Having dreamt about, and worked towards, being a vet since the age of seven, I graduated from The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh University, in 2012.

During my time at university I had a particular interest in wildlife, and spent many months working with wildlife vets in the UK, and in South Africa. I also completed marine ecology courses while at university.

After graduating, I initially went into mixed practice, working with everything from sheep and cows to dogs and cats, rabbits and guinea pigs to chickens and hedgehogs. I regularly treated injured wildlife, and I even once treated a buzzard!

I then moved into small animal practice as a locum, working at practices all over the South West, while also taking on the first couple of my ocean adventures.

I no longer regularly work in small animal clinical practice, but am very proud to be a vet and maintain my professional qualification. I am very passionate about animal welfare and conservation, and many of my ocean protection activities are motivated by my desire to protect animals in the wild.

I feel very fortunate to have had veterinary experiences with many wild animals, including rhino, lions, elephants, and more recently, turtles.

There’s a concept in veterinary medicine called One Health. It is the understanding of the interconnectedness of human, animal and planetary health. It is often viewed in relation to, e.g., the rabies crisis around the world, in that unhealthy animals can lead to unhealthy people. But this can also be seen in farming and aquaculture.

I love the simplicity of this model - that to have a healthy human population, we need healthy animals, and we can’t expect either to be healthy without a thriving planet. This captures the reconnection I think we so desperately need to our natural world to ensure the prosperity of all living beings, and our home planet too.

I’m very proud to be an ambassador of Vet Sustain - Championing Sustainability in the Veterinary Professions.