A large number of projects studying and conserving the 36 free living cat species are carried out worldwide, and a wealth of experience is gathered. Only a fraction of this knowledge is finally published in form of scientific papers. Practical know-how and solutions for a lot of hands-on conservation problems are never communicated. For the researcher, wildlife manager and conservationist seeking for practical advice, but for also the interested public or for those looking for potential project to support, it is impossible to gain a quick overview on cat conservation projects. The Cat Specialist Group  develops an online Cat Project Database compiling as many of the ongoing, planned or recently completed cat conservation projects as possible. Sarah Christie from the Zoological Society of London is in charge of the project, Russell Rose from Double R Consulting is developing the database and web-platform. They profit from their experience with the recently completed Global Tiger Project Database.

The Cat Project Database will provide a useful resource on cat conservation projects for the conservation community, founders, government agencies and the general public. Overall aims are

¨       to provide the above groups with access to information on the nature, location and activities of cat conservation projects around the world;

¨       to improve coordination and information flow between agencies;

¨       where funding information is available, to enable analysis of funding distribution between taxa, countries, agencies and project activities;

¨       ultimately, when measures of success are available, to assist in evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of cat conservation projects;

¨       to stimulate increased funding for cat conservation by making information on projects widely available.