Updated January 17th, 2005 
CURRENT PROJECTS & Achievements.

educational programs

Local schoolchildren have participated in a variety of youth classes  Besides being fun and thought provoking, it is hoped that these programs will inspire potential supporters of conservation programs, as the students of Alta School have so vividly demonstrated.

Current Projects

This section will be updated soon. We are currently supporting projects in Brazil, Paraguay, Guatemala, Russia, the Himalayas, Botswana, and South Africa and more projects are pending.

Past Projects:

Clouded leopards, marbled cats  & TIGERS...
Lon grassman in Thailand

Photo left: Lon Grassman with an adult male leopard captured for radio collaring in the Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand. Photo right: a wild clouded leopard, taken with a photo trap. Clouded leopards are elusive and difficult to study in their native habitat. Photos such as this one are extremely rare.

01/17/03 Lon went back in the USA at Texas A&M finish his Ph.D. Update 2005 Lon has finished his Ph.D.

Project Survival received a proposal from Lon Grassman, Jr., M.Sc., an American working for the Department of Forest Biology at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. Lon is a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group who has done field work on the Asiatic golden cat, the Indochinese leopard and the leopard cat. His proposal, entitled: 'The Ecology and Conservation of the Carnivore Community in a Dry Evergreen Forest in Northeastern Thailand', includes proposed radio-telemetry studies and fecal analysis on marbled cats, clouded leopards and golden cats in the Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary.  The objective of the study, like those conducted by Pro-Carniveros in Brazil, is to collect data on mammalian carnivore ecology as a basis for the implementation of conservation strategies.

Lon captured and radio collared this female clouded leopard in April of 2000. This is one of only a few clouded leopards ever collared and tracked in the wild. You can see this female is in prime condition and was back on her feet in the jungle shortly after this photo was taken. Great work Lon!

Lon found funding for the three year project with help from Project Survival and other organizations.  Through an article in the Fresno Bee, Director Dale Anderson challenged local people to support Lon's project. As of 5/11/99 we had received just one donation from a remarkable woman who writes: "I am an 84 year old widow living on a 1975 pension which does not provide much in today's money. But I try to help because I believe our society is wreaking great havoc on the world, its people and animals." The results are also in for 1999's "Coins for Cats" fundraiser from the 4th graders of Alta School in Reedley. The children raised $403.50! Project Survival has matched both donations, rounding the final figure to create a grant for $1000. We hope others will continue to be inspired by these examples and will come forward with support for Lon's project. He is currently looking for funds to buy more camera traps to expand his study area *

Above: Thank you! Thanks to these and all the other wonderful students of Alta School who have contributed to Lon's study! 
If you would like to make a contribution, or request further information, please contact the Directors of Project Survival at (559) 338-3216, 10am - 3pm West Coast time.

JAGUARS, Brazil & paraguay

1. 2. 3. 4.

Captions: 1.With soybean fields and cattle ranches surrounding Emas National Park and roads of heavy wet clay, the field biologists working for Pro-Carniveros come across tough working conditions. The park itself is as isolated ecologically as an island.  2. Field Biologist Leandro Silveira and wife Anah (not shown) are responsible for monitoring the radio collared animals and plotting their positions in the coming months. 3. Project Survival Director Dale Anderson, at 6' 4", is almost dwarfed by a large anaconda.  These massive constrictors are eaten by jaguars.  4. The fast-flowing, shallow river, the Jacuba, which provided the biologists with their drinking water. The rapid current drove the pump for the field station.

Project One : Project Survival is continuing to assist Dr. Ronaldo Morato, Science Director for Pro-Carnivoros, a Brazilian Non-Governmental Organization.   Pro-Carnivoros is compiling data on the ecology of Brazilian predators. Dr. Morato specializes in the study of the reproductive physiology of captive and free-ranging jaguars.  His efforts to establish artificial insemination protocols may allow fragmented populations to maintain their genetic viability.

Project Survival has sent a GPS (Global Positioning System) and a gas powered darting rifle to Ronaldo, two badly needed items of equipment.

Project Two : The establishment of the "Protect the Jaguar" Program.   This is the first of a series of endowments Project Survival is setting up. The Directors are working on a number of high caliber marketing campaigns.  The plan is to establish new and more consistent sources of funding for educational and scientific programs relating to jaguar conservation.  With the addition of legacies, the endowment program will expand to include four major geographic regions and their native wild cats: Central and South America, North America, Asia and Africa.

Project Three : To assist with the renovation of caging at the Asuncion Zoo of Paraguay. This program has been developed in conjunction with the Paraguayan Conservation Action Partnership headed by Dr. Robert Klemm of the Sunset Zoo, Kansas. In June 1998 Project Survival raised $6,000 through the themed banquet "Arabian Nights" and is continuing to look for matching funds. These will be used for the construction of one large natural habitat enclosure for jaguars. Improvements to the infrastructure of the zoo will increase the power of its educational program to promote conservation. Director Dale Anderson visited the zoo in July 1997 and again in January 1999.  In the intervening period the zoo has made progress in a number of areas. Dale is working with architect Salim Girala and Veterinarian Zoo Director Dr. Raul Tuma (a well known TV personality in Paraguay) on cage design.  Project Survival is also sending cat-related Spanish language educational materials for use in the zoo. Funds in the amount of $6,500 was sent to the Asuncion Zoo Foundation in November of 2001 and it is hoped that cage construction will start soon.

Project Four: "Cats of the Chaco" Through this project we hope to conduct a general cat survey of the dry Chaco of Northern Paraguay and Southern Bolivia. The focus cat will be the jaguar, but all cats will be surveyed. We hope to be able to help train Paraguayan and Bolivian biologists and veterinarians in this type of field biology so that work may continue long after we are gone. The second phase of the survey will be conducted with camera traps and assessments will be made from the results. The plan is to start camera trapping in the spring of 2005. Further study will be dictated by the results found in the second phase.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Provided a $1000 grant, with the help of students from Alta School, to Lon Grassman studying carnivore ecology in Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Wild cats involved in the study include clouded leopards, leopards, golden cats, marbled cats and tigers. Because of Project Survival Director's network of people and sharing information about Lon's project, Lon secured another $2000. Over Christmas, Project Survival's fund raiser "Help a researcher by giving" raised a total of $1300. People we able to give money to a project in the name of the person they wanted to give the gift. Another $500 was given in January 2002

• Project Survival has teamed up with other North American Zoos that hold or own Amur leopards to help fund anti-poaching effort in range countries. P.S. gave a total of $1000 dollars which with be added to the total from other zoos and be given to the Tigris Foundation. Another 1,500 was given January 2002.

• A $650 grant was issued to field researcher Sean Austin to assist in literature, film developing, analysis software and printing expenses associated with his field research in Thailand. Sean spent 2 1/2 years in Central Thailand researching the ecology of leopard cats and clouded leopards.

• Project Survival has joined with others to support the Snow Leopard Conservancy. Over $5,000 has been raised for the work Rod Jackson and Darla Hillard are doing to protect the snow leopard.

• Project Survival has joined the International Snow Leopard Trust in the Natural Partnership Program for 2000 at the Project Partner level. 

• Education is the key to being able to save and protect the cats of the world. Project Survival has a wide variety of fun and education programs in place for those interested.  youth classes.

• Sent the Husbandry Manual for Small Felids (produced by the Felid Taxon Advisory Group in conjunction with Disney Corporation) to wild cat specialists in South America working at Mata Ciliar , Sao Paulo Zoo and Pro Carniveros in Brazil as well as Marita Salazar, DVM, in Peru.

• Helped Dr. Morato, a Brazilian veterinarian and jaguar specialist, attend a program at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo where he studied techniques of artificial insemination for a second year. Project Survival sent a GPS and gas powered darting rifle to Dr. Morato.

• Loaned video monitoring and isoflourine equipment to the veterinary staff of the Sao Paulo Zoo.  This will help them monitor tigrina cubs safely without disturbing the mothers.  The isoflourine equipment will assist the medical department.

• Raised $6500 towards the construction of one large natural habitat exhibit for jaguars in the Asuncion Zoo of Paraguay.  The construction is designed to help the developing education and renovation programs at the zoo.

• Successfully sought a grant from the John Ball Zoo Society to support the work of German researcher Dr. Alex Sliwa who is studying the black-footed cat of South Africa. The Alta School's "Coins for Cat"   program raised over $500 for his work. This 5lb wild cat has been given priority status by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Cat Specialist Group.