John Boone, PhD; Great Basin Bird Observatory
Research Director, Great Basin Bird Observatory
Consultant, Humane society international & humane society of the united states
Dr. John Boone is a wildlife biologist whose work focuses on applied conservation issues. He received a B.S. in Biology and Physics from George Washington University, a M.S. in Biology from Idaho State University, and a Ph. D. in Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. After graduate school, he worked in a multi-disciplinary research group at the University of Nevada, Reno studying how environmental factors influence the maintenance and spread of zoonotic diseases, including hantaviruses. In 2004, he joined the Great Basin Bird Observatory, a Nevada non-profit organization that provides biological expertise and planning services to federal and state resource management agencies. In this capacity, he has been involved in major bird inventory and conservation planning efforts and has conducted many conservation planning, research, and monitoring projects around the region.
Dr. Boone has had a lifelong affinity for animals and an appreciation of their cognitive abilities, but his formal involvement in the animal welfare world began in 2000, when he began volunteering at the SPCA of Northern Nevada. He joined the organization’s Board in 2001, and served as the board chair from 2002 to 2008 and again from 2016 to present. Dr. Boone also serves as a consultant to Humane Society International and The HSUS, helping to develop and implement monitoring programs for street dogs and feral cats around the world. As a Director of ACC&D, Dr. Boone has provided leadership on the organization’s work on population dynamics of free-roaming cats and contributed to its marking initiative.
