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Matt is a conservation professional who has spent much of his life
working with captive and wild animals. He holds a Bachelor's Degree with
Second-Class Honors in Biological Science from King's College,
University of London.
Matt
first began to appreciate the natural world - and the importance of
preserving it - while growing up in southern England, where he lived
with his family on the grounds of Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. Working
closely with his stepfather, a big cat keeper at Port Lympne and its
sister park Howletts, Matt became intimate with a variety of the world's
most exotic and endangered animals. This fueled a desire to enter a
career in conservation and led him to Thailand and Cambodia, where he
spent nearly four years on the ground working toward a better habitat
for Southeast Asia's wildlife populations.
In
Thailand Matt volunteered for the Thai Society for the Conservation of
Wild Animals, working alongside the Royal Thai Forest Department to
train their personnel in animal husbandry techniques, designing and
building facilities for animals confiscated from the illicit wildlife
trade, and helping some of Thailand's sanctuaries build mammal and bird
data sets. In Cambodia, Matt initially worked with the Cambodian
Department of Forestry and Wildlife to improve and expand their animal
rescue centre at Phnom Tamao, and then joined Conservation International
(CI).
Of
the many highlights of Matt's career, the most rewarding so far has been
helping to establish CI's Cardamom Conservation Programme in southwest
Cambodia, a 420,000-hectare (more than 1 million-acre) forest reserve of
significant scientific interest. Matt particularly enjoyed working with
the rangers and the local community in the field, but gained experience
in many of the areas important for a conservation project.
Matt,
32, has recently moved to the Washington DC area in the US from London.
He hopes to find work in the international conservation sector soon.
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