October 2013 – Wilderness Safaris and the Wilderness Wildlife Trust have facilitated the generous funding of USD360 000 from global sports lifestyle brand PUMA to the world’s leading wild cat conservation organisation, Panthera. A small portion of this funding has already been used to survey the status of lions in the more than two million hectare Kafue National Park. An expanded initiative, resulting from this initial investigation, will now focus on renewing the anti-poaching programme in the park.

Together with financial and logistical support from PUMA and Wilderness Safaris, Panthera will work with the Zambia Wildlife Authority and a local NGO, Game Rangers International, to help support, and expand law enforcement activities by the local wildlife authorities in Kafue National Park – Zambia’s largest protected area and one of the most important national parks in Africa for the protection of large carnivores like lion, wild dog, cheetah and spotted hyaena. Outfitting and expanding anti-poaching units will be the priority, alongside improving law enforcement monitoring to allow tracking of illegal activities, evaluation of the success of enforcement efforts and optimal deployment of resources for conservation.

“PUMA is inspired by the agility and speed of all big cats”, said Justin DeKoszmovszky, PUMA Global Sustainability Strategy Manager. “We are happy to support this new initiative by Panthera to help protect local biodiversity in Kafue National Park as part of our ongoing commitment to environmental protection.”  Find more…