Bronx, NY, December 9, 2025—The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today offered the following tribute upon the death of Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, a towering figure in wildlife conservation whose research, passion, and leadership helped shape global efforts to protect elephants:

“Iain Douglas-Hamilton was among the greatest conservationists of his generation. His pioneering fieldwork revealed truths about elephant society and population decline that the world could no longer ignore. He combined scientific rigor with deep compassion, and inspired generations — many of whom now carry forward his mission at WCS and beyond. We are honored to have worked with him.

“Iain’s relationship with WCS began more than 50 years ago. In the late 1960s, WCS (then the New York Zoological Society) provided support for his doctoral research on the elephants of Lake Manyara National Park – the first study that described elephant society through their unique personalities.  The resulting book “Among the Elephants” inspired people around the world to see elephants as highly intelligent, social individuals worthy of care and protection. Concerned that elephants were under threat, Iain, with backing from WCS and WWF, undertook some of the first systematic aerial surveys of elephant populations in East Africa, and in 1976, led the first Pan‑African Elephant Survey — pioneering work that described the alarming trends in their population numbers, and would capture global attention for the emerging crisis.

“In 1976, Iain led the establishment of the IUCN/SSC Elephant Specialist Group. He was a major voice and catalyst leading to the international ban in commercial ivory trade in 1989. In 1993, determined to build a sustained defense for elephants, he founded Save the Elephants (STE). Over decades, under his leadership, Save the Elephants became a global organization — combining long-term research, GPS tracking, population monitoring, and community engagement.

“Through the years, Iain was a friend, advisor and mentor to WCS efforts to understand the urgent threats facing African elephants, and especially the precipitous decline of forest elephants across central Africa. WCS scientists were able to document the dramatic collapse in forest-elephant numbers by the end of the first decade in the 2000s, and link it to severe poaching for ivory.  That research — building on the legacy of Iain’s own pioneering field studies — helped spark the 96 Elephants campaign in 2013. 

"The 96 Elephants campaign, named for the estimated number of elephants being slaughtered daily for ivory, aimed to mobilize public outrage, influence policy, and drive coordinated international efforts to stop the killing, trafficking, and demand for ivory.  The global outrage occasioned by the loss of the lives of so many individual animals, and the coordinated efforts of so many organizations, including Save the Elephants, helped secure ivory‑sale bans in countries around the world, and created a broad mandate for the conservation of both savannah and forest elephants.

"WCS extends its deepest sympathy and solidarity to the Douglas-Hamilton family, the staff and supporters of Save the Elephants, and all those around the world who have been inspired by his unwavering dedication. His life showed us what one person — combining curiosity, courage, and compassion — can accomplish. The responsibility he articulated remains ours to bear.”

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