They are a wonderfully committed group of people! It is great to be involved with the work they do and to get to know them has been a joy as well.
I’m so proud to be a volunteer with this wonderful organization! Felidae’s Bay Area Puma Project uses non-invasive research to learn about puma behavior and biology. The findings help inform community outreach programs and preserve Bay Area wildlife.
If you want to help big cats, this is a great organization to support.
I had cat activity on my property and learned so much from Felidae's crew on these animals. They are a stellar team. They work on cat conservation all over the world. My 16-yr old now follows their work and wants to be a wildlife biologist :)
Volunteering with Felidae has been a fulfilling experience. The team is passionate, knowledgeable, and welcoming, making it a great environment for anyone looking to support wildlife conservation efforts for big cats.
So I get to hike in beautiful countryside to manage wildlife cameras, review and tag exciting images of all kinds of local wildlife (when have you last seen a badger?), all in collaboration with dedicated biologists working to make the wild-urban interface healthy and safe for pumas and humans alike. What's not to love?
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I have the chance to trek through stunning countryside to maintain wildlife cameras, examine and categorize images of various local wildlife (when was the last time you saw a badger?), all while partnering with passionate biologists striving to foster a healthy and safe environment for both pumas and humans at the wild-urban interface.
Felidae does a great job educating the public about the importance of mountain lions and monitoring their populations in the Bay Area. I also really enjoy volunteering with Felidae; the work is meaningful and the team is very responsive.
I have volunteered for Felidae for the past 18 months remotely. I love the mission and the people and work directly with Zara as an executive admin. I have learned so much since being here and hope to meet up with the team when I can visit CA next year.
Felidae Conservation Fund is a wonderful nonprofit that brings thoughtful people together from across the globe for purposes of enriching a special species that deserves awareness, care, and protection.
I volunteer with this nonprofit organization and really enjoy it! They provide a lot of helpful information on social media platforms. And their staff is very experienced and friendly.
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Fantastic organization! Staff and volunteers seamlessly collaborate to conserve mountain lions and local habitats.
Felidae's consistent support to its mission is unparalleled and the volunteers behind the curtain all share the same passion and drive for helping big cats.
I am very happy to support a wonderful non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of wild cats. They offer valuable information about their conservation efforts and the wild cat species they are dedicated to protecting.
I love their mission and content. Wildlife conservation is a passion of mine, and especially our cats!
Please don’t mark as spam 5:57 central time 9/26/2023
Felidae Conservation Fund conducts research and works to preserve feline presence in the environs surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Wildlife corridors need to be enhanced and habitat preserved for the cats to survive. Increasingly, human activity encroaches on their habitat, leading to increased human-felid encounters. Felidae educates communities on how to appropriately handle such encounters.
I tabled at a few events in 2023 with Mike, a well versed nature lover of the area. I also helped with the newsletter and met some of the main honchas of the organization. Felidae offers good opportunities to take a break from urban life and get involved in important ecological and sustainability questions of the 21st century.
Felidae Conservation Fund promotes preservation of wildlife, particularly mountain lion and other big-cat populations. Protecting the habitat for the wildlife is a critical part of conservation of the fragile ecosystem that is shared by humans and these species.
I love the care and concern for our beautiful wild friends. Community outreach is so important helping people to understand the importance of each and every species in our ecosystem. Thank you for the good work that you do!
We are incredibly fortunate to have lions on our urban edge here in Northern California. Felidae’s Bay Area Puma Project is essential to help sustain this population. I have been a volunteer for many years involved with camera tracking, research and educational efforts. The team is experienced, deeply committed and effective in helping protect our lions.
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Felidae/Bay Area Puma Project (BAPP) is truly dedicated to help our local puma population. They not only educate our communities but also engage local people to help monitor puma activity. This is so important as there is a lot of misinformation about pumas - especially on social media like NextDoor. So having local people to help is critical! Felidae stays focused on the science and getting accurate data. I love checking cameras - really gives me hope to see the amazing wildlife in our Bay Area backyard. Felidae also did a great zoom series this year on our local pumas and other wild cats around the world.
I have been volunteering with Felidae conservation Fund for four months now. It brings me so much happiness to support an organization that helps so much in positively connecting humans and wildlife. The passion this organization has for helping wildcats is absolutely amazing. That is why I continue to volunteer. :)
One of the best organizations I have ever interned and volunteered with. Everyone's care to do the work right and for the most effective outcome is not something I have found in many organizations
Felidae Conservation Fund does great work to support mountain lions and educate the public about them, as well as other big cats. They are very dedicated to their work!
Amazing organization and personnel, wonderful to communicate and work with. True experts in all things to do with big cats and coexisting with people.
We keep trying to conform our environment with our own needs, but that outdated idea will simply never work. FDC is founded on the wild idea of actually trying to live in harmony within our environment. Innovative research drives educational outreach programs to lead meaningful change in our concepts of organically coexisting with nature. Wild cats are critical to a healthy ecosystem, and FCD works tirelessly to research and educate the public towards these goals.
This group has been meeting with and informing communities across the SF Bay Area for many years about how to co-exist safely and peacefully with mountain lions. Their programs are based on the latest science and include a global ecological perspective, which adds a strong educational and inspirational result.
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I have been working with Felidae Conservation Fund as a volunteer and board member for 7 years and have been constantly impressed with the level of energy, enthusiasm and effectiveness that this small organization generates with very limited resources. The dedication of the staff and volunteers is making a real difference for wildlife in the Bay Area and beyond, through creative and innovative approaches to education and research, along with a lot of hard work. I highly recommend supporting this organization.
Excellent organization, fully dedicated to preserving the endangered wildlife as a significant contributor to protecting the fragile eco-system shared between humans and wildlife.
What a wonderful group and cause! This work is so important for protecting declining biodiversity in the region. I'm particularly impressed with their work to provide evidence-based too and information.
Felidae Conservation Fund is doing a great job to preserve nature by protecting Felidaes around the world. Often Cats are at the top of the food chain and play an important role in nature.
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It is a great honor for me to serve the Felidae Conservation Fund as a member of the board of directors. Wildcats are top predators, which means their presence is critical to maintaining balanced and healthy ecosystems, including prey populations, quality patches of habitat for species' subsistence and reproduction, and connectivity for genetic diversity. Wild cats face an uncertain future due to human impacts, but there is still time to restore the conditions to support stable felid populations in most parts of the world. Our research and community engagement programs, currently four active projects, collect and analyze a large dataset of field images to answer pressing questions regarding habitat fragmentation, presence, density, and health. general of wild cats. As it is said: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children". The work of the Felidae Conservation Fund is for our present and for our future.
I love that this charity focuses on the urban edge; all too often the fact that people and development encroach upon natural habitat areas is unacknowledged, and the cats are treated as a "nuisance", rather than as the "victim".
Feiidae has an authentic and meaningful genesis. Their work is integral to the protection and conservation of big cats and their surrounding and respective ecosystems. I've worked with various NGOs and nonprofits and Felidae sets them self apart grom the majority in their space. I will continue to support them and their mission; and their meaningful -- and incredibly important- work. A special org.
Small, smart, dedicated staff doing great work on behalf of wild cats everywhere with a focus on the iconic mountain lion in Northern California.
An amazing group of fantastic people, all with the same drive to help and educate communities about human/felid interactions.
Felidae Conservation Fund allowed me to become involved with their work from the other side of the planet. I have been helping them out cataloguing camera footage from their wildlife cameras through Teamviewer on my laptop. I had a lot of flexibility doing this virtual volunteering work and enjoyed going through all of the footage. Even though I have never met anyone from their team in real life, the contact with some of the team members has been really great. I could ask them any question I wanted and they were always happy to help me out. I have been learning a lot about different wildlife species living in California. To anyone interested in doing something meaningful with their spare time, I would highly suggest contacting Felidae and becoming a virtual volunteer.
I'm pleased to continue to serve with the Felidae Conservation Fund and its sister organization, the Bay Area Puma Project (FCF/BAPP), for years as a Board Member and in other roles. The Sixth Mass Extinction, also known as the Holocene or Anthropocene Extinction, is one of the great challenges facing Humanity. Through dedicated skilled stakeholders, FCF/BAPP lead local-to-global efforts to confront this challenge with meaningful wildlife research, management, education, and public engagement that improve bioconservation understanding, sustainability, literacy, and action involving apex predator felids and their habitats. The behavior and status of wild felid populations are critical to reversing mass extinction trends and to restoring and maintaining healthy diverse ecosystems for the mutual benefit of Nature and humans living and impacting interconnected rural, suburban, urban, and wilderness areas. Please join FCF/BAPP in our urgent mission to inspire, enable, and make lasting positive changes in our communities and across the world.
Felidae Conservation Fund is an incredible organization. I have been volunteering for their San Francisco Bay Area Project for the past two months and it has been a wonderful experience. The organization has brought attention to the ecology of pumas and bobcats living in San Francisco and has contributed to the preservation of both species in the state of California. I look forward to learning more from this nonprofit throughout the course of my internship with them.
Felidae Conservation Fund attended the South Skyline Association picnic several years ago. Most of our members live in areas with our local wild cats. We seldom see them even though we share the land. Their work and their active participation in the local communities brought real appreciation of the cats, their lives and the surroundings we know so well. We are lucky to have the Fund is looking our for them with such broad understanding and care.
Susan Stucky,
Board Member, South Skyline Association in the San Francisco Bay Area
I am so very thankful that there is a non profit with the mission of helping preserve the genetic diversity of big cats. They are an important part of our ecosystem and have a right to live their lives on this planet like all other creatures. We have an obligation to save all endangered/threatened/ etc. animals as we are the species causing the most harm to them. Thank you to the fine folks of Felidae!
This organization does incredible work to protect California’s precious wild cats! They provide a wealth of carnivore information and advocate for protection, coexistence and conservation.
Felidae is an amazing non-profit! The research they do is so valuable and through the organization, I've had the opportunity to help catalog countless wildlife images and see so many amazing photos. The team is enthusiastic and welcoming. Even if you're not located in the Bay Area, they have great opportunities to volunteer remotely and help make a difference.
I met Felidae at the Wildlife Conservation Network Conference in 2017. Since that time I've seen them, among other results, calm an anxious mountain lion hub community in La Honda by enabling them to conduct their own science and community intervention against a local poacher. I always thought I'd have to fly to Africa with all the carbon output to do those things. Instead I get to be a part of saving endangered wildlife in my own big backyard. I've been blessed to see some of the most pristine wilderness we have. And seen my best friend become a local champion turning community tide to pro-puma on NextDoor. Like the puma themselves, they are stealthy but mighty.
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My mother's favorite animal was cheetahs (God rest her soul). We went at least annually to Marine World / Africa USA. She even safari'd to Africa to see them. Times being what they are, despite being half-African by birth, world travel was not part of my adult life journey.
But Felidae brought me in touch with Mountain lions, relative to the cheetah. Keeping our local habitat here cool all the way down to the plants and ticks.
Following animal trails through 7:30a fogged-in trails on Mount Tam to recover camera trap footage. Categorizing pics of wildlife to see a local bobcat family out and about on my own 55th birthday - has connected me to the natural world in a next step fashion from my Mom. A more indigenous fashion. A carbon-light fashion. Living large locally.
And watching Felidae create a local citizen research project empowering a lion-rich community in La Honda to keep themselves and the few lions still hanging in with us - safe. To enable them to take on their own poachers ... for me that is priceless - worth any trip to Africa I could ever have.
I wish this kind of experience and connection to their Own habitat - for every living human being. Thank you Felidae!!
I volunteer at Henry W. Coe State park and have helped monitor Felidae Conservation Fund cameras placed in the park. The data gathered there helps show how the Mountain Lion might be impacted by visitors and staff. Photos are taken that show what animals pass by the locations and also any visitors or staff who might be in the area. All photos are time stamped so you can see if Mountain Lions are affected by humans in the area or lack of prey. Over months you can get a pretty good picture of the number of Mountain Lions in the area and the prey available to them. We also just had a major fire in the park (SCU Lightning Complex Fire) so we are paying particular attention to how this affects the Mountain Lions in those burned areas.
The people with the Felidae Conservation Fund have been a great resource to residents of the La Honda area for information, reassurance, insights, and guidance about living in mountain lion country. They have been endlessly patient in fielding anxious questions, calming nerves, and providing valuable information. Along with several well-attended presentations in the last few years, Felidae Conservation Fund has involved La Hondans in collecting field data, connecting residents to the landscape and wildlife around us. Mountain lions in our area now have strong but gentle, articulate allies here.
Volunteering with camera trap data entry has been a welcome productive activity to partake in for the past few months. It's always a treat to see wildlife, especially the mountain lions, utilizing the same trails as people do just at different points of the day. The world needs small non-profits like them to thrive in this ever-developing world as a reminder that we can all share the space that have here.
Dear Friends,
As a person who loves animals and who enjoys being active outdoors, I have developed a deep appreciation for wildlife and how biodiversity enhances habitats, especially when keystone species like pumas are present.
So when I read in the local paper (Jan 2018) that mountain lions were being further jeopardized by people using rodenticides and that issue was all the more urgent because illegal growers of pot use rodenticides heavily in mountainous areas where pumas range, it prompted me to reach out to Felidae. The wildfire habitat destruction is also a big set back for our cats.
I am now an active board member with Felidae and over the past year I have learned so many important things about pumas and ecosystems that I wanted to share this with you.
We are fortunate to have mountain lions right here at the bay area's urban edges. They are far more scared of humans than we are of them, and aside from their beauty, I worry that if we were to lose them the harm to humans would be devastating. I want to help be part of the solution and Felidae's research-based community programs empower me to do just that.
Habitat loss and human population growth continue to threaten wild cat persistence everywhere. And yet many species, like the puma, can survive well on the urban-wildland edge when we learn to live with them.
With your support Felidae is helping communities preserve local biodiversity and our last keystone species - the puma. I hope you will join me in supporting Felidae too.
Kia Walker
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Felidae is a well run organization that balances research with education with community awareness and services dedicated to protecting the wild creatures in our urban landscape.
It runs on a lean administrative budget through the dedicated efforts of volunteers (like me who check cameras once every 6 weeks throughout the Bay Area).
If it weren't for Felidae, many orphaned mountain lion cubs would have died and more mountain lions would be needlessly shot or run over by cars. We have a responsibility to protect pumas and bobcats, and other wildlife to keep the area more natural and healthy (for example, pumas each deer which carry ticks which transmit lyme disease).
It's not an easy job because mountain lions are often feared by people, even though they are afraid of people and try to avoid them at all costs. I highly recommend getting involved with Felidae and listing it as your "Smile.Amazon" organization of choice.
Awesome group doing amazing work in the Bay Area! Very responsive and help communities learn about beautiful animals.
An amazing group of people conducting much needed research. Felidae offers many ways to be involved and help in their research efforts and the staff and volunteers are all a joy to work with.
Felidae does terrific work with wild cats! They're committed to protecting pumas and other wild cats. They use non-invasive methods to monitor them.
Education is important to Felidae, who recently held some fascinating webinars showcasing the work they do throughout the Americas and in Africa. They also have a fun game for kids.
Felidae works to understand how wildlife live among us. I am a new volunteer, working from home to catalog images of animals (and many hiking/biking humans) captured by the Felidae motion-activated cameras. Where dozens of humans pass by every day, I’ve identified deer, bobcats, foxes, and even puma. Felidae uses the data to advise on placement of wildlife bridges, determine where signs should inform about wildlife encounters, and assess the impact of human presence. This wildlife lover, confined to home, is thrilled to be working for animals in such a useful, non-invasive way.
I help out classifying camera trap photos in my free time and have had nothing but great interactions with the staff. They have a great workflow that lets me work remotely so I can contribute from home on my schedule. I have always gotten quick and helpful answers to any questions that I've encountered along the way.
Felidae is a great organization that supports a very important cause. I work particularly with the organization's Bay Area Puma Project, which focuses on protecting the wild cat population in the region, a population increasingly under threat as human encroachment pressures their numbers. I volunteer to do trail camera footage review, which has really given me the opportunity to understand my local area so much more while I get the chance to help the organization and cause, too. Getting to see bobcats, wild turkeys, and people share the same trails at different times of day really hammers home how much we all share this same earth. I also love that this organization embraces volunteer support in whatever level we can provide, unlike some organizations that aren't interested without a significant base commitment.
I categorize camera footage for Felidae and my instructor always helps me with questions! They are very open mined and kind.
I work and volunteer with Felidae. They are a great team and do amazing work throughout the Bay Area! They do amazing and important research for our native wildlife and while also providing much needed information to the public.
Felidae Conservation Fund is helping my community peacefully coexist with mountain lions. They provide education, advice, and solutions to anyone that asks for help concerning living in mountain lion habitat. They also take advantage of our interest in the local wildlife by letting us monitor cameras as part of a population study. I am grateful to have them as a resource.
A fantastic organization that matches their passion for wild cat populations with engagement and action, tabling at events, hosting informative talks, surveying and gathering and interpreting data that has never been examined before, and welcoming volunteers.
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Felidae & the Bay Area Puma Project, its Bay Area research, is doing important and overdue work. It also connects well with the local community. At every outreach opportunity, tons of local people show up excited to learn more about the big cats in the area and to share their own stories. Felidae taps into the care and pride that people have in their communities and gets people excited to conserve in their own backyard.
Love the passion for combining data based science and community outreach with Felidae Conservation Fund! Thank you for all the hard work of everyone involved!
I have been a volunteer with Felidae Conservation Fund for almost four years. Their work is of upmost importance now as the biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate.
Being a volunteer for Felidae Conservation has given me that opportunity to give back to nature and the animals what I have received. Animals are my kin and working for their survival enhances my life.
Felidae fed my passion to help the bigs cats in the world. I did paperwork, analyzed wildlife camera data, set up wildlife cameras, and occasionally did odds and ends to help the organization. Giving enhanced my life!
I am now in a PhD program getting the knowledge I need to help the big cats in the world. Because of Felidae and educators and others I am speaking at conferences to save the big cats in the world.
Volunteering for Felidae will change your life if you do this to help these animals to survive in this world which on the whole does not care about their survival.
Volunteering for Felidae Conservation Fund offered me the opportunities to first learn more about the importance of puma conservation. There, I applied my geospatial skills to create maps for Felidae's outreach program and grant proposal. I also benefited from their amazing camera trap database to produced spatial models to predict occupancy of mountain lions in the San Francisco Bay Area. I even got to do some field work for them. One day, while retrieving data from camera traps in the San Mateo Area, I got the chance to spot a super cut puma cub napping in the sun!
I have worked with Felidae for 3 years now and in that short time have found myself experiencing Africa-level conservation activities w/o expending int'l travel levels of carbon. We've held meetings with over 80 rural community members, from scientists to poachers, captured, collected & viewed dozens of pics of wildlife in my native backyard - and been able to help rural conservationists rally to find & advocate for the science and reason that they want to spread & accelerate in their communities. Helping a rural community learn to live with and fight for peace with wildlife on the urban edge - to save our last apex predator in CA - is something I dreamed of as a child watching Jane Goodall - priceless!
The people at Felidae bring so much scientific rigor, dedication and enormous hearts to the really important work of helping to sustain and improve the lives of our wild cats and their habitats. They're doing the hard work, community outreach and education to ensure that people and wild cats can safely co-inhabit our world.
I absolutely love the amazing work this group does. The staff is super helpful and knowledgeable
I help out with their data entry looking at their cameras and it's so much fun looking at the animals without disturbing them.
I work as a remote volunteer for Felidae Conservation Fund. We mostly use email to communicate and the staff’s response is punctual, sometimes funny and always informative. I love volunteering for Felidae they don’t get upset if you are on vacation (I am a retired) and I set the hours I work on a Google calendar. They are doing excellent work for animals and I recommend them for anyone looking for important volunteer work.
great Non-profit for a cause I truly care about, and needs far more attention and resources in the bay area. They've been doing a great job with their research and their awareness.
Felidae has helped nurture my son's interest in wildcat research and preservation with great kindness and generosity.
I first learned about Felidae at an informational talk about Mountain Lions. I was so taken by the presentation that I asked the presenter if there might be an opening in my county to volunteer with the camera study monitoring. I was encouraged contact the main office to become a volunteer. Within a couple months I was invited to accompany two biologists to one of the local study locations to familiarize me with the the process. Later I was able to accompany the field biologist to two other sites in my county multiple times. I also was introduced to public outreach for Felidae through tabling at environmental fairs and festivals. Currently, I monitor two field study sites regularly and participate in community outreach (explaining the need for research, education, and conservation for the cougar). The staff of Felidae are always willing to provide the support and education that I might ask for.
I absolutely love volunteering for Felidae! The staff and fellow volunteers are great people, all enthusiastic and passionate. Volunteering for Felidae allows you to really get involved in the conservation projects which translates to knowing your time and effort has an actual impact.
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This quality group of researchers, conservationists, educators and community members has stayed on course despite the difficult work and political climate of the wildlife space. I commend the work by this organization and it’s dedicated volunteers
Felidae is an excellent project to be apart of, spreading the word about conservation and activism to people of all ages and backgrounds makes it an amazing experience to take part in.
Felidae offers opportunities for volunteers to get involved and contribute to their amazing research. This is an important scientific organization, tracking pumas throughout the bay area and sharing their research with the community.
I have volunteered with them in the past. They are passionate, smart, and truly fulfill their mission.
this has been a great non profit organization that works with causes very important to me, and I've be thrilled to be able to help out as a volunteer, whether it be with cataloging trail cam data, or assisting on site with live events.
I volunteered with Felidae's Bay Area Puma Project (BAPP) for two years before moving out of state. It is a focused organization that attracts knowledgable and passionate employees and volunteers. Public outreach materials and events are leveraged very well in accomplishing educational goals. Puma tracking and camera trap monitoring were continuous data collection mechanisms that the organization clearly prioritized. I sincerely hope to work with them again in the near future!
It's a wonderful organisation to work with and the people are very friendly.It's like a family which works hard to do something for Felids. Public outreach events happen often which play a major role in conservation as awareness solves most issues that our wildlife faces. I was a volunteer for one event and was extremely fascinated by the work they do. A very dedicated and sincere conservation organisation which deserves every bit of help. I feel privileged to be a part of it.
I volunteer and give donations to Felidae because they work for the conservation of wild cats throughout the world. I am involved in research and education in their San Francisco Bay Area Mill Valley office. As a volunteer working at Felidae, I can attest to the invaluable work they perform for the conservation of wild cats.
The FCF has been an amazing and accomating host as I devote my time helping them conserve Pumas in the Bay Area
This is a great non-profit that is crucial for the health and vitality of our large cat population. They work solely to ensure that the large cat population in the bay area is thriving that the human population is safe and informed as well so that we can coexist together in a mutually beneficial environment.
Doing great work for an important cause. Dedicated staff and volunteers, and truly innovative techniques.
I've been helping Felidae with their marketing materials for almost two years now and they are a great organization! They are doing amazing work to help wild cats and have a team of hard-working, dedicated people that are clearly very passionate about saving wild cats. I have also enjoyed going out on hikes to check remote motion-sensored cameras and really enjoyed getting out in the field and seeing first hand the work they're doing to monitor wild cats in the Bay Area.
Felidae's mission, preservation of the earth's 36 wild cat species, all of which are threatened or endangered, has been dear to my heart since I had the rare and moving experience of seeing a puma in the wild (30+ years ago in Utah).
I was excited to discover this terrific organization, with its important work in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, and worldwide.
About two weeks ago, I was accepted as a volunteer in Felidae's headquarters in Mill Valley, CA. It is a privilege to work with such passionate, dedicated people to help wild cats. Felidae does a great job of effectively utilizing people of many different skills and backgrounds, and operating on the tightest possible budget to fund more important research, conservation, and education programs.
This vital non-profit is dedicated to the research of and education about the Bay Area and World Wide BIG CATS. Felidae is partnered with similar organizations World Wide, all with the same goals - to learn more about and secure a future for the Family of Big Cats. Felidae teams with other such organizations to share information, data, and the goal to secure the protection of all Big Cats and their environments World Wide.
Felidae Fund is multifaceted in its goals and focus, monitoring the numbers of, researching the habits of, and needs of the Big Cats living in our environment and educating the people of our communities about the Cat's situation as urban growth continues to limit their habitats.
The focus is multidimensional, with emphasis on tracking to identify numbers, movement and patterns of the Big Cats in local urban and rural communities, as well as educating the people of these same communities about the animal(s) they live with in the Greater Bay Area.
Locally, Felidae is active in community outreach, sharing their enthusiasm and knowledge about the Mountain Lion through K-12 programs and community events, giving presentations about the Big Cats and hoping to engage children and adults alike in conversations about these amazing animals. Look for their educational and outreach tables staffed by volunteers at events on Earth Day, at county fairs, and at the Bay Area Science Fair at the Ball Park in San Francisco - to name just a few. Felidae is active in your community - accompanying hiking groups on treks through the open spaces of the Bay Area, sharing facts about the Puma, and identifying signs that Mountain Lions are present.
The Fund provides thorough education for its' volunteers, so that they can function productively while monitoring cameras and cat activity in our local environments and so that they can pass on their knowledge about the local Big Cats to others in the community.
Grants, funding from organizations, businesses and from people like you, enable these passionate founders, staff and volunteers to continue their dedicated work towards ensuring these amazing creatures are better understood, respected, and protected as urban growth continues to limit their natural habitats.
Be sure to visit the Felidae Conservation Fund website to learn more...and to see some amazing images of the Big Cats!
www.felidaefund.org
Been a volunteer for Felidae for several months now. They're a true leader on cat research in the Bay Area and beyond. The passion and drive for felid conservation the world over is second to none. Very lucky to have such a driven organization right here in the Bay Area.
I am carrying out a Masters research placement with Felidae and am very impressed. The work being carried out is hugely important and very understudied in the area. The research undertaken on Pumas and other wildlife around the bay area is vitally important towards the overall conservation of local ecosystems and a fantastic thing to be involved with!
It is an awesome organization, great cause, great people, great education and community outreach programs, solid cat research. they really care and do great work. I am a big supporter of Felidae. TM
Felidae Conservation Fund is not just at the front lines of Mountain Lion research, for which it is recognized locally, but at the front lines of all wild cat research worldwide. With it's focus on iconic and Endangered wildcats, FCF delivers irrefutable and accurate evidence from research gained only by working years in the field around the world. As a volunteer, I have been honored to help teach classes, work with youth, perform in the field, and even been blessed enough to have gone to the High Andes, Argentina to help with wildcat research. All of which from what I have seen, in my personal and professional opinion, is developed by highly goal oriented curriculums expertly executed with profound aptitude.
Joshua Asel
Director
Wild Expectations Wildlife Conservation
I've been volunteering for Felidae for the past year in the Bay Area. I think Felidae is a wonderful organization serving the important purpose of trying to preserve the wild cats of the Bay Area.
I have been volunteering with Felidae as volunteer staff for over 5 years now and I am continually amazed at how dedicated the organization is as a whole to making positive change for wild cats and ecosystems.
Not only does Felidae conduct research planetwide for conservation, but it also has extensive education and outreach programs for communities and K-12 schools, which is essential to long-term impact and conservation.
If you want to donate to a cause that leads to actual change for wildlife and ecosystems, I highly recommend Felidae Conservation Fund.
"On November 14th 2013, I attended a talk by the Felidae Fund (Bay Area Puma Project) at the Ecology Center in Oakland. The Executive Director was slated to be the speaker. As it happened, the Executive Director was in the field rescuing a puma who otherwise would have been killed by a duck owner, whose birds were under attack from a Puma.
The Project had conveniently set up a skype connection so that the audience could interact with the Executive Director.
I asked a question as to my confusion about how the Executive Director could publicly support the proposed Oakland Zoo expansion into Puma habitat in Knowland Park considering her commitment to protecting these animals. Another audience member joined in my question asking how her support for the zoo's expansion would help Pumas. The Executive Director responded that the issue was too complicated to explain here. She suggested that we email her our question and she would answer fully. I followed up my question with an email to the Executive Director on November 16, 2013. I have not received any acknowledgement or response to either my verbal or written questions.
My concern is that Felidae's Executive Director's support is helping to greenwash an environmentally destructive project of the Oakland Zoo in a public wildland park where mountain lions have been known to hunt and which would destroy habitat and a wildlife corridor.
Based on my personal experience, I recommend that no one donate to this organization because it seems hypocritical. Thank you."
Review from Guidestar
On March 10, 2011 I attended a presentation by Zara McDonald, Founder and Executive Director of Felidae Conservation Fund, on the Bay Area Puma Project.
The talk was organized by the San Francisco Naturalists Society. I was eager to attend this talk because it was the first time I had heard of anyone researching and advocating for a Bay Area puma conservation program - ever.
From Zara's talk, it was clear that such a program was in dire need, especially as more people are coming in to contact with pumas as urban/suburban areas put pressure on their habitat and range (they need a lot of space and are very territorial). With recent incidents in Redwood City and Berkeley over the last year, when officials shot pumas that entered Bay Area neighborhoods, it is clear that understanding these animals and issues of habitat fragmentation, are critical to building a healthier co-existence.
Before Zara's talk I did not realize that many mountain lions are killed crossing roadways, like Highway 17. I also did not realize that nobody knows how many mountain lions are in our midst - in the natural areas that surround Bay Area communities. We don't know if their population size is healthy.
In addition to having Zara as a strong champion to educate the public with an engaging and highly visual presentation, I noticed a few other strengths of the organization:
1) They gave out pre- post-surveys to asses changes in the audiences beliefs and knowledge before and after the presentation.
2) They are using innovative GPS technology to monitor the lions in their current Santa Cruz mountains study.
3) They are engaging with the public via multiple venues.
4) They have secured funding from large private (e.g., David and Lucile Packard Foundation) and public funders (wildlife agencies).
5) They are doing media outreach (I believe National Geographic is working on a story due out later this year).
6) They made a kids game to engage young audiences in a way that is fun for them.
7) They are using social media and a website to communicate their messages and information.
8) They are collaborating with a wide range of individuals and organizations.