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About History The People & Predators Fund was developed in response to increasing concerns over the threatened global status of large carnivore populations. Given the worldwide growth in human population and the associated conversion of habitat as human populations move into predominantly untouched wildernesses, carnivores are increasingly at risk. Yet, the decline in carnivore numbers has progressed with little recognition by the global community. The Fund was specifically created to help provide new conservation solutions for Africa’s large carnivores. While most past conservation efforts focused on the creation of protected areas to safeguard wildlife from people and vice-versa, the People & Predators Fund grew out of the realization that most protected areas are not large enough to protect genetically viable large carnivore populations, and therefore, the survival of Africa’s large carnivores depends upon the people utilizing land outside protected areas. The People & Predators Fund was originally established by Dr. Lichtenfeld in 2001 as the People & Predators Project, a non-profit based at Yale University as she worked towards her Ph.D. Dr. Lichtenfeld conducted fieldwork in Tanzania, exploring local attitudes towards large carnivores, namely lions leopards, hyenas, cheetahs and wild dogs. Furthermore, she employed the skills of Hadzabe hunter-gatherers to pioneer a non-invasive method of counting carnivores in the Tarangire ecosystem. In 2005, Dr. Lichtenfeld initiated a transition from the research project structure that characterized the People & Predators Project into the broader-reaching organization that is the People & Predators Fund. The Fund was established to continue with the groundbreaking work of collaborative carnivore conservation begun earlier, while expanding the programs the organization offers in support of integrated conservation and human development.
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