Our Staff

Paul Jacques

Project Manager

PauI is a native New Zealander but has spent about half his life overseas. He has been a keen birdwatcher since the age of ten and this led him into a career in wildlife monitoring and animal pest management. He started his working life surveying breeding birds on the blanket bogs of northern Scotland, so he knows about being wet, cold, and harassed by biting insects. From 2005 he worked for the Department of Conservation in New Zealand and held a variety of roles including controlling feral cats, possums and rats on Rakiura/Stewart Island, and monitoring birds and vegetation in Fiordland (lots of biting insects there too). For four years he was focused on investigating the feasibility of eradicating feral cats, pigs and mice from Auckland Island in the NZ sub-antarctic, where he got wet and cold but enjoyed a break from biting insects. Nowadays Paul enjoys the warmer climes of the South-west Pacific, where he works with local communities and other partners to eradicate invasive vertebrate pests, to protect native species and livelihoods.

Paul lives in a tiny house in Invercargill, at the bottom of NZ’s South Island. He enjoys tramping when he gets the chance. He plays guitar and likes to write, and occasionally he shows up at Invercargill’s Thursday night poetry club.