Blog post discussing Jaguar-human conflict

September 28, 2015

There is more to jaguar-human conflict than biology – human sociology is high relevant, as Silvio Marchini and David Macdonald reported in an article in 2012 (Marchini, S. and Macdonald, D. W. (2012), "Predicting ranchers' intention to kill jaguars: Case studies in Amazonia and Pantanal", Biological Conservation, 147:1, 213-221). Their study is the basis of ... Read full story

Wonderful accolades for WildCRU stars

September 21, 2015

Last week, at a major meeting in Abu Dhabi, the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN recognized the achievements of two acclaimed members of the WildCRU team. Dr Mark Stanley Price, a senior research fellow in the Unit was awarded the highly prestigious Peter Scott award “In recognition of his dedication to the SSC ... Read full story

Sandra Baker attends Expert Forum on Humane Wildlife Management, Compassionate Conservation Conference in Vancouver and UFAW conference in Zagreb

September 16, 2015

Dr Sandra Baker, the Humane Society Research Fellow at WildCRU, recently attended an Expert Forum on Humane Wildlife Management in Vancouver. The forum, held at the University of British Columbia (UBC), brought together international experts on vertebrate wildlife management to inform the development of humane wildlife control standards. The meeting was co-hosted by The ... Read full story

David Macdonald up-dates followers of Cecil’s lion community who are asking us for news of his cubs and pride

September 24, 2015

I have heard from people who are concerned at yet another spate of unfounded rumours that the cubs have been killed (it is a mystery to us where the Press gets these unfounded reports). Happily we can report that all is well, and the private lives of these lions continue to unfold, and we at ... Read full story

Extinct tigers offer an opportunity to learn from history: David Macdonald introduces WildCRU’s new “lessons in memoriam” article on human-tiger conflict and the demise of Singapore’s tigers

September 21, 2015

Never believe what you read in the newspapers, some might say, but sometimes they can be informative.  In a team of our collaborators, led by WildCRU’s Dr Cedric Tan,  we used newspaper reports archived in the National Library of Singapore to extract reports of historical human-tiger interactions in the small island of Singapore (576 km2) http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-015-1002-9. From 1831-1930, ... Read full story

While a rose by any other name might smell as sweet, David Macdonald explains that it seems that from the perspective of the Chinese pharmacopoeia any big cat will do when it comes to the belief in the remedial effects of their bones

September 10, 2015

In 2007 the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC reported that, in 2005, a Chinese wine producer received permission from the government to produce 400,000 bottles of ‘bone-strengthening wine’. The bottle was made as a replica of a tiger. The company’s website touted the wine’s aphrodisiac qualities in addition to its curative impacts on ... Read full story