Renata Leite Pitman

Renata Leite Pitman is a Wildlife Veterinary Physician, with a Master’s Degree in Forest Science. She is the Founder of Jaguarapira Wildlife Reserve. Expert in predator ecology in South America, she works in several projects to create protected areas for the animals she study in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest. In the Amazon this includes leading a campaign to create the Alto Purus National Park, to help protect the adjacent Las Piedras region, and to study the impacts of the Interoceanic Highway to the wildlife, project who gave her an Innovation Award from Rufford Small Grants Foundation. At the Brazilian Atlantic Forest she did her Masters studying the relation of jaguar, pumas, local people and protected areas, and a survey of jaguar population on the entire ecosystem, advising the Wildlife Conservation Society on strategies to protect the species. She help to create and/or implement several Protected Areas as the Ilha do Mel Ecological Station and State Park, Guaratuba Environmental Protected Area, and Serra da Baitaca State Park. She is directing the Atlantic Forest Conservation Center at her private reserve where she runs a 22-years old forest restoration project. Renata is a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission since 2000 and was awarded by this institution as a Natural Born Hero. She is a National Geographic Grantee and her last research updates are covered at Mongabay at the Field Museum’s magazine In the Field and BBC Earth. She was an honorary member of the Field Museum of Natural History, an active member of the Environmental Commission of the Veterinary Medicine Council’s Regional Office (CRMV-PR), Chair of the ATBC (Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation) Communications Committee and Girl’s Scout leader. She recently got a National Geographic Certification in Education.