Our dear friend, Dr. Jim Sanderson, founder of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation writes excellent newsletters by mail to his subscribers, but there isn’t a place to view all of them online. We’d like to change that with this first edition. To be on his distribution list donate and sign up at: https://donate.wildnet.org/?fund=Small_Cats

2025 Manul Tour: 25 June - 2 July & Snow Leopard Tour in Late October

Manul Tour, stories from Chile, Mexico, & Uganda

By popular demand, a Manul Tour has been arranged with our long-time partners in Mongolia, Buyanna and Ogi at Steppe Wildlife. Below are the trip dates and itinerary. I included possible flight details from the USA.

23-24 June: Fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Inchon (ICN) to UlaanBatar (UBN), arriving before noon.

24 June: From the airport or from the Flower Hotel, with the tour group, drive to Hustai Wild Horse Reserve. Most likely see wild horses and elk in late afternoon. Overnight in a ger (Mongolian yurt) at Hustai.

• Note: If you can't arrive before noon on 24 June, then fly in the day before. Buyanna can book a nice room at the Flower Hotel in UB. If you arrive on 24 June before noon, we can meet in the only café at the airport. I will most likely arrive a day early to adjust my internal clock & visit an upscale grocery store across the street for travel food. Dinner at the Indian Restaurant in the Flower Hotel is delicious.

25 June: Early breakfast, nine-hour drive to Pallas Cat Camp, stopping frequently along the way. Lunch stop included. Don't worry. Spread out your gear in your ger. Gers have electricity but no running water or plumbing. Outhouses are clean, and a warm shower is a slightly longer walk, but the water pump must be turned on. Food is excellent (we have our own cooks), and I easily go vegetarian and even vegan most days. For special needs, speak up ahead of time since we bring most food from UB. Pallas Cat Camp has freezers. A small village nearby has two small shops well stocked with vodka. Local SIM cards are inexpensive, and cell reception is good, so we have local internet. Pallas Cat Camp also has local internet. We will also enjoy PowerPoint presentations.

26-30 June: Pallas Cat Camp. Three meals a day. Morning and afternoon drives to see Manul. Guaranteed to see Manul and kittens every day, marmots, steppe eagles, corsac foxes, Mongolian gazelle, and if we are fortunate, Argali. The night sky is stunning.

1 July: Nine-hour return drive to UB, stopping frequently, same lunch place, overnight at Flower Hotel. Dinner at the Indian Restaurant in the Flower Hotel.

2 July: Steppe Wildlife staff will take us to the airport for return flights. Or arrange your own tour.

Following arrival at the airport, the total cost is $3500 per person (I also pay the same as everyone), which includes the first and last night at the Flower Hotel but not dinners at the Indian Restaurant. Tours cover the cost of our conservation projects that enable us to see Manul. In 2013, Buyanna & Ogi were looking at bare ground, no gers, no marmots, and very few Manul that hid from humans. What we see is the result of a decade of hard work and constant attention. Bring tip money for the cooks, cleaning staff, and drivers. Donations welcomed.

I am not a tour guide. Ask Buyanna Suuri at buyandelger @ gmail.com. Buyanna can also send PDF brochures for Manul and Snow Leopard tours.

Let me know if you'd like me to transcribe additional sections from the newsletter!

Snow Leopard Tours following WCN Fall Expo in late October

Tentative plan is to arrive in UB 25 October. One night at the Flower Hotel, dinner at the usual place.
26 October: Fly to western Mongolia and two-hour drive to gers.
27-30 October: View habituated Snow Leopards and other wildlife.
1 November: Return flight to UB. One night at the Flower Hotel, dinner at the usual place.
2 November: Steppe Wildlife staff will take us to the airport for return flights.

• Note: October days are short and cold; nights are long and colder. Gers have stoves. I have not been on this tour, but others have. A professional photographer takes several groups a year. We will see Snow Leopards as close as anyone can get.

Community-Led Conservation of the African Golden Cat in Bugoma Forest Reserve, Western Uganda

In December 2024, the project team achieved significant milestones in its mission to conserve the African Golden Cat (AGC) while uplifting communities in Abangi, Ogadra, and Onieni villages around Ongo Community Forest in Uganda. Through targeted interventions, the project not only addressed wildlife protection but also created sustainable livelihood opportunities for local residents.

• The establishment of livestock seed banks provided 30 female goats to households as a sustainable source of protein and income. Families were trained in animal husbandry, equipping them with the knowledge to breed and care for the goats. The "pass-on-the-gift" model, where beneficiaries commit to passing on the first offspring to a neighbor, ensures the program's long-term sustainability while fostering community collaboration and shared responsibility.

• Additionally, the project introduced Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), offering community members access to credit and savings to diversify their income sources. With a seed fund provided and training in financial literacy and bookkeeping, SACCO members are now better equipped to invest in income-generating activities such as small businesses and agriculture. This initiative has empowered families to build financial security while reducing dependency on unsustainable practices like bushmeat hunting.

• To enhance wildlife protection efforts, four community monitors were selected to conduct regular snare removal patrols. Equipped with essential protective gear, these monitors are actively reducing the number of traps within the Ongo Community Forest. Their work not only safeguards the AGC but also promotes a safer environment for biodiversity to thrive.

These combined efforts have harmonized conservation and community welfare, demonstrating the power of integrated approaches. As the project continues, its impact is expected to grow, serving as a model for sustainable development and wildlife protection, especially the African Golden Cat.

Wild Cats, Honeybees, & a Global Technology Company Saving Yucatán’s Forests

Marian Weston, Ocelot Working Group, Mexico

In December, Jim and I visited several Ocelot Working Group projects in Yucatán, Mexico. Our team is working with rural indigenous communities that specialize in beekeeping. In a game-changing project, our team installed 5K-liter water catchment systems that feed small water containers in which the feet of the platforms supporting beehives rest. The water containers we call drinkers serve two purposes: drinkers act as moats preventing ants from attacking beehives and provide water for honeybees, wild cats, and wildlife. Trail cameras at the drinkers show all five of Mexico’s wild cats, including Jaguar, drinking.

There is a lot more to our project, however. Honeybees depend on healthy forests that attract carbon sequestration projects financed here by a leading global technology company. The company provides a cash stream for maintaining healthy forests. With our help, honey production has replaced cows as the most profitable income generator for an entire community. Cows, we were informed, are too expensive and require constant maintenance. The damage done to forests by cows takes time to reverse. Today, cows, destroyers of forests, are being usurped by sustainable and scalable wild-cat-friendly honeybees and carbon sequestration funding.

Imagine receiving continuing cash distributions for doing nothing to a large, intact, healthy forest where honeybees are hard at work making organic honey global buyers are seeking. Sounds easy. The problem is, of course, that constant vigilance assisted by your night watch crew—Jaguar and Puma—are required to ensure everyone else does nothing too. See below two team members, Jim and me, and our water catchment system. If we look happy, it's because we are happy!

Many thanks to all our financial partners for making it all happen. - Ocelot Working Group

Water catchment system supplying water for Jaguar, Jaguarundi, Margay, Ocelot, Puma, and Honeybees, too.

Cookies and the Chain of Happiness

Melanie Kaiser and Patricio Muñoz Peña, Fundación Con Garra, Chile

Small-scale poultry farmers in southern Chile coexist with native and exotic carnivore species, namely Güiñas and gray foxes as well as the American mink. While the former are protected by law, state control programs are in place to control the latter. Yet, for farmers, the outcome is always the same: poultry depredation by carnivores leads to the loss of birds and eggs, which are a source of food and economic sustenance. That’s why the small cat conservationists from Fundación Con Garra joined forces with the Chilean Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG), the governmental entity in charge of invasive exotic species control and mink capture programs.

SAG works with farmers who have a recent history of poultry depredation by mink. SAG provides live traps to capture these exotic animals—but sometimes, Güiñas get caught also. Fundación Con Garra and SAG collaborate to provide assistance to those families where the potential for conflict with native wild cats is greatest and who are interested in taking an active role in resolving this conflict. Mr. Saúl and his wife Esperanza serve as examples.

Saúl and Esperanza live between forests and rivers, about half an hour’s drive from the nearest village. Visitors must announce their arrival in advance so that Saúl can pick them up in his boat and take them to the farm. If you were to visit these days, you would meet a very happy elderly couple: Saúl would show you his new chicken coop and corral that were built under the guidance of Fundación Con Garra, thanks to the ongoing support of all our financial partners. Both are predator-proof so neither Güiñas nor foxes nor minks can gain entry. Saúl likes Güiñas better that way, and he sends a friendly hello to the gray fox when he spots it from his terrace.

Esperanza would invite you to have a coffee and taste her cookies. She just beat cancer and couldn’t be happier to be back at home with Saúl. Now she is back to doing what she loves best—she’s baking cookies once again and preparing all kinds of sweet goodies. Thanks to the new chicken coop and corral, her chickens’ eggs are no longer lost in the bushes, so she has more eggs to prepare more treats for everyone. Saúl is very happy with that, and their neighbors are, too. We are happy to know that we’ve contributed to this, and we’d really like to send some of Esperanza’s cookies to everyone who has supported our work. For the time being, it must be virtual cookies—but the happiness is real.

Copyright © 2025 Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, All rights reserved. Newsletter January 2025