Structure
B. Cranke
Sugoto Roy
KORA
Talgut-Zentrum 5
CH 3063 Ittigen
s.roy(at)kora.ch
Co-chair IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group
I have worked in government departments, NGOs, IGOs and universities for significant periods of time, with more than 25 years of experience in wildlife management, conservation and research. I have managed national, regional and global project portfolios, specialising in the ecology and management of carnivores, invasive species and human–wildlife conflict, across the UK, the UK Overseas Territories, South and South-East Asia, Japan, the Indian Ocean and Southern Africa.
Over the past decade, my work has focused on large carnivore conservation. This has included establishing and leading a tiger conservation programme at the IUCN Secretariat, and coordinating a series of projects in southern Africa under the Africa Range-Wide Cheetah Conservation Initiative.
Following several years as Programme Officer for the Cat Specialist Group, where I coordinated a wide range of projects and programmes, I now serve as Co-Chair and look forward to building on this experience to further strengthen and expand the Group’s global impact.
Tadeu de Oliveira
Maranhão State University
Brazil
tadeu4(a)yahoo.com
Co-chair IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group
Tadeu G. de Oliveira (Brazil) is a wildlife conservationist, Professor of the Wildlife Conservation and Ecology Lab. (LabCEVS), Maranhão State University (UEMA), researcher for Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Pró-Vida Brasil, and a long-time member of the IUCN/SSC/Cat Specialist Group. Academically, his publications ranked his productivity as high in the world (top 10 percentile) and in Latin America (top 3%), according to the 2026 AD Scientific Index. Tadeu is the founder and chair of the Tiger Cats Conservation Initiative (TCCI), with 51 enrolled projects in seven countries throughout the Americas, focusing on conservation actions (vaccination/neutering of domestic dogs and cats for disease reduction, environmental education, rehabilitation of apprehended small felids, community involvement, and partnerships), monitoring, and research of small felids in the Americas. He is also well connected and works in partnership with several other Working Groups of small cats in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Additionally, he has taken an active role in Red List Assessments at the global (IUCN, Neotropical felids), national (Brazilian carnivores), and state levels (mammals/carnivores) since 2007 and has participated in the elaboration of the Brazilian National Conservation Action Plans for small cats, jaguars, and bush dogs.
Currently, aside from the conservation action taken with TCCI, he is leading a long-term, multidisciplinary, continent-wide conservation and research program focusing on conservation action and the ecology, biogeography, natural history, diseases, and conservation issues of nine small felids in the tropical Americas (Project Wild Cats Brazil-Americas). Thus, it has been making significant contributions to the conservation, status assessment, population monitoring, and understanding of the ecology and natural history of these species since 2004, and covers most of the actions of the current Brazilian Small Felids Action Plan.
Urs Breitenmoser
IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group,
Villettengässli 4,
CH 3074 Muri
u.breitenmoser(a)kora.ch
Emeritus chair IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group
I am a carnivore ecologist and former senior scientist at the University of Bern and the former director of the Foundation KORA – Carnivore Ecology and Wildlife Management. I have been involved in research projects on carnivore ecology for 40 years and have supervised many master and doctoral theses in the frame of the Swiss carnivore projects. My main field of interest is the reintroduction of Eurasian lynx and the re-integration of large carnivores into human dominated landscapes. I have co-chaired the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group since 2001 and have since been involved in many cat research and conservation programmes all over the world.
Christine Breitenmoser-Würsten
IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group,
Villettengässli 4,
CH 3074 Muri
ch.breitenmoser(at)kora.ch
Emeritus chair IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group
My professional background is ornithology, mammology, running water ecology, and genetics. I am currently involved in research projects on ecology and genetics of the Eurasian lynx, looking at population genetics of reintroduced populations. Through these projects, I gained experience in molecular methods, GIS, web design and desktop publishing, which are important resources for our work as co-chairs of the Cat SG.
Vincent Lapeyre
Samantha Nicholson
samknicholson90(a)gmail.com
Deputy Chair of the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group
I am a conservation scientist specializing in the management and conservation of large African carnivores. I serve as Deputy Chair of the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group, where I contribute to global strategic efforts to conserve wild cat species. I am also a member of the African Lion Working Group and the Cheetah Advisory Group, working collaboratively with experts across Africa to address key conservation challenges.
I received my PhD focusing on the conservation status of lions in Africa, which underpins much of my current research and applied conservation work. I currently manage the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group’s African Lion Database (ALD), an initiative designed to consolidate and standardize critical data on lion populations across the continent. Through this work, I focus on improving data accessibility, strengthening governance frameworks, and supporting coordinated, evidence-based conservation planning among range states. The intention is to replicate the ALD structure and governance processes to create other cat data platforms.
My research focuses on the impacts on lion populations of anthropogenic pressures, including habitat fragmentation, prey depletion, human-lion conflict, and the emerging threat of targeted poaching for the trade in body parts. I have authored and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on African lions and other large cats, helping to inform conservation strategies and policy.
I have also led multiple IUCN Red List assessments for lions, contributing to the evaluation of their conservation status and trends on a regular basis.
Tabea Lanz
KORA
Talgut-Zentrum 5
CH 3063 Ittigen
t.lanz(at)kora.ch
Red List Authority Coordinator
I studied General Biology at the University of Fribourg and Wildlife Biology and Conservation at Edinburgh Napier University. I conducted my MSc thesis on the otter population on the Scottish Island of Raasay looking at population numbers and diet. Since 2012 I have been working as an assistant for KORA and the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group. I am assisting in international projects, conducting training courses, involved in the production of the newsletter Cat News and helping with the maintenance of the Cat SG library and website. Since 2017, I am the Red List Authority Coordinator of the Cat SG, coordinating all global Red List Assessments of Felidae for the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. I am particularly interested in species and nature conservation, mammal ecology and management and how conservation can be made more efficient.
Ella Le Borgne
KORA
Talgut-Zentrum 5
CH 3063 Ittigen
m.breitenmoser(a)kora.ch
Catabase and mapping
I studied environmental sciences at ETH Zurich with a major in Ecology & Evolution, with a strong focus on all GIS related topics. My master thesis was on sex-based differences in species distribution models in Eurasian lynx. I joined the Cat Specialist Group in 2024 and am since working on the “Catabase”, the Cat SG’s database maintained to collect and share observational data on all wild cats. Additionally, I support Red List and Green Status of Species assessments with GIS work.
Elliot Carlton
e.carlton(a)thebigcatsanctuary.org
Intern, IUCN Green Status of Species
I studied Biology at the University of Oxford. I completed my master’s dissertation on applying the IUCN Green Status of Species framework to explore drivers of recovery in wild canids and felids. This included completing preliminary Green Status of Species assessments for 20 felid and 20 canid species. I am now working as an intern within the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group to advance the global IUCN Green Status of Species assessments for all Felidae species and several notable subspecies. I work closely with the Red List Authority Coordinator and the IUCN Green Status of Species Working Group to co-ordinate and facilitate the assessment process and to deliver training on the IUCN Green Status of Species, as well as to develop cat specific guidelines for the Green Status of Species.
Laila Bahaa-el-din
I am the technical editor for Cat News. I spent 14 years in different regions of Africa working on the conservation of wild carnivores, starting with cheetahs in East Africa, then westward to Gabon where I completed my PhD on the ecology and conservation of African golden cats, and southward to the Kalahari to work on connectivity. My research interests include: impacts of human disturbance, connectivity, and working with domestic dogs for research/conservation. My role in product development at Intellitraps allows me to pursue my interest in camera traps as a fast-evolving tool in photography and conservation.
Roland Bürki
KORA
Talgut-Zentrum 5
CH 3063 Ittigen
r.buerki(at)kora.ch
Assistant to the Chair
I studied environmental sciences at ETH Zurich. My master thesis was about effects of habitat and phylogeny on functional traits of the Seychelles woody flora. I have been working for KORA and the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group since 2014, where I am involved in writing and editing reports, maintaining the Digital Cat Library and general project assistance.
Moritz Breitenmoser
KORA
Talgut-Zentrum 5
CH 3063 Ittigen
m.breitenmoser(a)kora.ch
Catabase and mapping
I studied environmental sciences at ETH Zurich with a major in Ecology & Evolution, with a strong focus on all GIS related topics. My master thesis was on sex-based differences in species distribution models in Eurasian lynx. I joined the Cat Specialist Group in 2024 and am since working on the “Catabase”, the Cat SG’s database maintained to collect and share observational data on all wild cats. Additionally, I support Red List and Green Status of Species assessments with GIS work.
Malini Pittet
m.pittet(a)kora.ch
Website designer and content manager
Growing up in southern India I have always been fascinated by wildlife, and felids in particular. After completing my degrees in Biodiversity Conservation and Management at Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent, I was involved in conservation projects for Arabian leopards, Indian tigers and leopards, jaguars, pumas and ocelots in South America, the Persian leopard, as well as the recovery of wolf and lynx in the European Alps. For some years now I have focused on conservation photography and photojournalism. Through field guide training in southern Africa, and an advanced open water diving certification I further extended my range of activity in conservation journalism for print and online publications.
