Conservation Canine Handler
So my job title has changed, once again. I am now a Conservation Canine Handler for the Center for Conservation Biology, a non-profit org based out of UW. The good news is that I love my work, as it combines my two favorite ways to spend time, working with dogs, and doing field conservation biology work. The great news is that they want long-term people, who can eventually become trainers and project supervisors, so for the first time in 27 years, I think I may have found not just a new job, but a profession. Its still early to say, as I've only been here 6 weeks or so, but I think this may be it for me for a long stretch.
The work involves training dogs to detect animal scat, then bringing the dogs out to the field to locate scat of rare, threatened, or otherwise observed animals. There are projects with fisher in California, spotted owls in Washington, puma in Mexico, maned wolves in Brazil, wolves in Germany, wolves/moose/caribou in Canada, whales in the San Juans, and even some potential work in Africa. Its an awesome program, and this particular organization is one of the oldest and most experienced in this field. If you want to see more about it, check out the website:
http://depts.washington.edu/conserv/Conservation_Canines.html
One of the best parts of the job (besides working with dogs in remote settings, of course) is the travel. I'm in Central California now, will be in Northern California in a week, Southern Oregon in three weeks, NE Alberta Canada (brrrrrrr) in 5 weeks, and when that project ends in mid-March I'll probably end up studying Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico or spotted owl in the Olympics. Its basically the field bio jobs I loved so much my first few months out of college, but with excellent benefits, PTO, and job security. And did I mention I'm making considerably more than I'm used to and that I don't really have the opportunity to waste money? Yeah, to say the least, my life is looking up right now.
The work involves training dogs to detect animal scat, then bringing the dogs out to the field to locate scat of rare, threatened, or otherwise observed animals. There are projects with fisher in California, spotted owls in Washington, puma in Mexico, maned wolves in Brazil, wolves in Germany, wolves/moose/caribou in Canada, whales in the San Juans, and even some potential work in Africa. Its an awesome program, and this particular organization is one of the oldest and most experienced in this field. If you want to see more about it, check out the website:
http://depts.washington.edu/conserv/Conservation_Canines.html
One of the best parts of the job (besides working with dogs in remote settings, of course) is the travel. I'm in Central California now, will be in Northern California in a week, Southern Oregon in three weeks, NE Alberta Canada (brrrrrrr) in 5 weeks, and when that project ends in mid-March I'll probably end up studying Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico or spotted owl in the Olympics. Its basically the field bio jobs I loved so much my first few months out of college, but with excellent benefits, PTO, and job security. And did I mention I'm making considerably more than I'm used to and that I don't really have the opportunity to waste money? Yeah, to say the least, my life is looking up right now.