“These birds used their droppings as weapons. So everyday out on the military base we’re getting bombed by birds protecting their nests.”
-Melanie
We’ve got an extra entertaining episode for you today! Melanie Croce is the current executive director of Seal Rescue Ireland. Her path to this position, however, was anything but straight.
From responding to the BP oil spill to turning down the steady paycheck at an environmental consulting firm, and then applying to a position while on vacation in Ireland, Melanie weaves a captivating tale.
Join us today as we discuss:
- How Melanie started a nature center in rural Africa- all while living out of a tent
- How her current position wasn’t available to her until nearly five years after she left the organization
- What it’s like doing seabird research on a military base (there’s bombing!)
Quick Links
Virginia Tech
Seal Rescue Ireland
Cape Canaveral National Seashore
National Park Service
Gray Seals
Common Seals
Western snowy plover
California Least Tern
Bioko Island
Leatherback sea turtles
Dodo Heroes
Show Notes
2:42 How “turtle hunting” led Melanie to a career in wildlife. The ironic part? She changed her major in college from wildlife conservation to environmental science because she thought it would be more marketable.
2:42 Turning down the “stable” career as an environmental consultant to work at a national seashore. Why Melanie decided to become a lifeguard for the national park service instead of pursuing the expected career path. The bonus? Doing nighttime sea turtle work on one of the highest density nesting beaches in the world.
9:25 How a holiday in Ireland and a hotel flier completely changed the trajectory of Melanie’s life, applying for a job on the spot.
18:41 Banding sea birds on a Marine Corps base in Southern California. What it’s like doing wildlife conservation with military tanks driving by. What banding birds actually looks like: running, diving in the sand, trying to catch tiny, baby birds. The bird’s defense mechanism? Pooping. Showers are not optional.
23:21 When you get confident with your field skills, you move to a field camp living in a tent in Africa with no electricity or running water doing sea turtle surveys by night and monkey rainforest surveys by day. This is the ultimate test of your field grit! Melanie also established a local nature center to provide sustainable income to the locals.
33:30 The longer you stay at an organization, the more valuable you become and more likely you are to get a paying (or higher paid!) position. The more knowledge you acquire on the job makes you a valuable team member, and more of a loss to an organization should you leave.
39:30 having the career come full circle: the seal sanctuary reached back out to Melanie to see if she’d be interested in coming back to work for them. The lesson? Do good work, keep in contact.
44:32 How anyone can become involved in seal rescues! What the seal rescue volunteers role looks like and how it’s a team effort to help to save the Irish seals. Melanie also walks us through what it looks like to rescue a seal, from phone call to release.
56:42 Take a behind the scenes tour of Seal Rescue Ireland and see what a potential physical visit to their location my look like
1:02:38 Melanie’s field stories: in the last week, there was a flood, a fire, and a COVID scare. Be adaptable and resourceful! Her favorite story? When Dodo Heroes Field Crew came to film the Seal Rescue.
1:06:18 Conservation ask: Let wildlife be wild and give them space. Reduce your plastic consumption. Every piece of plastic that was ever produced is still out in the world.