Millionaire Turned Quadriplegic Jon Ayers is Giving it All to Save Wild Cats, After Finding a New Purpose

As a quadriplegic, Jon Ayers can’t move his limbs, but his voice is filled with excitement. His eyes dart around his office, projecting the illusion of a rainforest that’s filling his imagination with such enthusiasm that soon trees and vines begin to appear in the corners of my office as well.

Jon is describing to me a margay, a tree-dwelling species of wild cat from Central and South America, and the only species that can climb down a tree head first—a trait which endears the 4 kilogram cat to him above all others.

The margay is just one of more than 30 different small wild cat species, many of which are little known—going unseen under a big…