Clouded Leopard Summit Draws to a Close

It’s hard to believe, but it is really over. We wrapped up the Summit today with what might have been the most hectic day yet. Our working groups hammered out the goals and action steps we wanted to undertake to move forward in addressing the issues we identified yesterday. This was the real meat of the meeting; all the work so far led up to being able to get this done. I will provide much more information on the process and actual results of the Summit once I return to the U.S. next week. It really was a fascinating process to see the evolution of not only our conservation strategy, but also to see how the working groups coalesced after spending so much time working together on issues of such great concern to us all. As the lone educator in my Borneo working group I learned a ton from my field biologist colleagues. For instance, I never realized how excited researchers get about a newly discovered satellite map detailing Borneo’s forest cover: (Note: this is not a posed photo!)

I was really pretty naïve about the amount of work this Summit would entail. I had been working non-stop on preparations for several months prior to the meeting and thought that once we began, I would devote all my attention to being a participant. This was definitely NOT the case. I had a million details to attend to which unfortunately precluded my ability to really get to know some of our participants better. However, I’m comforted by the fact that they all had many opportunities to network among themselves and I could tell that the meeting really helped facilitate the forging of connections that I’m sure will be long-lasting. This was one of the primary goals of the Summit so we can be very pleased that this was achieved.

Speaking of being busy, in the midst of frantically trying to help our working group complete our tasks, I had to break for a midday press conference. We really wanted to invite the press to hear the results of the meeting in order to publicize the plight of clouded leopards and other small cats. Press conferences here in Thailand are fairly formal affairs with a panel presenting information to the media. Our panel had representatives from Kasetsart University, the Department of National Parks, the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand, one of our facilitators Christine Breitenmoser from the IUCN, and both JoGayle Howard and I. We weren’t sure if anyone would show up, so we were pleased to welcome reporters from eleven different media, including four television stations. It was an interesting experience trying to appear fascinated with the proceedings when it was all in Thai!
The event wrapped up with more group reporting and a brief closing ceremony where participants received lovely certificates. We then adjourned to the patio for one more amazing dinner and last conversations with new friends. As usual, our host Dr. Naris had arranged for more of his talented students to entertain us – this time fire spinners! It was pretty cool.

Andreas complained that I hadn't posted any photos of him yet (even though he gets prominent coverage in this space due to our support of his Borneo research project!) so here he is enjoying a Singha beer with Carl Traeholt.Tomorrow morning a group of about twenty of us are heading off on our field trip to Phu Kheow Wildlife Sanctuary. We’ll stay two nights, touring and hearing presentations about research efforts in the Sanctuary. Afterwards we head straight to Khao Kheow Open Zoo to visit the clouded leopard breeding project. We’ll be checking in on the cubs born in November – we can’t wait! I won’t be able to report back until returning to Bangkok for one night before heading home. I’ll provide much more information about everything in the upcoming weeks so stay tuned!

Oh, I forgot to introduce our meeting’s mascot. This is a newly discovered tiger/clouded leopard hybrid:

Cat Conservation is Hard Work!

Wow, what a day. Did we ever WORK! We spent most of the day in our working groups identifying the issues and threats facing the felids in our region. Once we teased out the details, my working group, Borneo, identified over 20 different threats and issues influencing cat conservation. Since it is unrealistic to think that this group has the power to actually impact all of those issues, we prioritized using two different criteria: what issues negatively impact cats the most (i.e. conversion of forest to oil palm plantations vs. direct hunting for trade) and which are issues we can actually do something about (filling gaps in scientific knowledge of cats vs. increasing law enforcement.) We want our final recommendations and action steps to be real and achievable by the members of this workshop – mostly field biologists with an educator (me!) thrown in for good measure. If we had a contingent of government representatives who have the power to influence legislation, our priority issues might have been different.

Cracking the whip to keep all the working groups on task all day was Onnie. Here she is in action!


As soon as work ended today, our hosts once again whisked us off for another Thai adventure, this time a dinner cruise along the Chao Praya River. This proved to be another great bonding opportunity for the group, with the added bonus of some great scenery of Bangkok at night. As is standard practice for any celebration in Southeast Asia, the karaoke machine was broken out almost immediately, with the first tune being the ever-popular Country Roads. There definitely must be a Thailand branch of the John Denver fan club as I have heard this number performed at every karaoke event I have attended (several) over my years visiting here. I do have video proof and will insert it when I have more time.


As we pulled up to the restaurant that operates our dinner cruise (The Dairy Queen!), I spied a fruit vendor on the corner and to my complete amazement and delight they had both mangosteens and mangoes for sale! These are my two very favorite fruits and I had been told that they were out of season and had not seen them anywhere. I had to pay a bit, but I was a very happy camper… I must wrap up so I can go enjoy my three kilos of fruit!

All Work and No Play...

Everything they say about Thai hospitality is absolutely true. Dr. Naris and his staff continue to surprise us with their incredible attention to every detail. With no prompting from us, they arranged a fantastic welcome dinner for us all immediately after our opening day of the meeting today. We had a tour of the KU Forestry museum to learn about some of their research and then it was on to a full Thai banquet, complete with entertainment by traditional Thai musicians and dancers. Making the performance extra special was the news that some of the performers were actually Forestry Dept. students! These folks just keep amazing us…




One of the most important goals of this meeting is to facilitate the creation of a network for biologists working in the field throughout the region. Such networking happens while completing the working group tasks, but the real bonding occurs over beers (or juice/coffee/tea) during breaks. So having this icebreaker went a long way in helping to forge relationships between participants that we hope will continue into the future.



And, for full disclosure, Dr. Naris conspired with the dancers to get me to show off my best Thai dance moves. As someone completely bereft of both the grace and rhythm genes, this had turn of events had catastrophic potential. Luckily, it didn’t go as badly as I feared as I tried to Gumby my fingers into the impossibly elegant poses of my instructor. Don’t worry, I won’t be giving up my day job!