Today we’d like to introduce you to David O’Connor.
Thanks for sharing your story with us David. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
For me, it started early. I grew up in the countryside of southeast Ireland, and I was always out in the wild. I think it began when I discovered a fox den in a hedgerow near my house when I was small, and I spent a lot of time that summer watching the vixen care for her cubs, and them playing and learning outside their den. Being a small island, I was also very aware that in a very short time we had lost most of our big wildlife species wolves, giant elk, all our red deer outside of one herd, golden eagles, etc., as agriculture spread, there was simply no more space.
But I also saw hope, that we still had wildlife, and a lot of people liked the idea of wildlife, and got great joy at occasional glimpses of a fox or badger darting across the road, or of swifts and swallows darting across the summertime sky over (being Ireland!) busy summer beer gardens… The other big influence on me, as it was for many of us in the field, was David Attenborough’s documentaries (I actually was able to meet him on work experience in the BBC in Bristol), and the National Geographic’s that came every month. Before the internet, these were the windows into the world for a boy from rural Ireland.
I was always torn between two parts of me, the part that said I should be a good earner and provide for a family – hence working in the business of some sort, and the other part that was fascinated by wildlife. Still unresolved, I went University in Cork I studied Zoology and Earth Science. After graduation, I did a graduate degree in Business in Dublin. I landed a job at a big bank in Ireland. But I wasn’t super excited, and rather rashly decided to chuck that in before starting and move to Washington DC.
Typical cheesy immigrant story, I landed in DC with a few hundred dollars in my pocket – but I knew that many of the places I was interested in working based there: National Geographic, Discovery, Conservation International, WWF, The Nature Conservancy, etc. So, I gave myself a year, I worked a series of crummy office jobs and very luckily got an opportunity with National Geographic Magazine. Ever since then my life’s been changed, and I’m lucky and privileged to be able to work in an area I’m passionate about and fascinated by.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, I’ve been extremely fortunate (here’s hoping I don’t jinx myself!), and there have been challenges, but I think mine are rather minor compared to what others may overcome. An initial challenge was that there are relatively few opportunities in Ireland to work in conservation or wildlife, given that we’re an island and so few of our terrestrial wildlife remain (our marine and bird life thankfully remains quite diverse).
So, I know I would have to leave, and I’ve largely been away from Ireland for about 20 years, living in several places across the US as well as in Australia. Another challenge is in our field of conservation is that we’re in need of financial help. We raise money from donors and investors so that we can actually protect wildlife under threat in the wild, as well as conduct vital conservation research to inform how to save wildlife and the spaces they live, as well as work with local people to sustainably co-exist alongside wildlife.
We are very lucky as San Diego Zoo Global, we work with some incredible supporters in the San Diego and Southern California community, whose support means we are able to do effective conservation at several sites around the world saving iconic and important species from extinction. Without these people, we couldn’t do anything.
The other challenge is that the places I work (all of my projects are outside the USA) can be very remote and unstable and dangerous, and the wildlife I work with are big – elephants, bears, big cats, etc. – and we’re in their lands, so there have been some hairy moments in the field where you are charged by elephants, or buffalo, or caught in firefights with poachers or rebels. While it is incredible that I get to travel the world, it means I am away maybe 50-60% of the time out of contact, which is a big strain when it comes to family, friends and relationships – it takes pretty amazing people to be able to put up with me.
Please tell us about San Diego Zoo Global.
Our organization is San Diego Zoo Global, a zoological institution with a mission to save species from extinction. San Diego Zoo Global (SDZG) is the parent organization that operates the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I work at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, which is the research arm of SDZG. I also still work part-time for National Geographic Magazine remotely from San Diego.
I have been with SDZG for nearly 4 years, where my title is Researcher, a community-based conservation ecologist, which means I work with local communities to save wildlife in a way that involves and benefits both people and wildlife. Most people think that conservation is all about wildlife, in fact, conservation is about people. As it is the people who live alongside the wildlife we care about who will ultimately determine whether the wildlife survives into the future, so we must work them to find the right ways to preserve the wild into the future.
My specialty is partnering with local organizations to develop conservation and research programs. Currently, I work in three regions: Kenya and East Africa on giraffe, savanna elephant, and leopard conservation, in SE Asia (Lao PDR, Cambodia, Myanmar) on addressing illegal wildlife trade in Asian elephant parts, bears and bear parts, saiga horn, and tiger parts. We also just started a new research program in Myanmar around Asian elephants. Lastly, I work to a lesser extent in central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, southern Russia) on the conservation of one of the most unique (and I think gorgeous) antelope in the world – the saiga.
What am I most proud of? I think for both SDZG and National Geographic it’s that they are willing to take the risk. That is, the willingness to say we see we can have an impact here, and actually, go for it, rather than standing on the sidelines waiting for others to act. That’s really inspirational and vital when it comes to declining populations of wildlife, we don’t always have the luxury of time. The other part I’m proud of is that I work in a world with incredible people, working incredibly hard, who really do make a difference, and the world is a brighter place because of them.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have quite a few, I can’t really narrow it down to a single one. If it’s OK, I’ll pick the summers in my granny’s house that was at the top of a cliff you could climb down to a beach, and there were fields all around. I basically lived there during summers. My favorite memory is the feeling of those care-free days running buck wild around on the beach, in the water, in the fields with friends and family. Endless games of soccer, chasing, and numerous others of our own construction, being called in at 11 pm as the light faded, being scolded for being out so late.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2920 Zoo Dr, San Diego, CA 92101
- Website: www.sandiegozooglobal.org
- Phone: 619-718-3000
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandiegozoo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoZoo/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sandiegozoo
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