Fred Koontz

Dr. Fred Koontz is Wildlife Trust's Deputy Director for North American Conservation. At Wildlife Trust, Fred develops and carries out projects in the USA with collaborating scientists and educators. His current focus is building a regional conservation cooperative in the "New York Bioscape" - the area defined by drawing a 100-mile radius of New York City. The central issue of the NY Bioscape is to understand how the health of wild species, ecosystems, and humans can be ensured in the context of urban growth and environmental degradation.

Fred received his Ph.D. in Zoology/Behavioral Ecology from the University of Maryland (USA). While in graduate school, he worked at the Smithsonian Institute's National Zoological Park, specializing in animal communication and social behavior of mammals. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1984, Fred worked for 15 years at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), including ten years as Curator of Mammals at their Bronx Zoo (New York City). From 1994-1999, Dr. Koontz was WCS's first director of its Science Resource Center. The Center's mission is to empower conservation scientists to better implement scientific methodologies and cutting-edge technologies into their work. Fred's areas of technical expertise include census methods, satellite tracking, and translocation of animals for reintroduction.

Dr. Koontz's work has taken him around the world. Projects he has worked on include: following the migration of wood storks and trumpeter swans in the USA (North America); translocating black howler monkeys into the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize (Central America); studying Patagonia sea lions in Argentina (South America); tracking forest elephants in Cameroon (West Africa); observing gelada baboons in Ethiopia (East Africa); and consulting on captive breeding of giant pandas in China (Asia).

At Wildlife Trust, Dr. Koontz's field work this year is on coyotes living in the New York Bioscape's Hudson Highlands. The study's purpose is to understand the role of coyotes (the region's top mammalian predator) in maintaining bio-diversity health, and to explore the myths and realities of human-coyote conflict.

Do you have questions for Fred?
E-mail Fred to ask him about his work.