25/09/2026
Global Humane Society has awarded Dr. Ding Wang, Professor at the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the 2026 Wolfgang Kiessling International Prize for Species Conservation. This award was created in honor of Wolfgang F. Kiessling, the founder of Loro Parque and a global leader in conservation.
For more than 40 years, Dr. Wang has worked to keep the dolphins and porpoises of the Yangtze River from disappearing. He watched the baiji, the Yangtze River dolphin, disappear in 2006 and, in that moment, Dr. Wang refused to let it happen twice.
Thanks to his efforts, the Yangtze finless porpoise is recovering and is the only critically endangered small cetacean in the world that can say so.
The prize seeks to recognize those leading conservation scientists who are making positive and lasting contributions to protecting species and biodiversity.
With the future of around one million species under pressure, it is important that we recognize and celebrate animal conservationists who are racing against the clock to save them.
Learn more at GlobalHumane.org