Big-cat expert to discuss wildlife preservation April 2

Alan Rabinowitz, CEO of Panthera, a felid conservation organization, will discuss “Saving the World’s Big Cats for the Future” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall, on the Skidmore campus. The event is part of SkidGenuity, a month-long, campus-wise celebration of creativity, innovation, and achievement.

In this lecture, sponsored by Skidmore’s Biology Department as part of its Senior Capstone series, the Speaker’s Bureau and Animal Alliance, Rabinowitz will discuss his remarkable career and explain why it’s essential to preserve wildlife and their habitats.

A profound stutter left Rabinowitz virtually unable to communicate as a child, and to prefer animals to people. Now a conservationist of big cats and CEO of the global wildcat organization Panthera, Rabinowitz has extraordinary insight into both wildlife and the human condition. Dubbed the “Indiana Jones of Wildlife Ecology” by Time magazine, Rabinowitz has dedicated his life to surveying the world’s last wild places with the goal of preserving wild habitats and securing homes for some of the world’s most endangered mammals. His focus on cats is based on conserving top predators, which affect entire ecosystems. By saving cats, the impacts are far reaching and conserve vast landscapes upon which many species depend, including humans.

His work with heads of state to conserve wildcat habitat helped establish the world’s first jaguar preserve in Belize and the world’s largest tiger reserve in Myanmar’s Hukaung Valley. One of his greatest achievements was the conceptualization and implementation of the Jaguar Corridor, a series of biological and genetic corridors for jaguars across their entire range, from Mexico to Argentina.

Rabinowitz has written more than 100 scientific and popular articles and seven books, including Jaguar:  One Man’s Struggle to Establish the First Jaguar Preserve (1986/2000), Chasing the Dragon’s Tail:  The Struggle to Save Thailand’s Wild Cats (1991/2002), Beyond the Last Village: A Journey of Discovery in Asia’s Forbidden Wilderness (2001), Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed (2008), and most recently a children’s book titled A Boy and a Jaguar (2014).

In conjunction with Rabinowitz’s talk Skidmore students are raising funds for Panthera via this web site, and with a 5K “Cheetah Run” on Saturday, April 5. The run is open to all interested participants. Read more about the run here, or visit the Skidmore Facebook page.