2018

Advocating. Educating. Scrutinizing.

Here are the highlights of 2018:


70th Meeting of the CITES Standing Committee, Sochi, Russia

Annamiticus was represented at CITES SC70 by Rhishja Cota (Founder / Creative Director) and Jim Algie (Communications Director).

Annamiticus was in attendance at the 70th Meeting of the CITES Standing Committee, which was held from October 1 – 5 in Sochi, Russia.



Interview: Rhishja on The Revelator!


Launch: World Jaguar Day website

The First Annual World Jaguar Day will be celebrated on June 11, 2019!

You’re invited to the biggest big cat launch party ever!

Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate in World Jaguar Day! The purpose of World Jaguar Day is to inspire and promote jaguar conservation efforts.

Did you know the iconic jaguar (Panthera onca) is the only member of the genus Panthera in the New World?

Jaguars currently range from the southwestern United States through the Amazon basin to the Rio Negro in Argentina.

Unfortunately, jaguar populations are declining as these cats battle a multitude of threats.

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, jaguars are threatened by “killing for trophies/illegal trade in body parts, pro-active or retaliatory killings associated with livestock depredation, and competition for wild meat with human hunters.”

Jaguars are faced with multiple threats.

For questions about World Jaguar Day, please send me an email: rhishja (at) annamiticus (dot) com


‘Back to the Wild’ Pangolin Care Workshop hosted by USAID Wildlife Asia and Thailand’s Department of National Parks

At the Pangolin Care Workshop, Rhishja showed participants how to use how to use the USAID Pangolin Species Identification Guide: A Rapid Assessment Tool for Field and Desk. Photo: USAID Wildlife Asia

From April 18 to 20, pangolin care experts from Save Vietnam’s Wildlife shared their expertise with customs, law enforcement, and quarantine officials to increase pangolin survival rates when they are confiscated from wildlife traffickers. This groundbreaking event was hosted by USAID Wildlife Asia and Thailand’s Department of National Parks.

At the workshop, Rhishja presented the USAID Pangolin Species Identification Guide: A Rapid Assessment Tool for Field and Desk, a booklet designed to help authorities confidently identify the eight species of pangolin and pangolin products.


Launch: English version of USAID Pangolin Species Identification Guide

USAID Pangolin Species Identification Guide: A Rapid Assessment Tool for Field and Desk.

Rhishja has written the first-ever pangolin identification guide, a project commissioned by USAID Wildlife Asia. The Guide was prepared specifically for law enforcement and customs and is now available in English. In early 2018, Chinese (Simplified), Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Malaysian, Thai, and Vietnamese versions of the booklet and smartphone application will be rolled out.

For hard copies, please contact: USAID Wildlife Asia, 208 Wireless Road, Unit 406
Lumpini, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330 Thailand
Tel: +66 20155941-3, Email: Info [at] usaidwildlifeasia [dot] org

Available online at: http://www.usaidwildlifeasia.org/resources.

The Pangolin Species Identification Guide will be made available via the CITES Virtual College, the WCO Environet platform, and through ICCWC partners.

Citation: Cota-Larson, R. 2017. Pangolin Species Identification Guide: A Rapid Assessment Tool for Field and Desk. Prepared for the United States Agency for International Development. Bangkok: USAID Wildlife Asia Activity.


Publications, presentations, posters, podcasts … Here are a few highlights of the work that we do: