Australian_Geographic_-_February_2016_

C

ONSERVATION biologists were

few and far between when

Tim Faulkner began work as

a trainee keeper at NSW’s Feather-

dale Wildlife Park, aged 14. But

during an action-packed career

spanning nearly 20 years at two of

Australia’s premier wildlife institu-

tions, it’s a title that has come to fit

as comfortably as his khaki uniform.

“I’ve worked at the conservation

coalface my whole life,” says the

energetic 33-year-old, now general

manager of the Australian Reptile

Park (ARP), in Somersby, NSW, and

Devil Ark, a pioneering breeding

facility for Tasmanian devils. “As

well as the devil work, I am an

Conservation coalface

Tim Faulkner, the 2015 Australian Geographic Society Conservationist of the Year, is the

public face of a pioneering project that offers new hope to beleaguered Tasmanian devils.

TIM FAULKNER

ambassador for quokkas and dingoes,

and I’ve contributed to projects on

everything from bilbies and eastern

quolls to regent honey-eaters and

pygmy blue-tongue lizards.”

That lifelong passion for Australia’s

animals, fostered by family holidays

in the bush and reptile-keeping

relatives, was recently recognised

when Tim was named the 2015 AG

Society Conservationist of the Year.

At the ARP, he and the 40

full-time staff and 80 volunteers he

oversees help visitors to get up close

and personal with nature. “We give

people a good experience, raise

their awareness and slip in some key

conservation messages,” he says.

His television show The Wild Life of

Tim Faulkner (see page 110) extends

that reach to more than 5 million

people an episode.

While wrestling cranky crocodiles

and milking deadly snakes might be

all in a day’s work, Tim regards the

Devil Ark project – to create an

insurance population of devils as

protection against a devastating facial

tumour disease – as among his most

important work. It is widely seen as

a model for species recovery interna-

tionally. “They are such stimulating

critters with distinctive personalities;

no two devils are the same,” says

Tim enthusiastically. “I love them.”

AMANDA BURDON

January. February 23

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PETER RAE