Call of the wild

Harsh climates, tough physical tasks and writing reports - working with rare animals isn't all about cuddling cute critters, finds Louise Tickle

Louise Tickle
The Guardian, Saturday 7 March 2009

Would you fancy waking up nose-to-beak with a penguin? Tom Hart found himself in this unusual position every morning of the two months he spent as a researcher in the sub-Antarctic. And though not everyone aspires to a career spent in such chilly working conditions, Hart's job as a marine biologist with the Institute of Zoology is one he says has brought him into contact with extraordinary wildlife in remote and beautiful parts of the world that most nature lovers can only dream of seeing.

However, there's stiff competition and coming across as fluffily enthusiastic about all those sweet little critters won't cut it when it comes to getting on a relevant degree course, never mind landing a job. This is hardly surprising: the desire to understand and protect rare animals and their threatened environments is a hugely motivating force for many youngsters and career-changers alike.

Fortunately, with a bit of imagination, working with wildlife offers a lot of career options, and science A-levels followed by a biology or zoology degree is not the only route in.

James Fair, news and travel editor of BBC Wildlife magazine, did an English degree before a journalism course: he then spent his twenties freelancing to save money for repeated trips to South and Central America. He ran a cloud forest reserve in Ecuador for a year and helped out on a study project of Andean bears in Bolivia, where he looked after an orphaned cub for several months.

Fair now co-ordinates the magazine's popular work placement programme for aspiring wildlife journalists and says that "the most go-getting students will also have placements set up with the [BBC] natural history unit and maybe a wildlife charity communications team, so they can experience the different options available in wildlife and conservation media."

Though Fair says a science background is not essential to work on natural history in the media, "a fundamental understanding of and interest in the pressures on the environment, and the importance of ecosystems for species conservation, absolutely is."

Though his journalism has taken him from the Arctic Circle to Tasmania and to various countries in between, in search of proboscis monkeys, pandas, polar bears and puffins, he emphasises that wildlife journalism isn't always as glamorous as it sounds and can be extremely physically taxing. There's a lot of hardcore travelling involved, in distinctly non-luxury conditions, often followed by strenuous hiking in rugged terrain looking for animals that don't necessarily want to show up.

"People sometimes arrive here for their work placement with the idea that they'll be sent out to take fabulous pictures of wildlife - sadly that doesn't happen," he says. "Mostly it'll be research to help with a feature, and it's a sign of the times that most 'workies' will just get on the web and get their information from there, even if I've suggested a few names for them to call.

"But the best of them will pick up the phone, because there's nothing that beats talking to a person. How well they do depends on how much initiative they show. They'll do a bit of picture research, and some boring admin too - but again, the better ones won't complain, because even the most exciting job in wildlife will involve boring bits."

Stu Porter, who now has his dream job running his company, Wild 4 Photographic Safaris in South Africa, agrees that there are plenty of mundane duties to get through.

"Paperwork and sitting in an office frustrates me as I prefer to be outdoors but, when aiming to run a sustainable business, both are equally important," he says. Porter is an example of how to combine a passion for wildlife with a separate skill: his interest in photography prompted him to embark on a degree in wildlife photography run by Blackpool and the Fylde College, and he now teaches others how to create images of rare and common animals living in the Kruger national park.

For anyone who wants to work in wildlife research, on the other hand, a biological sciences degree is pretty well a must-have. On its own though, that's not enough, says Tom Hart, because competition is fierce for funded postgraduate courses that can lead to a research career.

Getting on to field trips - Hart did one looking at insects in the Mexican jungle and another, rather less thrillingly (on the surface at least) in Wales - that advertise for assistants is vital to gain experience. These also let you know whether you can cope with the kind of humidity, freezing temperatures and high altitudes that creatures other than humans have as their habitats.

Funding trips isn't generally a problem, he says, because department travel grants can be applied for; alternatively research teams will often pay for assistants' travel, board and lodgings (though this may, of course, be a scruffy hammock slung between a couple of tree stumps).

There's a lot to be said for British wildlife too, says Rhoda McGivern, who was 24 when she decided to study for a degree in zoological conservation management at Cornwall College. After going on a day-long course learning to track UK wildlife, she says she was hooked. "Walking through a woodland area just here in the UK, you realise that you can see a magical story unfold from the tracks different animals leave behind," she says.

For years McGivern spent every spare hour practising her tracking skills, and recently set up her company Worldwild, which offers bushcraft and tracking holidays for people who want to "see" foxes, badgers, otters, deer and minx without disturbing them as they go about their daily lives.

Given that overseas wildlife jobs are the most oversubscribed, why not focus on the animals to be found at home? It's cheaper, greener, and there are plenty of creatures that need saving here too. Roll up, student campaigners, for water voles, red squirrels, hen harriers, Scottish wildcats and white-clawed crayfish.

Your native wildlife needs you.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/07/rare-endangered-species-vet