The Island RSPCA’s new wildlife co-ordinator is literally bringing a world of experience to her new role.
Louise joins the team at the Godshill Animal Rescue Centre having racked up a wealth of animal welfare experience in the UK, Africa, Asia and, briefly, Central America.
She is relishing the prospect of putting all the know-how she has collected along the way and across the globe into practice co-ordinating wildlife rescue, welfare and release functions at the centre.
She has joined at a typically busy time with a swan that had become covered in vegetable oil among the centre’s current residents.
Louise said:
“She was not in a good state at all when she was found but having first been treated at the vets and now having spent a while here with us she is much better.
“She’s feisty, which is good, and bright and she is making the most of the outdoor pool we have here.
"We’re looking forward to releasing her back into the wild as soon as we can.”
One of Louise’s priorities will be developing the links the centre already has with the many wildlife welfare and rescue groups and veterinarians and their support teams already operating on the Island.
She is also looking to ensure RSPCA staff have all the required skills and training necessary so the centre continues to have the very best wildlife care capabilities.
For her part Louise is returning to the Island following a spell here working with the Bird Aware Solent project in a seasonal role.
It was during this period, helping the organisation raise awareness of the ducks, geese and wading birds that spend the winter on the south coast, that she fell in love with the Island.
But she has certainly clocked up her air miles between leaving Liverpool’s John Moores University with a zoology degree and settling in Sandown.
RSPCA events take place across the globe, such as this one in Illawarra, Australia
After leaving university, she worked as a wildlife assistant at the RSPCA wildlife Centre in East Winch, Norfolk, for seven years.
She then jumped at the chance to work as a volunteer at an elephant rescue facility in Zambia before a spell in China with Animals Asia working with Asiatic bears who had been rescued from farms in which they were cruelly kept for their bile which is used in traditional Chinese medicine.
She then worked in a more senior role, bear manager, at Animal Asia’s similar project in Vietnam for two years.
Via three months in Gabon, West Africa, at a gorilla rescue centre and a brief return to the UK, she then spent a year working in an Indonesian animal rescue centre caring for a variety of animals.
These included crocodiles, turtles, bears, exotic birds and the endangered Javan leopard – all victims of the illegal wildlife trade.
Louise concluded:
“It has been a long and varied route to get to the Island but I am delighted to be here and an excited about the challenges ahead.”
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