A 91探花 professor has been awarded the prestigious for his work for developing noninvasive tools for monitoring human impacts on wildlife. was honored in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Tuesday evening. The award was presented by Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell.
鈥淚鈥檓 just heartened. It鈥檚 very hard work to do. It鈥檚 stressful and frustrating,鈥� Wasser said. 鈥淭he award really makes me happy.鈥�
Wasser holds the endowed chair in Conservation Biology at the UW, where he is a professor in the and director of the .
He has pioneered noninvasive methods to measure the abundance, distribution and physiological condition of wildlife from their feces, relying on detection dogs to locate these samples over large wilderness areas. The work has earned him the nickname 鈥渢he Guru of Doo Doo.鈥�
“I started working in Africa when I was 19 years old because I loved animals.聽 That was 1973. Since then, I have watched the rising toll that overconsumption, habitat destruction and poaching has had on the world鈥檚 most spectacular terrestrial and marine organisms,鈥� Wasser said. 鈥淯nable to just stand by, my life鈥檚 mission became developing and applying noninvasive methods to uncover these human impacts, show them to the world, and offer solutions for change. I am deeply honored to have those efforts now be acknowledged by receipt of the Albert Schweitzer Medal.”
Awarded by the , past medal recipients include Jane Goodall and Rachel Carson, among others.
鈥淒r. Wasser鈥檚 groundbreaking work has paved the way for remarkable strides in the fight against wildlife trafficking, especially ivory trade,鈥� said Cathy Liss, president of the Animal Welfare Institute. 鈥淭he Animal Welfare Institute feels privileged to have this opportunity to acknowledge his accomplishments with the Albert Schweitzer Medal.鈥�
Wasser鈥檚 wildlife field methods address diverse conservation questions, including impacts of poaching, oil development and overfishing on the well-being of multiple endangered wildlife populations. He also applies these tools to forensic analyses of transnational wildlife crime.
鈥淚t鈥檚 another affirmation of Sam鈥檚 work,鈥� said , a professor of biostatistics in the 91探花School of Public Health, of the accolade. 鈥淭his gives 91探花another feather in its cap, pointing to the tremendous breadth of expertise we have here.鈥�
Notably, Wasser used elephant dung to assemble a DNA reference map of elephants across Africa, which is now widely used to determine the geographic origins of poached ivory. By comparing genotyped ivory to this reference map, he has been able to identify Africa鈥檚 largest elephant poaching hotspots, track the number and connectivity of major ivory traffickers operating in Africa, and uncover strategies that transnational organized crime syndicates use to acquire and move their contraband around the world.
鈥淭he award is saying that they are understanding the value of this approach, and this approach started at the UW,鈥� Wasser said.
This work has led to prosecutions of major transnational ivory traffickers and nurtured key collaborations with the International Consortium on Combatting Wildlife Crime, INTERPOL, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the Task Force on Combatting Wildlife Trafficking, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of State and wildlife authorities in numerous source and transit countries across Africa and Asia.
鈥淚t was Sam鈥檚 science that really clinched this,鈥� said Elliott L. Harbin, program manager, Environmental Crimes, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations.
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