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Big Cats Fighting for Survival

Meet WVI's big cat expert, Dr John Lewis and find out first hand what is happening on the front line of tiger and Amur leopard conservation.

13 October 2016, 6.30pm, Colchester Zoo, Essex, UK.

Amur leopard at Colchester Zoo. Credit: Barbara Meyer[/caption] Colchester Zoo will host an evening of big cat conservation. Long time WVI supporter and wildlife photographer Barbara Meyer brings her 3 big cat conservation partners together to talk about the problems tigers and Amur leopards face in the wild and how conservation works to prevent their extinction. Find out what vets contribute towards the conservation of these species. What it is like trying to capture these big cats, what does the team do once they have caught one and how the researchers live in inhospitable terrain.

The evening will see talks from:

  • Wildlife Vets International
  • ALTA Amur Leopard & Tiger Alliance
  • 21st Century Tiger

Colchester Zoo will talk about the role of zoos in conservation and their curators will present their experience of going out with the anti-poaching patrols in the Kerinci Seblat National Park on Sumatra. This is the same trip that WVI's Olivia Walter took last year so look out for pictures of her. Tickets for the evening cost £5 (£3 for zoo pass holders)

To book please call the Colchester Zoo Experience reception on 01206 331292 ext 232 or 237

WVI's Tiger Health Programme

In 2004 WVI’s big cat vet Dr John Lewis was invited to be part of a multidisciplinary group trapping Amur leopards to collect as much data as possible from these illusive creatures.Amur tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Credit Barbara Meyer[/caption] At the time there were considered to be ~35 individuals living in a 20,000km2 area of the Russian Far East. Over the years John collected invaluable data from both wild and captive Amur leopards, including finding heart murmurs and cataracts in wild leopards. Fast track 12 years and using this data Dr John Lewis and colleagues have written the most comprehensive Disease Risk Assessment for the reintroduction of a big cat that has ever been written. The next phase of this project is the reintroduction itself. Whilst out in the Russian Far East John was training field biologists and vets in wildlife disease surveillance in not only the Amur leopard but the tiger too. This lead to the discover of Canine Distemper Virus as an emerging, and significant disease in the Amur tiger population. The Tiger Health Programme has expanded to cover activities in Indonesia and Bangladesh, and WVI becoming an expert voice for proposed projects in Azerbaijan, India, Cambodia, Myanmar to name but a few.

About Barbara Meyer

Sumatran tiger family at Chester  Zoo. Credit Barbara Meyer[/caption] Barbara has taken many amazing photos of big cats in various UK zoos and has turned these in to fabulous badges, magnets and other items that she sells at the zoos. Regulars at Colchester Zoo will no doubt have seen her and hopefully bought her merchandse thereby supporting WVI, ALTA and 21st Century Tiger. Find out how to take pictures like Barbara here.