Felidae Conservation Fund belief that the study of wild cats can serve as a leverage point for addressing the broader environmental issues of habitat loss, human-nature interactions, and wildlife sustainability. This belief is based on the idea that because cats are often the top predators in the ecosystems they inhabit, understanding and solving the problems they face can inform and guide the conservation and preservation of wild animals and wild habitats of all kinds. Felidae currently collaborates on research projects in field locations around the globe, including the United States, Malaysia, Mongolia, Chile, Peru, Iran, Namibia and Pakistan. Felidae provides strategic guidance, funding,
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 inquiry compared the Act to legislation from France, the U.S., and Japan. The report concluded that "virtually all witnesses agreed that the UK has the tightest system of regulation in the world" and that it is "the only country to require an explicit cost/benefit assessment of every application to conduct animal research." Note that costs are explicitly in terms of adverse effects on animals, not the financial cost to the experimenters. In 2005, Patricia Hewitt, then British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, called the Act "[among] the strongest laws in the world to protect animals which are being