My Story…
I’m originally from England, and even as a young kid I’ve always had a passion for working with animals. My childhood consisted of rescuing baby birds from the family cat and nursing them back to health. I constantly begged my mum to let me volunteer at the local animal shelter, and on many birthdays, I blew out my candles wishing I would grow up to be a veterinarian. Fast forward a “few” years, while I may not be a veterinarian, I’ve worked hard so as I could travel and work with different native wildlife along the way.
In 2010 I left England at seventeen and moved to Missoula, Montana to attend university and obtain a degree in Wildlife Biology. During my four years in Montana, I learnt of my passion for wildlife rehabilitation. In my Junior year, I was accepted into an internship at The California Wildlife Center. I worked with a variety of injured and/or orphaned native Californian wildlife. This internship opened my eyes to the world of working with wildlife and I found it very rewarding releasing animals back to the wild once they were strong and healthy enough to survive on their own.
After graduating…
I moved to Maui, Hawaii to start an internship at The Pacific Primate Centre. At the centre we rescued spider monkeys, capuchins, marmosets and tamarins from laboratory testing, illegal pet trades, or abuse.
After living in the rainforest for a year with fifty-two monkeys, I left the small island life behind. In 2015, I applied for my first working holiday visa and moved to New Zealand. I figured since I was already on that side of the world why not explore more of it...
New Zealand
My first proper experience of being a backpacker. I stayed in my first hostel and started to learn the ropes of how to live and eat cheap, while saving to travel. After failing to land a position in the Auckland Zoo internship program, I decided to hit the road and see what New Zealand had to offer.
For the next year and half, I lived and travelled all over New Zealand. Based in Auckland and Queenstown, I was working with wildlife at the Kiwi Birdlife Park as well as waitressing on the side. At the Kiwi Birdlife Park, I was lucky enough to be involved in serval conservation projects including their breed for release North Island Brown Kiwi program. Another project I was lucky to be a part of was working alongside the Kea Conservation Trust, in releasing this cheeky fellow, see picture (Kia holding a Kea) back to the wild. Who knew there was a cheeky, mischievous New Zealand alpine parrot called a Kea!? Not me!
On to the next adventure!
Once my working holiday visa came to an end in New Zealand, I immediately applied for a working holiday in Australia.
My mission was to purchase a car and drive it all the way around Australia. While I almost came very close to accomplishing my goal, I had some amazing (and what some people might find terrifying) wildlife work and encounters along the way.
One of my most memorable work experiences came from living and working with an Australian family on their Wild Farm. From morning coffees spent watching the kangaroos in the yard whilst feeding an orphaned baby possum, to sitting on top of a crocodile in a relocation, and finishing the days with koala cuddles. Australia certainly did not disapoint when it came to working with a variety of wildlife and building my skills along the way!
The Covid Years…
After spending 2 years in Australia, I decided to take the long way home and I travelled to Bali and The Philippines before heading back to England. After a month at home, I started making plans to move to Canada, however Covid-19 had other plans. While staying in England for an extended period of time wasn’t the plan. I was lucky enough to spend time with my family and slow down. This gave me more free time than I knew what to do with but also lead me back to a desk with old art materials I still had at my parents house and revived my passion to create again! Not only did creating artwork give me a channel to focus on while it felt like the world was shut down, but it also allowed me to create pieces for others, family and friends, and give them something to brighten up their days and homes in a time where we couldn’t leave the house.
The present
I managed to move over to Canada, somewhere in the middle of the pandemic and after a shaky start, I now reside in Vancouver. I currently work with grizzly bear ambassadors Grinder and Coola at the Wildlife Refuge on Grouse Mountain. They are amazing animals to work with and provide many people with the experience and education to want to protect their local wildlife. They were also my creative inspiration to start Wild Travels and hopefully allow not only my friends and family but others to have a piece of my artwork or photography in their home.
As Wild Travels grows, I would like my pieces to strike up conversations and start discussions, spreading conservation messages and encouraging people to protect our wildlife.
Thank you for being here and reading my story so far! I hope you stick around to see where it goes from here…
“Travel is not a reward for working, it’s an education for living.” - Anthony Bourdain
