Our People Skills and Careers

Our People & Careers

Our People

Brett Ottley

PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST
& COMPANY DIRECTOR

ECOLOGY & NATIVE FAUNA
VERTEBRATE PEST MANAGEMENT
sustainable species utilisation

Brett has a Bachelor of Science (Zoology & Botany) from University of New England. He was raised in the highlands of Papua New Guinea before completing his schooling in Australia so has always had an affinity for wildlife and the environment.

Brett worked as a ranger undertaking feral animal management for Queensland Parks & Wildlife on Cape York Peninsula and later assisted Parks & Wildlife Commission NT before joining Wildlife Management International in Darwin. There he organised and conducted annual NT and WA Kimberley crocodile surveys, managed annual nest monitoring, egg harvesting and incubation.

Brett conducted training for State/Federal wildlife agency personnel as well as delivering certificate level training in crocodile conservation, management and husbandry techniques to participants from Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Palau, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea and China. He was also involved in projects studying the ecology of feral pigs and control techniques in the wet-dry tropics.

Brett co-founded Wild Science with Stu where he manages design and implementation of wildlife and feral animal management programs including design and planning of surveys to assess population size and distribution, implementation of control and analysis of monitoring and results. He's also accomplished in GIS Mapping (Arc GIS).

Stuart Barker

General manager
& Company director

VERTEBRATE PEST MANAGEMENT
SUSTAINABLE SPECIES UTILISATION
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Stuart is an agriculturalist with a background in intensive pig husbandry and crocodile production. He has a Diploma in Pig Production and Management.

Stuart developed extensive knowledge of pig behaviour and commercial production during various management roles in large commercial piggeries in Queensland & WA. He worked with Wildlife Management International and gained experience in survey, techniques, data collection and analysis, collection and incubation of crocodile eggs, diet trials and crocodile production.

Stuart managed Janamba Crocodile farm for 11 years. The farm housed over 10,000 crocodiles and he was responsible for operations, budgeting, husbandry, breeding, marketing & sales including dealing directly with customers like Hermes.

Stuart co-founded Wild Science with Brett and heads up logistics, project management and business development. His extensive knowledge and experience enable him to fine tune program delivery and implementation by applying dynamic adaptive management skills.

Ash Barker

VERTEBRATE PEST FIELD OFFICER

Ash undertakes field work for Wild Science including monitoring, ground and aerial surveys, data collection and wildlife management activities. Her experience in agriculture and animal husbandry enable her to easily integrate these skills into her wildlife management capabilities.

Ash is currently studying toward a tertiary qualification in agriculture which builds on her previous roles working on cattle stations.

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Careers with Wild Science

We appreciate the opportunity we have to make a real difference, to achieve real results and contribute positively to improved long term environmental outcomes.

We enjoy the variety involved in our work including :

Practical work in the field as well as office based data analysis & evaluation, developing management strategies, GIS mapping, reporting, etc.
Field work in urban & rural locations as well as remote area work in often stunning locations
Working with native fauna for conservation as well as improving environmental outcomes by managing feral animals to reduce their detrimental impacts
Opportunities to work with wildlife as well as connect with people & communities through training & awareness programs

On the other hand:

It's hot!
We get pretty dirty
We travel a lot
We don't stay in luxury accommodation (sometimes we camp in swags)

Employment Opportunities

From time to time we have employment vacancies and recruit suitably qualified staff.

We also work with university students undertaking practical work placements as part of their degree requirements.

If you'd like to submit an expression of interest please use our contact form.