Hi everyone and Happy New Years!

 As we say goodbye to 2018 and look forward to 2019 we can’t help but feel overwhelmingly thankful for your generous donations and support which has helped move our work forward. This year has seen many ups and downs with the conclusion of some of our major projects and the negotiations for new ones starting in 2019.  But through it all, we owe you a debt of gratitude that cannot be easily repaid but, we hope, will be expressed in the following 2018 Annual Report pages. 

    This year as we continue to contribute towards the recovery efforts with the giant panda, we produced some key research findings that will help the captive breeding program increase reproductive success. In 2018, 31 cubs were born at Gengda and the program has reached sustainability. Managers will be capping the number of breedings each year to replace the population and produce cubs for reintroduction numbers but will no longer grow the captive population. Despite this huge success, aided by implementing PDXWildife’s research, there are still many hurdles for the program. Research is needed for increasing under-represented males in the breeding program and for improving reintroduction success.  The findings from our male-male competition study will directly apply to the first of these goals and our ongoing reintroduction research to the second. 

      2018 saw the expansion of our research into two additional endangered species, the Caribbean Iguana and the Hawaiian ‘Akikiki. Both programs saw an immediate increase in reproductive success in 2018 due to research learned from the giant panda program on mate choice. Your donations directly helped this expansion and allowed us to continue our very valuable internship program.  Not only did we mentor 7 undergraduate interns in China but have expanded this program to the United States with a data analysis internship. This internship provides valuable upper-level biology skills to Masters-level students and provides opportunities for publication moving their careers forward to graduate school or the field. Four students are currently involved in this program.  We have accomplished this and so much more which I hope you’ll see in this report. 

     In writing these 2018 major accomplishments, we realized how much of an impact your gift had on our work and mission! But there’s still much more to be done! Salaries are one of the most crucial, yet one of the most difficult items to fund in conservation biology non-profits. This is why your gift means so much – dedicated funding to our scientist’s salaries is vital to our work. 

     In this time of climate change, the future of wildlife is uncertain and halting extinction cannot be accomplished alone.  As we move into the new year, I hope you are inspired by the work we’ve accomplished in 2018 to match or even increase your gift!  

Thank you so much for your support we couldn’t do it without you! 

Happy New Years!
Meg & Nate