Panthera’s New CEO: Conservation Requires a Heart

Dr. Frédéric Launay joined Panthera as Chief Executive Officer earlier this month, succeeding Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, who co-founded and led the organization since 2006 and will remain on the team as Chief Scientist.

Dr. Launay has spent almost three decades as a species conservationist. In the beginning of his career, he contributed to successfully reintroducing several bird and antelope species to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, set up Saudi Arabia’s first protected area, and participated in the creation of the UAE’s first environmental agency. He has overseen a $400 million redevelopment project and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, and chaired the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission Reintroduction Specialist Group, among other accomplishments. 

We chatted with Dr. Launay about his goals for Panthera and beliefs about big cat conservation. 

Your background is impressive, to say the least. How does it make you well-positioned to take the helm at Panthera?
I don’t know if it does! Time will tell. From a personal point of view and from a training perspective, I am a species person—whether it’s working on fish, birds, marine turtles, antelopes…it’s the same thing. The problems with big cats are mostly the same. The logic is the same. The emotional attachment is the same.

But most of the people working with species are hyper-specialists. I bring the ability to connect the dots and make use of all the tools we need to successfully conserve the species. Panthera already has the best species specialists in the world. We need more generalists to put the glue together.

You’re used to growing organizations. What do you have in mind for Panthera?
Panthera has a very good base. We are entering our teen years where we need to move a little bit away from our parents and fly on our own. There are very few organizations left that have the courage to do just species conservation. We need to go bigger with our programs and leverage our knowledge and influence. We need to demonstrate the importance of apex carnivores in all of the conservation arenas, move outside of our comfort zone and start interacting with land use planners, infrastructure people, finance people, social development organizations.

Did you think you’d end up working with big cats?
I always had an interest, but my path led me to something else. When this opportunity presented itself, I was really excited about it, and it was a no-brainer. It’s like coming back to my roots of species conservation, being able to use all my professional experience in the context I most care about.

How do you explain to the public why Panthera’s work is important?
There’s the narrative that protecting apex predators means protecting landscapes, and it is true. However, deep in ourselves, this is not really the reason we conserve big cats. You conserve species because you love them, because you feel for them, because it hurts you when they are disappearing or are hunted and poached. But in the conservation world, we too often tell our species biologists to try to remove the emotion from what dictates our priorities and actions. We are, and will remain, a science-based organization, but not without heart.

Why are scientists in this field told to remove the emotion from their work?
Because everything has to be managed, everything needs to have a value, everything has to be explained, monitored, measured. That, for me, is sad. I would challenge most of the people that they don’t choose to protect lions or tigers or leopards because of their use or perceived monetary values. This is not what makes you go to work in the morning. I see a photograph and I say I want to help that cat. I don’t know why; it’s a bit irrational. It’s this notion of caring for something bigger than you. Most of the people supporting Panthera probably have never seen a big cat in the wild and probably never will. But their evocative power is fantastic.

Why do you think big cats resonate with people?
It’s common to what we are as people. At one stage, we were prey for these things. Big cats are power, beauty, danger, and awe at the same time.

Are people fearful or reverent?
I think they’re respectful.

How often does humanity humble themselves to anything anymore?
Less and less. Let’s go to the Brazilian Pantanal and look at jaguars in the wild. Take someone from New York or elsewhere and put him there in the presence of a jaguar 5 or 10 meters away. There is no way your life cannot be changed by this kind of experience. I think we need to keep that alive. Yes, we need the rational, but I think we shouldn’t shy away to claim that big cats are of value intrinsically, and it doesn’t need a Ph.D. to explain why. It is within us.

What does it need?
It needs a heart. It needs a soul. And it’s a personal and collective responsibility to care for them. This is what we need to fight for.

It sounds like you’re bringing the humanity back into animal conservation. You’re advocating that we notice it more.
And be proud of it! Most of humanity now is living in cities and disconnected from nature. We’re dependent on nature, but when you live in the city, you don’t notice it. We lose a lot of what makes us people by losing this connection with nature. We have something in common with big cats: We’re all mammals, and we’re all part of something bigger.

What do you say to people who say human rights issues are more important than environmental ones?
A lot of the human crises are actually traceable to environmental issues. If you look anywhere in the world, most people living in the countryside do understand this. The urban people are very important to target because they’re the ones driving the demand on environmental resources. The people living in countrysides are usually the ones suffering for it. The issue of animal rights and human rights is a very tricky subject despite their universal values. It’s very much linked to your philosophy, religion, upbringing.

You moved to New York to work at Panthera’s headquarters. Are your wife and two teenagers moving here?
They’re still in Geneva, where they’ve lived for the past six years. They’re used to me not being on the same continent! My kids have grown up knowing my work needs me to travel, and my wife has taken every opportunity to share my world and introduce conservation and love of species to them. They say they're excited for my new adventure and to learn more about my work at Panthera, and they will join me soon.

What do you do for fun?
I’ve been riding a motorbike since I was 16. I need to find out where to race here! I like the adrenaline rush. I like the fact that you have no place in your mind at the time you are racing for anything. It gives you a kind of peace of mind. I also played and coached tennis when I was younger.

Now, the most important question: Do you have a favorite big cat?
Oh, that’s difficult! I like the sand cats. They’re coming from the place I have spent most of my adult life (the Middle East)…and they’re super cute. As for big cats, probably the species that for me is the essence of big cats is the leopard. They’re the perfect cat—powerful, adaptable, and resilient, and they can hunt from the smallest prey to the biggest one. You can find them in any type of habitat.