I Went to Germany for Lemurs by Tim L. Tetzlaff,

I Left with a New Conservation Program

Director of Conservation,
Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens

It was May of 2019. I was in Germany for lemurs. I had no idea I was taking the first steps toward helping launch a country’s only conservation program for the world’s deadliest cat. I was at Cologne Zoo as the Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group rotates its annual meeting location because we have members on five continents. It was my first year as Chair, and my focus was more on keeping things on track than starting anything new. But I did have a surprise in store, and it wasn’t how good the Kölsch was from the Brauhaus by the cathedral. My friend Liz had assisted Dr. Alex Sliwa, the Curator of Cologne Zoo, during his black-footed cat work in South Africa and asked me to say hello.

Over many decades, Alex had become the world’s leading expert on this tiny cat. Weighing just 2 to 4 pounds, the black-footed cat has the highest hunting success rate of any cat species in the world. Even with those distinctions, support for the species is about as small as the cat itself.

It would have been easy to say hello and get back to my lemur business. Instead, it was worth staying with the conversation a little longer. Alex had expanded work into Namibia, and tracking equipment was needed to answer some basic questions. We don’t have blackfooted cats at Naples Zoo, but that has never been a requirement for our conservation work. The question is whether we can make a real difference. In this case, it was clear we could, so I used some unrestricted conservation donations to purchase the gear.

The next year, Alex came to me with a more urgent need. Funding for the seasonal field scientist fell through, and that year’s progress was at risk. The expertise was there. The work had started. What wasn’t there was the funding to keep it going. Naples Zoo stepped in with another small investment to keep the work moving and committed to covering future seasons.

When Alex came to Naples in 2024 with his family, I welcomed them through our new zoo entrance and arranged a visit to Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Along the boardwalk, between fumbling with my new camera trying to photograph orchids and getting predictably blurry shots of circling birds, I asked what was next for Namibia. By then, the answer was clear. These cats needed a full-time presence in the field.

After the obligatory group photo (with someone else’s camera), Alex and I wandered off to talk through what that would take and who would be best to do it. That answer was clear too: Martina Küsters. She had the right skill set, more than a decade of experience tracking these cats, and she wanted to do it full time. For Naples Zoo, this was a rare opportunity to help establish the only dedicated program in an entire country for a species that is vulnerable to extinction.

After getting the word out, two donors who saw that same opportunity stepped forward. Combined with the zoo’s own investment, we turned the “what if ” of that boardwalk conversation into a national program. After Martina completed her prior conservation contract, she began full-time work on January 1 of this year. For the first time, there is now consistent, on-the-ground effort focused on this cat in Namibia: supporting research, building relationships with landowners, and helping reduce risk to a species that is still often misunderstood and sometimes shot by people who have no idea what they are looking at in the dark.

I was in Germany for lemurs when this began. I’ll be back in Cologne again this fall for a global zoo meeting. I’m sure I’ll be sharing some “say hi for me” messages. Most of those don’t lead anywhere, except maybe for a Kölsch. But sometimes, just sometimes, they turn into something more.

To see the full schedule, visit NaplesZoo.org/speakers Contact me at tim@napleszoo.org

To learn more or support these efforts, visit NaplesZoo.org/conserve

Together, we can create a brighter, more resilient future for people and wildlife.

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit caring for rare species and welcoming families in a century-old historic garden. Since 2015, the zoo has invested more than $4.5 million in saving plants and animals in the wild and fully supports 35 field conservation staff working in seven countries.

To learn more about how you can invest in a better future for people and wildlife, email tim@napleszoo.org.