Urs and Christine both received their PhD in Zoology from the University of Berne, Switzerland. Urs began studying re-introduced populations of Eurasian lynx for his MSc, while Christine worked on the impact of river regulation on riverine birds in the Alps. Since the late 1980s they have both been involved in carnivore conservation work in Switzerland and Europe. For better coordination of carnivore conservation activities, they founded KORA (Coordinated research projects for the conservation and management of carnivores in Switzerland). Urs is also a founding member of the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, now a SSC Working Group. Besides leading the KORA, Urs currently holds a position as an assistant professor at the veterinary faculty, where he has been involved in rabies and is teaching epidemiology. Christine has specialised in conservation genetics and is conducting a project on the impact of the bottleneck on the population genetics of reintroduced lynx populations in Europe.

The Cat SG unites 210 cat specialists from 57 countries. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species provides a framework for the assessment of the status and conservation needs of the species.

Only a tiny fraction of free-living cats are monitored according to standardised methods, and many species have never been studied at all. The published scientific record alone is too incomplete for a sensible surveillance of the wild cats. The Cat Specialist Group is working towards a more comprehensive assessment of the status of the wild cats and consequently the better identification of conservation needs and the more effective implementation of conservation actions. The Cat SG is the only institution working worldwide for the sake of cats, which unites scientists and researchers, officers of governmental agencies, and representatives of non-governmental conservation organisations. It is therefore the appropriate body to develop standards and concepts for the surveillance, conservation, and long-term maintenance of wild cats. The goals of the Cat Specialist Group are:

• Develop and maintain a system of continued surveillance of the status, the distribution and the population dynamics of all thirty-six free-living cat species providing the baseline information needed to update the Cat Action Plan;
• Recruit new Group members from underrepresented range countries helping to advance this surveillance, and promote capacity building wherever needed;
• Identify threats to the survival of cat populations, develop concepts and strategies for their conservation, and propose actions and projects to secure their survival;
• Provide the compiled knowledge on the status, conservation priorities and strategies to all scientists, GOs and NGOs involved in cat conservation across the world and help raise awareness for the plight of free-living cats through informing the media and the general public.