Our mission is ambitious: to protect the world’s 37 felidae species and their habitats by supporting and participating in international conservation, partnering in excellent science, and generating unrelenting outreach and powerful education programs. We believe this can be achieved collectively with utmost collaboration between scientists, educators, international communities, and lawmakers.

By helping people understand the critical role these animals play in their particular ecosystems and the challenges they face, our hope is that we can preserve habitats, stave off further extinctions, and promote healthy ways for humans and wild cats to co-exist.

We collaborate with world-class scientists and researchers, providing funding, field support and assistance with logistics and planning. Through our innovative education programs we serve as a conduit for sharing the results of these studies with the public in a way that’s engaging and inspiring.

Felidae Conservation Fund was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur and conservationist Zara McDonald, who serves as executive director. Zara holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, and has extensive experience in finance. She co-founded a company, Volcano, Inc, in 1997 and proceeded to put the first GPS technology on the wrist of runners and hikers. In 2003 She co-founded Veda Ventures, a private equity fund with a sustainable business concentration. A former competitive marathoner and an avid trail runner in Marin County(Northern California), Zara became completely intrigued by mountain lion sightings during trail runs, and was moved to action by the conflicts surrounding mountain lion-human interactions. The more she learned as she began journeying into the field with scientists, the more she became committed to educating people about the need to protect wild cat species around the world in their natural landscapes. A lifelong animal lover, Zara believes that we need updated approaches to conservation, and better tools to translate science. If we can reach, include and educate our communities, we are well on our way toward increases in appreciation and response for the conservation challenges that lay ahead of us.

The Felidae Conservation Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit conservation organization. All contributions are tax-deductible. Donors may earmark money to be used in support of a particular species. In addition, all proceeds from any project-specific fundraising event go toward that project—none is used for our administrative costs. Felidae is staffed entirely by volunteers.