Dear all,

I hope you are well. The Urban Caracal Project is having great success- we recently captured and radio-collared our first two Cape of Good Hope caracals within a week of opening traps!

The project has expanded even more than we could've predicted. We have collared more caracals than any other scientific study. Our ability to generate quality information creates more opportunity to translate our work into conservation action. In fact, the city of Cape Town is already using it to prioritize land buy-ups.

This success, however has stretched the project’s budget, especially with respect to the administrative costs of the satellite collars. Current stakeholders are no longer able to provide all of the support that the project needs. As a result, the project faces an uncertain future and, possibly, a premature end.

As you have been the greatest supporters of the project, I am asking if you would be willing to extend your amazing generosity into the project’s exciting second year?

Specifically, we need to raise money to cover three types of expenses. First, we need to provide housing for our team of dedicated volunteer research assistants (R12/000 per month). Second, we need to pay the service fee for acquiring data from our satellite collars (R20,000/collar for 15 collars). Finally, we need to pay to refurbish satellite collars so that we can keep generating data from Cape Point (R10,000/collar for 7 collars).

Would you be willing to help support us? Although we are considering other fundraising approaches, most are too slow and offer small returns relative to the resources that go into them. We depend on private donors such as yourselves to keep the project going.

Thank you for your consideration and any ideas you may have, and perhaps forwarding our information along to any friends you think can help. And please enjoy the photo of our newest cat, Protea. She's a real beauty that sticks to the beaches of Cape Point.

Kind regards and deep appreciation for your ongoing support,

Laurel

Cape Leopard Trust
FNB, Tokai
Branch code: 20 04 09
Account number: 6220 503 0505
SWIFT FIRNZAJJ