll be okay thanks Ben another
question we got here from Rick in the US
via ng via National Geographic is what
can the average person do to help and to
that end I think we’ve heard a lot of
wonderful input today from from all of
our participants in here Boone in the
States Steve there in New York on his
way to India both Amy and Amy dyckman
and Leigh Leigh Lichtenfeld there in the
field in Tanzania about the things that
can be done not only raising awareness
and educating each other but also
supporting the idea of big cat
conservation in any way possible
spreading the word on this givingtuesday
you can support build obama by going to
build a boma org bui LD a bo ma org and
learn more about how we can protect big
cats through that very cost effective
way or you can go to cause an uproar at
work which is the big cats initiatives
home on the web causing up for org and
learn more about the big cats initiative
and all that’s being done in the field
by all of our wonderful partners and
grantees thank you so much for being
here on this givingtuesday thank you for
joining us today we’ll hope you’ll
support the work of all of these great
people we’ve heard from and do what you
can as well to save the world’s
remaining big cats thank you very much
thank you thank you thank you so much
from Tanzania
Please follow and like us: