Alan Rabinowitz saves big cats and Brian Hare gets schooled by bonobos
Panthera CEO Alan Rabinowitz’s debilitating stutter as a child led him to seek refuge amongst animals. He felt most comfortable during trips to the Bronx zoo where he hunkered down at the great cat house to watch powerful jaguars, lions, and cougars locked in a cage with no voice of their own. As a child, he vowed to be their voice. Since then, Rabinowitz has devoted his life to do whatever possible to conserve these animals and their habitats.
For years, he worked to set up safe havens for these animals including the world’s only jaguar sanctuary in Belize and the largest tiger reserve in Myanmar. But for Rabinowitz, that wasn’t enough. “No matter how fast I ran, no matter how many hours I stayed up in a day, no matter how many protected areas I set up, I was losing. And at this point in time, I had set up about eight protected areas over 15,000 square kilometers of pristine habitat for these animals to live and I could not keep pace with human kind. I couldn’t keep pace with the way people were killing and mistreating these big cats.”
Then Rabinowitz had an epiphany. He discovered that jaguars, without being cordoned off in their own sanctuaries, were surviving, thriving, and finding their way through the human landscape from Mexico to Argentina. So what if he could create a corridor in which these animals could move freely, a space still inhabited by humans, but safe for these animals? That idea has been set in motion with a corridor of private and public land established in Central and South America, the result of tireless collaboration between governments, local communities, and conservationists. Next up: Rabinowitz is working on developing a similar model for tigers throughout India, China and Southeast Asia.
From cats to chimps, Duke University Evolutionary Anthropology and Cognitive Neuroscience professor Brian Hare studies the origins of human nature as it relates to bonobos. Looking at the evolution of these primates’ social skills has informed how he considers humans’ abilities to problem solve and resolve conflict. His findings, which he shares with us on the PopTech stage, have left him doubting the generally held viewpoint that humans are the most highly evolved species.
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Alan rabinowitz, hi, pleased to meet you, my name is america, and I too used to be in special ed for not talking what they called fluently, so all my life I felt like I didnt belong anywhere,i was always in my room. my best passtime was at the cemetary it was a peaceful quiet environment that I much enjoyed (my folks live next to it) there is where I did most of my talking and singing, I know it sounds crazy but I felt as if the dead understood me more than anyone else so I made them my friends so I thought…well its been a long time since and now I can honestly tell you with much certainty that I found a true and real friend His name is Jesus Christ,but I didnt meet Him in the cemetary, (He is not dead) He is very much alive today. He met me in my home in the middle of my brokeness and struggle the moment I called out to Him repenting of my sins and accepting Him as my Lord and Savior asking Him to come into my heart and take control of me, now He is with me its not religion its a relationship and the same way He saved me, He wants to save you now.. God gives us the feelings of need of completion its up to us to trully realize that it doesnt come from anything other than Jesus He really completes and restores us He is a true Savior. Your heart is in the right place but your eyes need to look a lil upward up to God, the moment you do that you will be fully restored, afterall Jesus took every sickness and disease to the cross among shame poverty and everything that messes us up so that we would live an abundant life all you have to do is believe and recieve with all your heart mind and soul, that very passion you have for animals turn it towards God instead by accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, repenting of your sn (as we are all sinners) get into knowing Jesus it will revolutionize your life as it does all of us in Christ… Take care,God bess and I love you in Christ…
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