“As a Buddhist, I believe in karma, and the predestined nature of the world,” he said. “My whole life, I had wanted to get my master’s and my PhD, and for a couple of reasons, it kept not working out—until I met Dr. Lori Sheeran.”

Sheeran, a CWU professor of anthropology, learned of Dorji’s work for the Royal Government of Bhutan through a network of peers in the region. Those connections allowed CWU to send a cohort of primatology students to Bhutan for an exchange program, formalized by a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bhutanese government in 2018.

“Where my wildlife center is located, there’s no internet, no medical services, and no road,” Dorji said. “It’s a very different environment from what most students are used to. That first cohort was very happy with their experience.”

Sheeran learned of Dorji’s academic aspirations and helped secure him a place in Central’s primatology program.

“At CWU, I got to meet so many wonderful people and study primate behavior in the way I had always dreamed of,” Dorji said. “That was a real life-changer for me. In Bhutan, we didn’t have any primatologists until I graduated. That’s all thanks to the faculty and staff of CWU.”

As the first primatologist in Bhutan, Dorji dedicated himself to the study of golden langurs, an endangered species with deep cultural significance to the Bhutanese people. Changes in the environment had brought the monkeys closer to human civilization, and they had started to forage on the crops of local farmers, presenting a danger to their livelihood, as well as the lives of the langurs.

“This is why I wanted to intervene and revive that relationship,” Dorji said. “This is mainly about deterring the monkeys away from the farms, but in doing so, we have to make sure they have a high-quality habitat to return to, too.”

Dorji’s efforts are community-led and currently use imitation tigers and other predators to scare away the monkeys. This helps human, monkey, and forest coexist in harmony.

“It’s an ongoing arms race between us and the monkeys, because the monkeys are really smart, and they pick up on our tricks quickly,” Dorji said. “They’re working out that the toys aren’t real, so we’re researching ways to incorporate a few robotics into the process, having them blink their eyes and move their tails, for instance.”

Last May, Dorji’s groundbreaking work, and the community effort that’s led to its success, were recognized with a Whitley Award from the Whitley Fund for Nature. He sees the award as an opportunity to spread the word about these kinds of efforts, and as recognition for the decades he’s committed to them.

“I don’t even remember how many meals I’ve skipped, or how many nights I’ve slept under trees in the forest over the last 20 years,” Dorji said. “It really feels like it has paid off. I feel happy for both me and my country, and for the support I’ve received along the way from institutions like CWU.”