Date of birth:
1978-07-10
Place of birth:
Bilbao, Spain
Education History:
2003- University Degree in Veterinary Medicine. University of León, Spain | 2011- Masters of Veterinary Science in Conservation Medicine. Murdoch University, Australia.
Organisation you work for:
International Animal Rescue Indonesia
Position title:
Executive Director
How did you get into the work you do presently?
In 2003 I came to Indonesia to volunteer as a veterinarian in several Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centres. During this time I came across a team of very enthusiastic Indonesian people with very strong beliefs in conservation and animal welfare and so, together we established an Indonesian NGO. Soon after, International Animal Rescue came to us with enough funds to set up and run the first rescue and rehabilitation centre for slow lorises and macaques situated in Bogor, Java. Therefore, our Indonesian NGO became Yayasan IAR Indonesia. This centre has been running since 2007 in Java. In 2009 we answered the call for help to run a rescue centre for orangutans in Ketapang, West Kalimantan. Again, thanks to International Animal Rescue, we improved the existing rescue facility and started the project of setting up the first new rehabilitation facility for orangutans in the West Kalimantan province. In less than two years we have rescued more than 40 orangutans in this area.
Describe the main aspects of your work:
My time is shared between the two centres; the slow loris and macaque centre in Bogor and the orangutan centre in Ketapang. I am the executive director of the Indonesian organisation and so I must make sure that all the projects run well. We now have more than 70 people working at both centres. I am still the coordinator of the medical teams made up of four vets and two assistants. I also seek funding by submitting funding proposals, networking inside and outside of Indonesia and come up with new projects that can allow us to reach our goals.
What do you like best about your job?
The things I like the most about my job are; the contact with the animals, the medicinal side of my job, when we can come up with a diagnosis and an effective treatment which can cure and save an animal, or when we can rescue an orangutan that otherwise would suffer and die.
