Aussie Wildlife Show

Katie Irvine is a Science Communicator with the School of Biological Sciences of the University of Adelaide. Katie has an interest in citizen science, community ecology, habitat fragmentation, revegetation, and conserving the natural environment for the benefit of people and wildlife. In this episode we chat about Katie's work in the rain forests of Far North Queensland, Tree Kangaroos and conserving threatened orchids. 

Zac Bower works with some of the most dangerous snakes on the planet with the venom extraction program at the Australian Reptile Park.  The Australian Reptile Park is the sole-provider of terrestrial snake venoms to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. Their work contributes to the production of life-saving medicines that are relied upon by hundreds of patients in Australia and New Guinea every year. 

Ben Britton is the Director of the Wild Cat Conservation Centre in Hawkesbury, one hour north west of Sydney, Australia. The Conservation Centre focuses on the preservation and conservation of wild cats of the world, including African Serval, Caracal and the endangered Cheetah.  Ben has more than 20 years of professional experience in animal husbandry and wildlife conservation which has taken him across the world, from reserves in Africa to sanctuaries in Asia. Ben currently features on National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild, appearing in numerous documentaries highlighting his wildlife conservation efforts.

Trevor Evans has dedicated his life to protecting and saving endangered Australian species and their habitats. He is the founder of Secret Creek Sanctuary which was set up to provide a feral-proof enclosure where endangered native species are protected from predation. The sanctuary aims to show visitors what Australia once looked like prior to European settlement and houses species such as Eastern Quoll, Dingo, Tasmanian Devil, Long-nosed Potoroo, Rufous Bettong, Spotted-tailed Quoll and Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby. It is also the home of the Secret Creek Cafe, a unique, rustic home-style cabin serving delicious refined plant-based food. Pictured below is an abandoned Spotted-tailed Quoll joey that Trevor was hand-raising when we visited.  

We recently had the opportunity to visit Chad Staples (Zookeeper Chad) at Featherdale Wildlife Park. Chad has worked at Featherdale for over 20 years and chats with us about why he loves his job and shares his passion for conservation and education. Located in the Greater Western Sydney Region, Featherdale Wildlife Park have a wonderfully diverse collection of Australian animals and are involved in many conservation programs to preserve vulnerable and endangered Australian wildlife.  You can follow Chad's journey at: https://www.facebook.com/zookeeperchad/ https://www.instagram.com/zookeeper_chad/?hl=en

Tim Faulkner is the co-director at the Australian Reptile Park, a conservation-based zoo located in a natural bush setting on the Central Coast of NSW which specialises in education, conservation and lifesaving snake and spider venom collection work. Tim is also the president of Aussie Ark, established in 2011 as ‘Devil Ark’, with a focus on saving the iconic Tasmanian devil from extinction. Since then and due to overwhelming success, the role of the organisation has expanded, and now has vision of creating a long-term future for our threatened Australian species. Tim was the Australian Geographic Australian Conservationist of the Year 2015.  

This week we had a visit from conservation biologist Dr David Peacock to talk about how his idea to return Western Quolls to the Flinders Ranges came into fruition. We also talk about his latest idea to return Tiger Quolls (pictured) onto Kangaroo Island.

This week we had a visit from Toby Esplin who owns and operates African-based wildlife tour company About Nature Tours. Toby and his team specialise in nature-based safaris around southern Africa and Madagascar. 

This week we caught up with David Evans from Clear Mountain Reptiles who came down from Queensland to chat with us about some of the awesome reptiles he works with, including the stunning Emerald tree Monitor.  

We had a visit from Estuarine Ecologist 'Faith Coleman' to talk about the heath of the Murray River, carp herpes, restoring natural flows and bioluminescent dinoflagellates. Faith really only came over to cuddle Snuffles the wombat.