Honoring a Leader

The George B. Rabb Conservation Award was created in 2005 by the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Zoological Society to honor the lifelong legacy of animal welfare and the worldwide conservation leadership of George Rabb, Ph.D., president emeritus of the Society. Recipients have included:

  • 2009 winner Robert Buchanan and Polar Bears International (PBI) are dedicated to the worldwide conservation of polar bears and their habitat through research and education. PBI also provides scientific resources and information on polar bears and their habitat to all interested parties. Under Buchanan’s leadership, PBI has grown into an organization with an international scope, supporting projects throughout the circumpolar North and reaching audiences as far away as Japan and Australia with its conservation message. Funding provided by PBI helped support research that led to the listing of polar bears as a threatened species by the U.S. government.
     
  • 2008 winner Dr. Chris Servheen, a mammalogist and wildlife biologist at The University of Montana and the grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). Dr. Servheen’s major research has been instrumental in grizzly bear conservation.
  • 2007 winner Dr. Curtis Freese, managing director of the Northern Great Plains (NGP) program of the World Wildlife Fund. Dr. Freese has worked to restore and conserve the biodiversity of the North American Great Plains of the United States and Canada.
  • 2006 winner Dr. Carl Safina, cofounder of The Blue Ocean Institute. Dr. Safina received the award for his life’s work and commitment to protecting the world’s oceans and marine wildlife.
  • 2005 winner Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, director of the Science and Exploration Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society. A preeminent wildlife scientist, Dr. Rabinowitz is known particularly for his conservation and protection of big cats native to Asia and South America.