Jordan Schaul, PhD
Jordan Schaul is a conservation 
biologist and a collection curator with the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. He has worked in zoos and aquariums as an animal keeper/ trainer and in a research capacity conducting behavioral and hormonal studies on a wide variety of species. As an animal keeper or trainer, Jordan cared for all types of collection animals and serviced a range of exhibits, excluding elephant facilities. Among bear species, he has worked with captive American black bears, brown bears (Kodiak, coastal bears, and grizzlies), sloth bears, polar bears, sun bears, and Andean bears in captivity and with all eight species of bears through various captive bear research programs. He received his PhD in conservation and veterinary preventive medicine from The Ohio State University where he examined disease agents in captive bears in zoological parks around the world and in wild populations of Alaskan black and brown bears, and other wildlife species. His Master's Degree in zoology and completed doctoral coursework in herpetile (reptile/amphibian) and fish physiology and ecology broadened his background as a vertebrate field and laboratory biologist. Jordan pursued a clinical degree in veterinary medicine prior to accepting an opportunity to return to the field of captive wildlife collection management/husbandry science, and conservation education.
Jordan served as the Assistant to the Editor of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine (AAZV/EAZWV) from 2004 to 2008, as a reviewer for the scientific journal Herpetologica, and has served as the Correspondent Editor and Captive Bear News Correspondent for International Bear News (IBA/IUCN SSC Bear Specialist Group) since 2003. He is a Fellow of the Conservation Science Institute, an affiliate of the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation. Jordan also serves as a council member (ex officio) of the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) and as the liaison and advisor to the Bear Taxon Advisory Group of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. He also serves as a member and Coordinator for Education and Outreach for the Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Jordan serves on the Advisory Council of the National Wildlife Humane Society which works with private sanctuaries to improve welfare standards for captive carnivores.
He first met Mike Miller and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center staff seven years ago while heading out to Katmai to collect bear scat for a research project. Having visited many captive wildlife facilities in the lower 48, he recalls being most impressed with the center upon first visiting it. He remembered meeting Hugo and was in awe of the facility and natural enclosures for all of the animals. The center has grown much since his second visit in 2004 and he was most honored to be invited to join the staff and help out in any way needed. He's proud to be associated with the center and hopes that he can help the facility carry out it's mission as a collection-based conservation science center and educational facility.