Meet the people behind the project

Dr. Luke Hunter, Project Leader

Luke Hunter is the Executive Director of Panthera, a New-York based conservation charity he helped to create in 2006 which is dedicated to the range-wide conservation of the world's wild cat species. Prior to that, he headed the Great Cats Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and held positions in universities in Australia and South Africa. Hunter has worked on the ecology and conservation of carnivores in Africa since 1992. His doctorate and post-doctoral research developed methods to re-establish populations of cheetahs and lions in areas where they had been extirpated from Southern Africa. His current projects include assessing the effects of sport hunting and illegal persecution on leopards outside protected areas, developing a conservation strategy for lions across their African range, and the first intensive study of Persian leopards, striped hyaenas, wolves and the last surviving Asiatic cheetahs in Iran. Hunter has contributed to 80 scientific papers and popular articles, and has written five books. He is working on his sixth book A Field Guide to Carnivores of the World.

Books

Articles

Guy Balme, Field Coordinator

Guy Balme is a South African zoologist who has worked from a young age at game lodges in the renowned Sabi-Sands Reserve, and at the Londolozi Game Reserve where the extraordinarily viewable leopards cemented his love for the species. Guy completed his B.Sc. at the University of Cape Town, majoring in Zoology and Botany, which he followed with an Honours degree specializing in ornithology. In 2002, he worked as a ranger at Phinda before joining the leopard project at the start of 2003 as the senior research assistant. Guy is trained in the capture, handling and observation of the leopards and he has already co-authored four articles about his work on the species. Starting 2005, he will begin a Masters degree on the ranging and dispersal patterns of the MunYaWana leopards.

Tristan Dickerson

Tristan is a South African zoologist who has had a keen interest in predators for several years. He completed his B.Sc at the University of KwaZulu Natal, majoring in Biological Sciences, which he followed up with a Honours degree (Cum laude) in behavioural ecology. He has worked as an assistant on the Pilanesburg National Park Elephant Project and on the Phinda Black Rhino Project. Tristan has been working permanently with the project for over three years and is experienced in the capture, handling and tracking (physical and radio telemetry) of predators (specifically leopards) and will continue to work for the project for years to come.