Greetings from the Osa Peninsula!!

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1 Octo- ber, 2009 Greetings from the Osa Peninsula!! We would like to thank you for all your support throughout the years, which has helped us continue our efforts towards the conservation of wildcats and other endange- red species in the exceptional forest of the Osa Though we have been working for several years already in this area and some places in Panama, we are only now just beginning the process of creating our own organization: Yaguará.. We want to focus entirely on the conservation of wildcats and their prey not only in the Osa Peninsula, but also in other parts of Costa Rica and Panama; an effort essential to try and ensure the biological connectivity of these areas in the future. This implies continuing to work the way we always have, only expanding our reach towards the future. Once Yaguará is established, we hope it becomes easier to apply proposals to international organizations so that we can continue with our work. Of course, as any new organization, it might be difficult to achieve formal recogni- tion as such, but we re sure that with your support we will succeed! This is a new step that we are very excited about and we hope that you can be a part of this process. Thank you so much for trusting us! Ricardo Moreno & Aida Bustamante with a Reconyx camera trap.

2 2 Our main achievements during the first 7 months this year, have been: Giving more than 185 presentations to: Communities: Educational Centers Homes!

3 3 Activities with children Lodges (guests and staff) Local authorities

4 4 Also, thanks to the logistic support by Friends of the Osa and financing from organizations like Evergreen Foundation (for the study of ocelot latrines ), The El Tigre Fund ($2,500 with which 10 digital cameras were purchased), Women of the Osa ($1000), Saint Louis Rainforest Advocates ($1,000) and one of the Ford Motor Company prizes on Conservation and Environment ($2,500), we have been able to continue our research and environmental education activities. Friends of the Osa Ford Motor Company of Conservation and Environment El Tigre Fund Saint Louis Rainforest Advocates Women of the Osa Ceremony of Ford Motor Company prizes for Conservation and Environment 2009.

5 5 Furthermore, the support that lodges like Lapa Ríos, El Remanso and Bosque del Cabo have shown to us by purchasing their own camera-traps has been a great help for several reasons: 1) They actively participate in our conservation efforts, 2) They help us continue to monitor the population of wildcats and their prey in the area of Matapalo-Corcovado, and 3) They help us reduce the number of cameras we need to buy in order to keep the study going. We thank them enormously for their great support and the confidence they ve had in us throughout the years... The following are some of the most recent photographs captured by those cameras! Lapa Ríos Ecolodge Puma (male) King vulture El Remanso Wildlife Lodge Tayra Ocelot (male) Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge Collared peccaries Puma (Female)

6 6 Thanks to your collaboration by purchasing our tt-shirts... We re the only program in Central America that actually provides a financial compensation to the owners of domestic animals that have been attacked by a puma or a jaguar, in order to avoid sacrificing wildcats due to this type of conflicts. Thanks to you we have so far been able to pay for 16 animals. We purchased the homehome-schooling series of El Maestro en Casa so that several local teenagers could complete their junior high school studies. We helped a local young woman pay her studies to continue her university education in Administration. We would also like to sincerely thank the lodges that have helped us in so many ways (chats, tt-shirt selling, lodging, etc) so that we can continue with our efforts: Puerto Jimenez Iguana lodge MatapaloMatapalo-Corcovado area: Ojo del Mar Lapa Ríos Finca Exótica Bosque del Cabo Luna Lodge El Remanso La Leona Piedras Blancas National Park: Esquinas Rainforest of the Austrians Playa Nicuesa

7 7 We would like to welcome Cindy!! Cindy Cámara is a lady who is very committed to conservation and in the last two years has been a very active and key person in the Osa Peninsula. Cindy helped Bosque del Cabo lodge to obtain its Certification for Sustainable Tourism, and is working in El Remanso. She has decided also to be a part of our team, for which we feel very happy and really fortunate!!! Welcome Cindy!!! Right to left: Juan Pinto (Lapa Ríos manager), Cindy Cámara, Aida Bustamante & Ricardo Moreno. Our plans for the next few months are to: 1. Do activities and workshops directed to tour guides, communities, ranchers, educational centers, park rangers from the MÍNAET, hotel owners and decision makers. With this we intend to make a positive change in the perception of the people who share their daily lives with wildlife on the state of the wildcat populations, and at the same time foment the connectivity between Corcovado and Piedras Blancas National Parks. 2. To generate base-line data to: Sample and soon monitor the corridor that should connect Corcovado and Piedras Blancas National Parks, in order to assess the state of the wildcat populations and their preys in that area. Work with local people from other areas in the Osa Peninsula, the same way as we have with the people in the area of Matapalo-Corcovado. Involve poachers and other local people in the research and in obtaining results (finding spots for camera set-up, collecting scats, etc). The idea is to pay the people who help us find camera spots for each photograph captured by that camera of any specie in grave danger of extinction (i.e. jaguars and white-lipped peccaries). With this we hope people perceive a direct benefit of having these animals alive in their prop- erty, while at the same time we create a process and generate different alternatives for conservation. 3. Try to repair the little wildcat hut so that we can have a base of operations where we can host small school groups for activities and provide lodging to some volunteers. The idea is to repair it and build a platform with a tent. 4. To present some of our results on the XIII Mesoamerican Congress for Biology and Conservation at the end of October in Belice.

8 8 There are several ways for you to collaborate actively in conservation: 1. Helping us grow awareness in other people!!! 2. Passing this type of information around (i.e. in your schools and organizations). 3. Rejecting meat and other wild animal derivatives. 4. Recycling. 5. Collaborating with Conservation Programs. How can you be a part of our effort? 1. Monetary contributions: 100% of your contribution is destined directly to backing the activities held by our Environmental Education Program. 2. Purchase of camera traps: For only $500 you can purchase a digital camera trap for us and help give it proper maintenance for a whole year. For no extra cost we will send you a Thank You certificate and the photographs that your camera takes throughout the whole year. With this you provide an essential tool for helping us assess the state of the wildcat populations and their prey in key sites, and to keep monitoring this through time. Right now we need at least 75 cameras. 3. Supporting our participation in activities and gatherings with international relevance: This year we would love to have the opportunity to participate in the XIII Meso- american Congress for Biology and Conservation held in Belize (an event to which more than 700 people assist yearly), where we plan on displaying the results we have accomplished so far, stressing the importance of involving locals in the process. At the same time this will help us make more contacts that can potentially help us find fund- ing for the program. If you help us, we guarantee we will include your name or logo in our presentations during and after the congress for a whole year. In 2008 our participation in the Congress in El Salvador was very successful, and we deeply thank the Lapa Rios and Luna Lodge hotels, Costa Rica s Ministry of Science and Technology and Friends of the Osa for helping us make this possible!! For more information on the Wildcat Project or on how to help support it financially or with materials, please contact us! Info@yaguara.org Aida Bustamante abustamante@yaguara.org Ricardo Moreno rmoreno@yaguara.org Cindy Cámara ccamara@yaguara.org We are working on *Tax-deductible donations online (in US) Donate.html (specifying that it is for the Wild Cats Program). Please send us an , in order to follow it more easily.

9 9 Our work is only possible thanks to the generous support of the people who care about the Osa Peninsula. That s why we would like to deeply thank those who have believed in our project and have helped us during 2009: $1000 Lucie Snodgrass $201 to $400 Evan & Kelly Greenwald Lee, June & Spencer Stein Joanie Keyplas & Steve Worley Jill & Chip Isenhart $101 to $200 Ann, J.C & Emily Savage Deborah Pianko Martha Mcclellan Rich & Cherie Gogging Ginger & Hardy Hays Clare $51 to $100 Derek Ferguson Paul & Elizabeth Heck Thomas Lee Alaina Murphy Mark Salvo Jacinthe Bergerm Carol & Earl Crews Sambol Stephanie Yelenosky Becky Herbst Marjorie Ariano Siraj Khayq Steven & Nettie Bauman Ann Becker Martha Mcclellan Mark Lotwls Gregg Lo Guigie & Alice Litson Paty $5 to $20 Edward Dworkin Roger Gerakin Cindy Mihora Jason Cummings Ginny Van Dyke Leigh Gibson Erin Kobayashi Vichi & Chris Brown Maeder André James & Cloes Studdart Christopher Go Brad Rozmarynouski Lynn Bickel Chris Prihoda Ryan Rodman Connie Marvel Marina Domínguez Johnathan Carter W Ball Peter Stein Dr Depp Inq Bruce Weimer Kelley Vega Ian & Katie Bone Jason Linsley Mary Sheehan Katie Madarasz Nathan Thornton Maxine & Rob Dexter Billy Carr Jeremy & Melissa Bender Wirth Tonia & John Aseri Stephanie Thomas Jeannette Mitchell Maxine & Rob Dexter Kathryn Dailey Larry Joy