NEWSLINK: Studying Sonoma’s big cats

"We know the cats are out there,” said Dr. Quinton Martins, principal investigator of Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Mountain Lion Project. “We don’t know how many there are, whether the population is healthy, or how they are moving through the landscape.”

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NEWSLINK: Milwaukee Zoo recording big cats for study on tiger lingo

Strannik — all 422 pounds of him — laid his ears back and chuffed as breakfast in the form of ground beef mixed with vitamins was passed through the bars of his cage.
Earlier, he had growled at the Milwaukee County Zoo's other tigers. While human zookeepers could only guess, his furry striped compatriots knew exactly what he was saying.

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NEWSLINK: Mayacamas mountain lion population subject of first-of-its-kind study

Cougar, painter, catamount, purple panther; the mountain lion is known by many names. Its mystique is deeply connected to our innate fear of dark shadows and things that rustle unseen in the brush. Although widespread across North America, mountain lions are timid by nature and generally avoid confrontation with humans.

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ARTICLE: Lions Are Making a Surprising Comeback--but Only When They Are Kept behind Fences

In the summer of 2015 a single dead lion, Cecil, dominated the news. Trophy hunting is not without its complications, but Panthera leo faces even larger problems than wealthy hunters with big guns. 

Classified as threatened, lions suffer from habitat loss, depletion of prey, retaliatory killing for real or perceived losses of human life and livestock, poaching for traditional medicine, and more.

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ARTICLE: Are We Saying Farewell to America’s Mountain Lion? Five Worst States For the Cougar

When Cecil, the black-maned lion, was killed last year by an American big-game hunter in Zimbabwe, it sparked international outrage and left us all questioning the practice of trophy hunting. 

If anything good came out of his tragic death, however, it was awareness.

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VIDEO: Huge mountain lion freed from bobcat trap in Utah

A Utah conservation officer posted video of a tense rescue involving a large cougar that became ensnared by a bobcat trap.


The video posted to YouTube shows Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officer Mark Ekins and a trapper working to free the mountain lion from the bobcat trap in the Pine Valley Mountains on Dec. 17.

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ARTICLE: Grittily Guarding the Gir's Big Cats

When a forest that is home to 523 lions did not stop Darshana Kagda think twice from saying yes to a job as a Forester, you’ve got to wonder what else will! Being headstrong paid off too, as Darshana joined the women’s forest guard team at the Gir Lion Sanctuary.

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NEWSLINK: Big cat in Qatar gives drivers a fright

Talk about a hair-raising commute.


Drivers in the energy-rich Mideast nation of Qatar got a surprise Monday when an escaped tiger was seen prowling among cars on a major motorway.

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PHOTOS: Big cats have big time with two new swimming pools, waterfall

In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center’s cats have new pools in time for Spring Break.


The cats of In-Sync now have even more to enjoy at playtime, as pools in two more playground areas have been completed.

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RADIO: Early Bounty Hunters Decimate Oregon Cougars

Numerous accounts of cougar encounters sprinkled the pages of early Oregon newspapers.


Also called mountain lions and sometimes panthers, the big cats were blamed for stalking children, harassing miners, killing livestock and pets, decimating deer populations, and scaring women out for a walk. A bounty spurred intense hunting and generated tales of bravery, as well as buffoonery.

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NEWSLINK: Scientists try to clone 12,000-year old cave lion DNA

Revolutionary new DNA techniques are making scientists hopeful in bringing back to life, a species of Ice Age cave lions that roamed the Earth 12,000 years ago.


Remains of two lion cubs, Uyan and Dina were found frozen and practically intact in the remote Sakha Republic in Russia’s north-west in August 2015.

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VIDEO: The secret to preserving Namibia's big cats? Big dogs..

They maybe man's best friend, but dogs in Namibia have been making a new acquaintance: the cheetah.


Anatolian Shepherds and Kangals, large dog breeds that can weigh up to 150 lbs, are being employed by Namibian farmers as a deterrence, preventing the big cats from causing big problems.

Watch the video here..