A WORD FROM TADEU AND FÁBIO, GATOS-DO-MATO AMÉRICAS LEADERS:

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Between the current two project leaders, we have more than 40 years of cat experience. During this time, we were fortunate enough to be able to give a good contribution towards cat ecology and conservation. Between the two of us, we have trapped 141 specimens of all species of small felids found in Brazil, except for the Pampas cat. This was done with different purposes (telemetry, epidemiologic, genetic evaluations) and not necessarily strictly related to WCB. Fábio carried most of this extraordinary task, whereas camera trapping’s 110 abundance estimates and the 30 density estimates were carried mostly by Tadeu. We started working together in 2004, at the very beginning of Wild Cats of Brazil, and this cat-partnership has been very productive. Two friends, joined together by their passion for cats, the heart, mind and soul of WCB, but always working side by side with a ‘family’ of cat researchers around Brazil. Despite the immense hardships we have faced, often times doing field work with our own money, we feel that we succeeded, but still have a very long way to go. Today WCB also works in partnership with other projects and researchers.