Felis is a nonprofit organization organized as an association based in Switzerland with a worldwide working area. The members of Felis met through their shared passion for mammals and donate their time to support small wild cat conservation.
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Meet the team
Sophie and Manuel Baumgartner
founding member
Our hobby of observing mammals and especially wild cats and bears in the wild soon turned into a passion.
Through our travels we witnessed tragedies like poaching and habitat loss again and again and soon felt the urge to support the protection of these magnificent animals.
We moved more and more in the direction of conservation and learned a lot until we finally decided to found Felis.
Lorenz Achtnich
founding member
Ecologist who studies biodiversity in urban areas.
I am passionate about habitats, the plant communities found in them and the interaction of these plants with the predominant fauna.
Fascinated by the diversity of life on earth and therefore I have a strong conviction of the responsibility to protect it. Wild cats, which can act as flagship species, have a special value in habitat protection. This and the stunning beauty of wild cats are the drivers of my involvement.
Ruben Vernieuwe
founding member
I'm a fanatic bird and mammalwatcher. I am passionate about biodiversity and travelling. Working for the National Plant Protection Organisation I'm able to take part in protecting native plantlife.
During my master of science in Biology I learned about conservation and its many different aspects. These days conservation is key for animals, plants and ecosystems which are often under pressure from human activity.
Protecting charismatic species like wild cats means protecting ecosystems but only by including local communities can these projects succeed.
I'm proud of being a part of Felis and the values it stands for.
Valentin Moser
founding member
Passionate about nature, my interests are in biodiversity, ecosystems and conservation. While vertebrates, particularly mammals, are especially interesting to me, all moving things are fascinating. This fascination for nature fuels my desire to do conserve species and habitats for future generations. Cats have a special place in my heart – and conserving these flagship species means conserving valuable habitat around the world. Right now, I am doing a PhD in Switzerland at the WSL / Eawag about ecosystem impacts of beavers, connecting my species knowledge on an ecosystem level. I am motivated to pass on my knowledge and, together with Project Felis, create a win-win situation for cats, nature and people.
Dr. Dechen Lham
founding member
I am a conservation biologist interested in diverse themes ranging from species conservation to as broad as protected areas management. My enthusiasm in understanding how research is needed to develop adequate conservation policy has led me to divert my attention from policy making to conservation research. I believe that for conservation to succeed, securing a sustainable livelihood of people dependent on nature is of utmost importance. With my background and experience in conservation policy, species conservation, protected areas management and project management I hope to support and contribute to Felis. In my PhD research, I studied the ecology (distribution, abundance, feeding ecology and interaction with people) of snow leopards in Bhutan. One of my current research interest is understanding the science-policy interface in biodiversity policymaking.
Jens Hauser
member
I live in Lund in the Southern part of Sweden. I love to travel to foreign countries and explore them with my camera. I use my camera as a driver to get me out, meet people and get new insights.
I mostly photograph people, landscapes and wildlife, especially wild cats. Large cats, small cats, medium cats, any feline in good light, and I´m happy. So, working with Felis is going to be extremely fun, interesting and mostly rewarding for me and all of the small cats.
When I am not photographing, I work as a Senior Test Manager specialising in quality assurancing websites, apps and IT systems.
For me, photography is a bit like testing: fail until you succeed.
