Normally at this time of year, WVI vet and big cat expert John Lewis, is towards the end of his annual trip to Russia to continue the training of local vets and teams which deal with tigers in conflicts situations as well as tigers studied in the wild.

In April this year, the Russian government's Working Group for Monitoring Amur Tigers prohibited the use of the Aldrich snare (a snare used internationally for catching animals for research) for catching Amur tigers and leopards for research purposes. They can still be used to catch conflict tigers. The ban has not been revoked so John will not be making a trip to the field this year. However, John has been and will continue to support colleagues in Russia via the internet. 

Earlier this year, John attended a conference in Moscow that discussed the keeping and breeding of Amur leopards and tigers in captivity. The aim is to potentially reintroduce Amur leopards; creating a second population in their natural habitat. In order to have the right leopards available for reintroduction, it is important to maintain populations of these rare cats with high genetic diversity. Funds raised by Photography for Big Cats CIC earlier this year have contributed to these initiatives.

Amur leopard - Denzil roaming  at Yorkshire Wildlife Park

 Not going to Russia will allow John time to work on the data he has acquired, from captive and wild Amur leopards. All mortality data from captive leopards in America, Eurasia and Japan are put in the Amur Leopard Veterinary Database as well as all health data from the field.

The database has been developed especially for this project to enable mortality data to be compared between collections, countries, regions, and time periods. This will give John a feel for what captive leopards die of and relate that to conditions in the wild. It is important that new diseases are not introduced to the area through the reintroduction project.

While WVI's developments in Russia are currently slow, a project related to health issues, encountered in Amur leopard and tiger territory, and many other parts of the world, is currently going full speed ahead in Sumatra. During field training earlier this year, John heard of reports of tigers behaving in a similar way to those confirmed with Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) in Russia.

Having expressed his thoughts there was wide support for an island wide tiger disease surveillance programme, the first of its kind. In September a workshop thrashed out the details of such a programme, which will be overseen by the newly formed Sumatran Tiger Health Forum.

Sumatran Tiger Cub at Chester Zoo

WVI feels it is very important that such an initiative is developed and run by in-country agencies and not by international NGOs. Therefore the Forum will be coordinated and supported by Taman Safari International, Indonesian Veterinary Medicine Association and the Indonesian Department of Forestry with expert help from WVI and others where needed. This model has been applied in Russia and now in Sumatra.

Although this work is not in Russia, lessons will be learned that are directly applicable to the Amur leopards and tigers, where the problem of canine distemper for big cats was confirmed this year.

As CDV is a health risk that effects big cats across various countries, it will not be possible to tackle this in isolation for any leopard or tiger species, and the island wide surveillance programme in Sumatra will be of great help to big cat populations in Russia and in Bangladesh.

Funds permitting, WVI hopes to set up a similar initiative in Bangladesh next year, and activities in Russia are always ongoing.

Olivia Walter - Wildlife Vets International

The Niassa Lion Project was selected by the Yorkshire Wildlife Park Foundation, as the project for which we raised money for on behalf of the park this year. The project's approach to wildlife conservation is quite unique in Africa as most projects focus on wildlife conservation and have a connected community programme. The work of the Niassa Lion Project is as much about people as it is about lions and other carnivores; it is community-based and is run by local people. 

The Niassa Nature Reserve (NNR) is located in northern Mozambique, bordering Tanzania. It is recognised as the most important protected area in Mozambique, and one of the last great wilderness areas on planet Earth. With 16,000 square miles it is larger than Switzerland. This reserve is of profound importance for the conservation of African wildlife, especially for the African lions, wild dogs and elephants.

The Niassa reserve also supports a growing human population; currently 35,000 people across 40 villages. Therefore, the future of NNR and its wildlife is depending on a wildlife conservation approach, which considers how people and wildlife can co-exist without too many problems for either side.

Large carnivore species, like the African lion and leopard, are amongst the most difficult species to conserve because of the threats they pose to people and livestock, the large areas, they need to survive, and because the majority of them are elusive and difficult to survey. 

African Lioness in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve, SA

The Niassa Lion Project is working to reduce all threats to lions and other carnivore species in NNR with a particular focus on snaring, retaliation killing, diseases (mainly from domestic dogs), and sport hunting. The projects works with local villagers to build effective goat corrals, test beehive-fences to repel wildlife from agricultural fields, and to promote the construction of safe shelters. If the conflicts between local people and wildlife can be reduced, the relationship should improve and give the lions a chance to look after themselves.

The Niassa Lion Project is community-based, meaning their small team, with the exception of the founders, Colleen and Keith Beggs, consists solely of Mozambicans. The project aims to build a 'lion-friendly' community, where everyone is a participant and actively involved. Through providing education plus advice and tools  for the protection of people and livestock, the project tackles the fear of the lions and other carnivore species. In addition, through the involvement in conservation work, the introduction of domestic livestock breeding programmes and additional products like honey from the beehive-fences, the projects helps locals to generate an income and food, and with this taking away the need for snaring for bush meat (number one threat in NNR).

This is a great initiative and a great cause to raise money for as part of the Lion Day at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. As mentioned above, we have raised a total of �455.36 for this in August, and this money has gone already via the Yorkshire Wildlife Park Foundation to the Niassa Lion Project in Mozambique. Once again thank you for your support!

Since we started our photography courses and photo days some 3.5 years ago, we have tried to help people, who could not attend an event, by rescheduling their attendance to another photography course or day. As about 90% of all cancellation (rescheduling) have been made on short notices, this has left Photography for Big Cats CIC however out-of-pocket. Through the late cancellation, we were not able to fill the places and the customers' rescheduling has taken up effectively 2 spaces (against 1 payment). 

Additionally, we have ended up in some cases with participant numbers below the minimum number, we require to cover our costs. Due to the short notice by the customers, we were not able to cancel the photography course/day (as we state to give a 2 weeks notice, if we have to cancel). Please bear in mind that we pay a large share of the course fee (between 45 and 50%) to the course venue, and therefore rely to have the minimum numbers stated to cover our costs.

Although we understand that there are situations, which are out of your hands, which may prevent you from attending a pre-booked event, we are simply not in the position to carry the costs for something, which is not caused through our doing. Based on this, we felt the need to clarify the booking and cancellation processes, and hence have changed our Terms and Conditions. The main changes are:

• Full payment for a photography course/day is due 4 weeks prior to the event date,
• Changes to bookings will need to be advised and confirmed 4 weeks prior to the photography course/day,
• Rescheduling can only be done when 4 weeks notice has been given,
• Any changes to confirmed bookings and gift voucher expiry dates are subject to an administration fee of �25,
• Rescheduling a photography course/day attendance can be done only once (if 4 weeks notice was given),
• When rescheduling can be arranged, the attendance on a photography course/day or the prolongation of a gift voucher expiry date will need to be within 6 months of the original booking date or respectively expiry date.

In addition to the above-mentioned changes, which relate directly to bookings, cancellations and rescheduling, we have also clarified our payment process, which is via Paypal or alternatively bank transfer.

For full details on our Terms and Conditionschanges please click the highlighted 'Terms and Conditions' in this sentence.