I qualified as a veterinary surgeon in England, where I practised for nine years before emigrating to New Zealand. A further 4 years in veterinary practice were followed by 5 years as curator and veterinarian at the Auckland Zoo.
While there I established a certified training course for zoo keepers, and developed programmes focused on the captive breeding of endangered species. I then embarked on a media career, which included writing and presenting two television series about domestic animals for Television New Zealand, and ten years writing a regular newspaper column and hosting a radio talk-back programme. I also worked as Regional co-ordinator for the World Wildife Fund (WWF), carrying out speaking engagements and running seminars about wildlife conservation and endangered species.
Writing and Illustration
In the late 1980's I began writing non-fiction educational books for primary school children. Soon after this I commenced a career as a professional photographer, providing photographic illustrations for my own books and also for books written by other authors. To date I have written and illustrated more than one hundred children's educational books, and have provided photographic illustrations for more than 250 others. Publishers who have used images from my photo library include New Holland Publishers, Macmillan Publishing, Pearson Learning, Rigby, Scholastic New Zealand, Sunshine Books and Weldon Owen Inc.
Working with co-author Claire Vial, we have written and illustrated fifty educational books about animals. These are published by Dominie Press Inc., a division of the Pearson Learning Group, under the series title The Dominie World of Living Things. Written for children aged 6-8 years, they cover invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. We have also written twelve books for children aged 5-6 years, published by Cavallo Publishing in San Diego.
