Living with Mountain Lions

Presentation with Zara McDonald, Founder and President of Felidae Conservation Fund

Thursday, October 27, 7:00-8:30pm

Location: Heron Hall, Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95401

$10 per person. Pre-registration required.

San Francisco-based and globally-working wild cat conservation organization, Felidae Conservation Fund, gives an engaging and inspiring presentation about mountain lions and the work currently underway to study and protect them. Felidae Conservation Fund is a non-profit that aims to advance the conservation of wild cats and their habitats planetwide through a combination of groundbreaking research, compelling education and cutting-edge technology. Felidae works in both North and South America on different mountain lion research and conservation projects. The flagship project is the Bay Area Puma Project – www.bapp.org. These keystone predators (also called pumas and cougars) play a critical role in maintaining the health and biodiversity of our ecosystems. However, expansion of human populations is causing increasing encounters and conflicts between humans and pumas, and growing tensions in our local communities. Zara discusses mountain lion ecology and history, the challenges of sharing the habitat with mountain lions, and offers essential tips for living and recreating without fear in puma habitat.

Entrepreneur and conservationist Zara McDonald is Founder and President of Felidae Conservation Fund. She formed Felidae in 2006 to research and conserve wild cats as apex predators and keystone species in ecosystems throughout the world. She is an experienced field and veterinary technician and has worked extensively in all areas of felid research, tracking and monitoring animals in collaborative efforts around the world. A Bay Area native, Zara holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and she has journeyed all over the world to work on behalf of wild cat research and conservation.