Please help us welcome our most recent addition to the Red Wolf Recovery Program, Ryan! He will be the red wolf caretaker intern at Alligator River National Wildlife
Refuge (NWR) for September through December 2014.
Ryan was born and raised in Alton, Illinois, which is located just across the Mississippi River in the suburbs of Saint Louis,
Missouri. He graduated in May
2013 from Southeast Missouri State
University with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Wildlife/Conservation Biology and a minor in Environmental Science. After graduation,
he worked for the Missouri Department of
Conservation as a fisheries field biologist
traveling statewide sampling various fish species and performing water quality surveys
in streams and rivers. He also was an intern at The Wilds in Ohio, and participated in their Eastern Hellbender reintroduction
program.
At The Wilds, he also assisted with herpetology and carnivore field and
research work. Most recently, he has been interning at Pocosin Lakes NWR since April before joining us this month.
Ryan has always enjoyed being outside
and seeing what nature has to offer. In his spare time he likes to hike, fish,
camp, travel, attend sporting events (especially St.
Louis Cardinals baseball), and spend time with family and
friends. His goal is to become a wildlife biologist or zookeeper working with
carnivores, fish, or herpetology. He hopes to eventually attend graduate school
to get his M.Sc. degree and further a career in wildlife research and conservation.
He is passionate about working with endangered and threatened species,
especially carnivores.
We’re lucky to have Ryan as he brings a wonderful skill set of
animal handling skills, knowledge of carnivore biology, and passion to protect
and conserved imperiled species to this position.
Welcome Ryan!
