Endangered Species Expert Has Local Ties

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Natasha Lloyd discusses her work with endangered species at the public library

Prince George, B.C. - Ever since she was a young girl, Natasha Lloyd has wanted to save endangered species...and the former Prince George resident has come home to talk about her efforts to do just that...

The former College Heights Secondary student, now a science graduate student at the University of Calgary, was the Canadian recipient of the prestigious 'New Noah' Scholarship from Wildlife Preservation Canada in 2006.

Speaking to about 50 people at the Bob Harkins branch of the public library, Lloyd outlined her experience in the scholarship program,"The first part is a training and certificate course over in the Jersey Zoo in endangered species management, the second part is a hands-on field experience working with critically endangered birds on the island of Mauritius, and the third portion is an internship working with endangered species back here in Canada."

During her eight months as a field biologist on Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, and its nearby islands, Lloyd saw first-hand how predators (like rats and monkeys) and invasive plants introduced by humans have devastated the area's endemic species. She said a big part of the conservation effort is about minimizing those impacts.

One of the most labour-intensive efforts Lloyd and her co-workers undertook was to rescue the egg-filled bird nests of the Mauritius Olive White-Eye, from the voracious appetites of area rats. The biologists had to carefully remove the nests, put them in an incubator and carry them out of the forest by hand. (The road was too rough for the incubator to be driven out. But the vehicle had to travel nearby, so the incubator could be plugged in and warmed at regular intervals)

After her time in Africa, Lloyd returned to work for the Centre for Conservation Research at the Calgary Zoo, where she remains today, with her overseas experience shaping her research efforts with Canada's exotic species. She's studying the black-tailed prairie dog and black-footed ferret, which was re-introduced to Canada last year from the U.S. The ferret had been extinct in Canada for more than 70-years.  It was thought to have been completely wiped out in North America until a small remnant population was re-discovered by a rancher's dog in Wyoming. Lloyd says the black-tailed prairie dog is a 'keystone species' for the prairie eco-system -- it makes up to 90-percent of the black-footed ferret's diet.

By focusing on the ecology of the black-tailed prairie dog in Canada for her grad degree, Lloyd is living up to the goals of the training program she took at the Jersey Zoo. The zoo was founded by Gerald Durrell with the idea that people from all over the world would come and train in conservation techniques and practises to become members of 'Durrell's Conservation Army'. Grads of the program are meant to be "the people working on the front lines of endangered species conservation around the world." And that's just what Lloyd is doing.

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