A tribute to Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton CBE

L-R: Will Travers OBE, Raabia Hawa (Ulinzi Africa Foundation), Kitili Mbathi (DG KWS), Dr Iain Douglas Hamilton, Jim Justus Nyamu (Elephant Campaigner) (c) Charlie Hamilton James

Everyone at Born Free is profoundly saddened to learn of the death of Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton CBE, a pioneering force in elephant conservation. Iain’s groundbreaking research into elephants’ social behaviour as a young zoologist transformed global understanding of these majestic beings.

As founder of Save the Elephants (STE), he spent more than 50 years fighting the scourge of the international ivory trade and campaigned tirelessly to ensure that elephants might live lives free from the threat of slaughter.

He worked closely with many conservation organisations, including Born Free, in the global effort to end ivory trafficking, poaching, and to protect wild elephants. Through his scientific rigour, his affinity with and understanding of the African bush, and his willingness to speak up to governments and the media, together with his family, his wife Oria, his daughters Saba and Dudu, and his son-in-law Frank Pope (the CEO of STE), he brought global attention to the poaching crisis and eventually helped secure the commitments that now better protect elephants from the ivory trade.

Will Travers OBE, Born Free’s Co-Founder and Executive President, and his mother, Dame Virginia McKenna, paid tribute to a friend and wildlife champion, saying: “Iain was an unwavering voice for elephants with an unshakeable conviction that galvanised and inspired the global movement against the ivory trade. Through his work with Save the Elephants and the Elephant Crisis Fund (co-founded with the Wildlife Conservation Network), he helped avert the total collapse of elephant populations across Africa and galvanise the public to call for action to end the ivory trade, which culminated in a global ban in 1989 under the auspices of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora). Iain’s was a lifetime of service, and his legacy lives on through his family and the work of Save The Elephants. He was a true gentle man, an inspiration, and a friend whom we saw too infrequently but who was never far from our thoughts. We owe him a great debt of gratitude. His vision, bravery and compassion helped save the lives of countless individual elephants and changed the course of elephant conservation forever.”