Ugandan wildlife vet, Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, has been recognised at the Mammal Society’s 70th anniversary awards held in the United Kingdom (UK).
Dr Kalema-Zikusoka was Uganda’s first wildlife vet and was responsible for mountain gorilla health when they first started to acclimatise them to people to kick-start tourism in Bwindi.
The Mammal Society celebrated its 70th year by awarding its prestigious annual Mammal Society Medal, Richard Shore Prize, and for the first time a new ‘President’s Award’ to esteemed mammalogists at its 2024 Annual Conference on the 13th of April 2024.
The Mammal Society Medal is a prestigious award which celebrates individuals whose contributions have significantly advanced the field of mammal conservation.
The President’s Award is a discretionary award that the serving Mammal Society President can award to someone deserving of recognition for a particularly outstanding piece of research or conservation work that sets the bar for the sector.
This year, Penny Lewns, President of the Mammal Society, gave the award to Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka.
She quickly realised that the health of both indigenous people and tourists profoundly affected gorilla health, and founded an organisation called ‘Conservation Through Public Health’. They provide health care in the villages, alongside family planning and education, which has benefited both people and gorillas – a ‘One Health’ approach.
She has gone on to form social enterprises and other income-generating schemes to support people so that they are not as reliant on the forest, which has significantly reduced poaching and encroachment of habitat, and led to greater understating and tolerance.
“Mammal science and conservation is vital, with 1 in 4 of Britain’s native terrestrial mammals at risk of extinction, however just as the animals themselves are often elusive and out of view of people in their everyday lives, so are those working to tackle the threats faced by mammals often invisible to the wider public. These awards help to shine a light on some of the incredible heroes of science and conservation who are working tirelessly to protect and restore important and charismatic animals, bringing benefits to the ecosystems on which we all ultimately depend,” Matt Larsen-Daw, CEO of Mammal Society.
The Mammal Society Medal was awarded to Dr Andrew Kitchener for his decades of service to mammal science.
Andrew Kitchener is the Principal Curator of Vertebrates at National Museums Scotland and specialises in research on mammals, especially carnivorans. He is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Lecturer in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow.
He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and a member of its Animal Welfare and Ethics Group, Chair of Trustees of the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, and a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and the IUCN Equid Specialist Group.
The Richard Shore Prize, named in memory of the late Vice-Chair of the Mammal Society, celebrates individuals who have demonstrated a remarkable commitment to protecting Britain’s mammals at the grassroots of conservation.
This year, the prize was awarded to Ian Bond, an ecologist whose eagle eyes picked up on an unusual shrew in a photo posted on the Mammal Society Facebook group, after it had been brought in by a member’s cat – Jeff.
