Conservation Measures
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Some of the main threats Geoffroy’s cats are facing are the fragmentation and alteration of forest and countryside habitats as verified by Indeusiak and Eizirik in 2003. Additionally, road kill (Silva et al. 2014) and hunting, applied as a form of retaliation against domestic animal predation are impacts that contribute to the currently verified threat classifications (Peters et al. 2016)
Indrusiak and Eizirik (2003) report the need to guarantee the preservation of legal reserves throughout rural properties, implement educational actions that aim to disseminate information about the ecological importance of the species and encourage the adoption of measures to prevent or mitigate problems of predation of domestic creations. The authors also cite the need to implement instruments to mitigate pedestrian accidents on the highways and the need to encourage studies related to the geographic distribution, ecology and population dynamics of the species. In December of 2020 Flávia P. Tirelli and the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation teamed up to create the Geoffroy’s Cat Working Group (GCWG) in South America. The main idea is to create a network for the Geoffroy's cat in order to mitigate threats to the species. We hope to act for conservation, starting with education, divulgation and get some funds for an action plan including monitoring, community work, mitigation actions (focus in roadkills, conflicts, etc). In the United States there are a few smaller facilities that do house Geoffroy’s cats to teach the public more about this amazing species. Most people have never seen or heard of these cats, and there is only estimated to be about 90 Geoffroy’s in the US. There is a breeding program in place to try to keep the small population a healthy one, by watching genetics and working together we hope to continue to educate and learn from them. The Feline Conservation Foundation is also working on a new stud book program to track genetics and make it easy for facilities to place cats in other cooperative breeding facilities. If you work with Geoffroy’s in the US please feel free to email Kylie Reynolds at Kylie@amazinganimalsinc.org to get more information about this new program. |
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Geoffroy's Cats Working Group
Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation |
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SAVING SMALL WILD CATS AND THEIR HABITATS WORLDWIDE
Our mission is to ensure the survival of small wild cats and their natural habitats worldwide. We do this by working with local partners around the world to identify and mitigate threats to the world’s small wild cats. There are 40 species of wild cats in the family Felidae, the family of cats. Small cats receive very little conservation funding. Funding is important and helps reduce and mitigate threats. Unfortunately, less than 1% of conservation funding for all wild cats is invested in 33 species of small cats! |
Nation Research and Educational Project on Geoffroy's Cats
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National Research and Educational Project on Geoffroy's Cat is a pioneering initiative carried out by the Felinos Silvestres Chile foundation. It aims at collecting current data on Leopardus geoffroyi in Chilean territory, where this cat is largely unknown to the general public and poorly studied by the scientific community.
The project is divided in five stages of research, with a minimum total duration of 10 years. The general objectives of all stages are to determine the behavior, diet, and distribution of Geoffroy's cat, the threats to this species and the public's appreciation of it. At the same time and for greater impact, information shall be disseminated to the general public. Community involvement is key to the success of out "National Research and Educational Project on Geoffroy's Cat" and shall be achieved by means of an information campaign in social networks that uses the hashtag: #YOCONOZCOALGATODEGEOFFROY #YOPROTEJOALGATODEGEOFFROY #FELINOSILVESTREDECHILE |
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