Sue Keall is the conservation biology technician with Victoria University’s tuatara biology and conservation programme. Since 1991, she has been responsible for caring for hatchlings, juvenile and adult animals, and she has also been responsible for the incubation of eggs from both captive populations and wild populations threatened with extinction. She has led the improved husbandry of tuatara at institutions in New Zealand and overseas, including the San Diego Zoo. Her work has been essential to research aimed at preserving the tuatara.

She is so dedicated to her job, she spends time including weekends collecting insects to ensure the reptiles have an adequate natural diet, and her expertise has ensured very high survival rates of eggs and all life stages from hatchling to adult, as well as very low rates of illness or injury in captive populations.

In 1995 she completed the prestigious Diploma in Endangered Species Management at the Jersey Zoo, as one of few New Zealanders to have been admitted to the programme. She has recently been awarded the Animal Technician’s Award for 2008 by the Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching.

Many little girls aspire to work with animals, but so often they are pushed towards “sensible” jobs. Women like Sue Keall show that there are important and valuable jobs for people who love animals.