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by Peter Jackson

Tigers completely vanished from Sariska Tiger Reserve, the closest to the capital, New Delhi, since mid-2004. Several arrested men have reportedly confessed to killing 10 tigers there. Tigers are also missing in the world-famous Ranthambhore Reserve, while 30 are said to have disappeared in the past three years from the Panna Tiger Reserve.

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by Stephen J. O'Brien, Shu-Jin Luo, Jae-Heuoup Kim and Warren E. Johnson

Tigers historically inhabited much of Asia and likely numbered near 100,000 as recently as a century ago (Fig. 1). Today's tiger census is much lower, and is estimated by various sources to be around 7000 individuals in the wild (Nowell & Jackson,1996; Dinerstein et al 1997; Kitchener & Dugmore 2000). Tigers have been traditionally classified into eight subspecies (Fig. 1), three of which (P. t. sondaica - Javan tiger; P. t. balica - Bali tiger and P. t. virgata - Caspian tiger) were lost to extinction in the mid to late 20th century. The challenge to preserve the existing tiger populations has become a major goal of conservation efforts throughout their range.

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by Tie Su and Endi Zhang

This paper describes the status of wild Indochinese tigers (Panthera tigris corbetti) in Yunnan Province, China, in the past 10 years. From December 22, 2003, to January 19, 2004, a survey was conducted in eight sites, including five nature reserves and one county that were identified by the provincial wildlife management authorities as the areas most likely to contain tigers, and two additional prefectures that we consider may also contain tigers. Interviews were conducted with the villagers, reserves staff, and officials of local forestry bureaus for information on the presence or absence of wild tigers. Except for some possible sites that may have been missed during the interviews, we conclude that there might be a few tigers in Nangunhe National Reserve, Xishuangbanna National Reserve, Huanglianshan National Reserve, the Baoshan-part of Gaoligongshan National Reserve and Menglian County, which are all adjacent to the country's borders. Nangunhe and Xishuangbanna had frequent tiger occurrences, while Nangunhe is perhaps the only one that has resident wild tigers. The survey also leads to the recommendation that more detailed surveys should be conducted in Nangunhe Reserve.

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by Belinda Wright

India's wildlife criminals are bold and ruthless. And why shouldn't they be? Nobody seems particularly interested in catching them. It is now over 11 years since the huge seizure in Delhi of 400 kg of tiger bones, eight tiger skins, and 59 leopard skins gave a clear signal that wildlife crime had come of age in India. Yet little was done - until, in the last few weeks, the elimination of tigers from Rajasthan's Sariska Tiger Reserve awakened the authorities to a problem that has been crucifying all of the country's tiger areas for years.

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By H. S. Singh

In Asia, isolated and threatened populations of the leopard occur in other countries but the animal survives well throughout India. Since the beginning of the conservation era in India in 1970, the population has consistently improved. No other Asian countries have populations in thousands.

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by Vladimir Dinets and Paul J. Polechla Jr.

Popular literature and folklore is replete with references to melanistic jaguars (Panthera onca) and this coloration has been documented in Central and South America (Meyer 1994, Brown & Lopez 2001), but there is no scientific documentation confirming the existence of a melanistic jaguar in the north of the range (Brown & Lopez 2001).

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Camera-Trapping of Snow Leopards

by Rodney M. Jackson, Jerry D. Roe, Rinchen Wangchuk and Don O. Hunter

Solitary felids like tigers and snow leopards are notoriously difficult to enumerate, and indirect techniques like pugmark surveys often produce ambiguous information that is difficult to interpret because many factors influence marking behavior and frequency (Ahlborn & Jackson 1988). Considering the snow leopard's rugged habitat, it is not surprising then that information on its current status and occupied range is very limited.

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Photographing the Snow Leopard in Chitral, Pakistan

by Ahmad Said

Chitral is a mountain province in the far north of Pakistan. It was here, in the early 1970s, that Dr George Schaller obtained what is thought to be first photograph of a snow leopard in the wild. Since then, there have been fears that the mystery cat might have become locally extinct. Fortunately, that has not happened.

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Cheetah Census Technique Development Workshop

1-3 June 2004, Ndutu Safari Lodge, Serengeti

by Sultana Bashir, Sarah Durant and Yolan Friedman

Cheetahs once used to be widespread across Africa and Asia. Today, cheetahs are extinct in much of their former Asian range and the vast majority of surviving populations are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. It is thought that there may be only some 10,000 cheetahs left in the wild, but there are no reliable estimates of the global population. Namibia is believed to hold the largest population, while Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa also have significant populations.

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II International Seminar and Workshop on the Conservation of the Iberian Lynx

15-17 December 2004, Córdoba, Spain

by Agnieszka Olszanska  and Urs Breitenmoser

Two years after the first seminar on the conservation of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Andújar, Spain (29-31 October 2002), a follow-up meeting took place in Córdoba on 15-17 December 2004. The main objectives of this meeting were to review the status of the remnant populations and the progress made since the first conference, and to discuss the future challenges to conserve the Critically Endangered Iberian lynx. The goal was that GOs, NGOs and scientists working on the conservation of the Iberian lynx would inform each other on their approaches and activities, discuss problems and possible solutions, and hence work towards a comprehensive conservation strategy for the Iberian lynx.

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Rusty-spotted Cat in India: New Distribution Data

by Kunal Patel and Peter Jackson

In October 2004, a small cat was sighted in the eastern, dry-deciduous forests of Gujarat, (22°31'N/73°56'E), 80 km north-east of Baroda. The cat, which was sitting on a large sandstone rock, probably to ambush rodents, was thought to be a jungle cat (Felis chaus). But after photographing the cat (cover page), Kunal Patel was able to note its small size and striped forehead, showing it to be a rusty-spotted cat. It was outside a protected area in a place surrounded by human activities.

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Workshops on the Conservation of the Balkan Lynx

by Urs Breitenmoser

The lynx occurrence in the south-western Balkans has been identified as the most threatened autochthonous Eurasian lynx population. Although the critical status has been known for long, no specific conservation actions were taken so far. The population ranges over western Macedonia, eastern Albania and the southern rim of the Kosovo (Serbia and Montenegro).

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Ecology of the Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus) at Serra do Tabuleiro State Park, Southern Brazil

by Marcos A. Tortato and Tadeu G. de Oliveira

Of the eight species of Neotropical cats found in Brazil, the oncilla, also called the little spotted cat or gato-do-mato (Leopardus tigrinus) by its Portuguese name, is the smallest and one of the least known species (Nowell & Jackson 1996, Oliveira in press A). Most aspects of this felid's natural history remain unknown. As a consequence, it has been the subject of a series of preconceptions regarding its biology, such as its occurrence in the Amazon basin and at lower altitudes (see Cat News 41).

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Pampas Cat Photographed in High Southwest Bolivia
by Lilian Villalba and Eliseo Delgado

While tracking the first radio-collared Andean cat (Oreailurus jacobita) in the Khastor region of south-western Bolivia, we came upon tracks which we suspected were of a pampas cat (Oncifelis colocolo). Shortly afterwards, Eliseo spotted a pampas cat and then a photo of the cat was obtained by a camera-trap.

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