Our mission is ambitious: to advance the conservation of the world’s 37 felidae species and their habitats through a combination of pioneering research, compelling education and state-of-the-art technology.

We believe this can be achieved collectively with utmost collaboration between scientists, educators, international communities, and lawmakers. By helping people understand the critical role these animals play in their particular ecosystems and the challenges they face, our hope is that we can preserve habitats, stave off further extinctions, and promote healthy ways for humans and wild cats to co-exist. We team up with world-class researchers, and supply education, outreach, strategy, funding, media, field support and assistance with logistics and planning. Through our innovative education programs we serve as a conduit for sharing the results of these studies with the public in a way that’s engaging and inspiring.

We believe that children play
a vital role in the future of
our natural world, and therefore we provide opportunities for kids to become involved at any age.

We work with youth volunteers from the 5th grade through high school and we bring in college interns to provide them an experience where they learn the world of wild cat research, education and conservation. Our interns become skilled in methods of field work as well as in fundraising, speaking and bookkeeping.

History

Felidae Conservation Fund was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur and conservationist Zara McDonald, who serves as executive director. Zara holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. She co-founded a company, Volcano, Inc, in 1997 and proceeded to put the first GPS technology on the wrist of runners and hikers. In 2003 She co-founded Veda Ventures, a private equity fund with a sustainable business concentration.

A former competitive marathoner and an avid trail runner in Marin County (Northern California), Zara came into contact with mountain lions on two separate occasions during trail runs, and was moved to examine and transform the conflicts surrounding mountain lion-human interactions. She journeying into the field often, and soon became fully dedicated to educating people about the link between felid species, healthy ecosystems and our own sustenance.

A lifelong animal lover, Zara believes that we need updated approaches to conservation, and better tools to translate science. If we can reach, include and educate our communities, we are well on our way toward increases in appreciation and response for the conservation challenges that lay ahead.

The Felidae Conservation Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit conservation organization. All contributions are tax-deductible. Donors may earmark money to be used in support of a particular species. In addition, all proceeds from any project-specific fundraising event go toward that project—none is used for our administrative costs. Felidae is staffed entirely by volunteers.