Introducing the Great Plains Big Cats Initiative
Without wild landscapes, biodiversity and harmony, nature itself cannot thrive and save us from ourselves. So a while ago we designed a very strategic plan of action of simple solutions for us at Great Plains to tackle.
- Landscapes, increasing and protecting wild places. Project Ranger qualifies here.
- People buy in (community conservation education)
- Biodiversity, introducing and enhancing. Project Rewild Zambezi fits in here.
- Key species protection. Rhino work, and our latest project announced today, the Great Plains Big Cats Initiative, is critical to everything. Without big cats we have nothing. They drive savanna ecosystems. They make them vital and alive.
Great Plains Foundation is taking over the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative, one that has so far funded over 150 projects across 27 countries and includes all seven big cats species. Great Plains Foundation is picking up all existing contacts and is about to launch a number of funding projects. The first is a grant to Pit Track, a valued partner in anti-poaching using K-9 units. In this case, the project will use dogs to detect lion bone parts from being illegally exported.
We have lion introductions planned and have continued to support the human-wildlife cohabitation that is within the wider big cats scientific community.
We want to thank National Geographic for the initial, founding support. Now it’s up to us to carry on the legacy of these cats and this effort.
This video embodies the urgency and magnificence, the will to survive and the joy that big cats give us.
All the best
Dereck Joubert