Working with Animals

From four-legged creatures to feathered friends, hear from three OPs who have found fulfilling careers working with animals.

Brian Bertram (1961)

I have been fortunate in having had a varied life involving animals. In 1956, aged 12, I joined The Perse 3rd Form, with my zoological interest already established. This withstood advice from a couple of teachers who urged me to do languages (rather than science) because I was better at them (a good memory, though not a particularly good ear – now all three poor). I think I was influenced most at The Perse by Ken Symonds who in his CCF Naval Section enabled me and others to go down in a submarine, to loop the loop at the then Marshall’s Aerodrome, to sail on the Blackwater River, and enjoy the luxurious Dartmouth Britannia Royal Naval College. I was moderately sporty, playing 1st XI hockey, captaining 2nd XV rugby (undefeated season), and being captain of shooting (small bore, an expression I still dislike). I enjoyed The Perse and the friends made there.

I read Zoology at St John’s College, Cambridge, taking part in various zoological field trips in vacations; solo night diving in Malta was, in hindsight, somewhat reckless, although clearly survivable.

I did a PhD at Cambridge based on fieldwork on the Indian hill mynah bird, and was mostly in Assam for two years. The subject was simple then: “Find out what noises the birds make in the wild so that we can understand why they are such good mimics in captivity”. Answer – they copy a few near neighbouring mynah birds of the same sex as themselves; but why?

I then spent four years in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, studying lions and leopards, establishing long-term records of known individuals in resident prides, assessing woodland lion ecology, discovering the adaptive basis of infanticide in lions, and pioneering gentle darting and radio-tracking techniques. Friends kindly brought a lovely young lady visitor to my hovel in the bush, and tolerant Kate is now my wife and mother of our three children.

Jumping about, I got a Senior Research Fellow in Behavioural Ecology (then called Sociobiology) at King’s College, Cambridge, and we studied the communal nesting system of ostriches in Tsavo West National Park in Kenya, finding (among other things) that supposedly dim female ostriches can recognise their own nearly identical eggs in their communal nests, and discriminate in favour of them.

Next I was appointed Curator of Mammals at London Zoo ZSL, and later also ‘given’ the Aquarium and Invertebrates. Highlights of my eight years there included: accompanying our giant panda to Washington on an abortive mating visit; reintroducing scimitar-horned oryx into the wild in Tunisia; introducing naked mole rats to the international zoo world; behavioural enrichment; and upgrading the keeper force.

I then joined the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, where I overlapped with and took over from Sir Peter Scott as the Trust’s first Director General. In my five years there, we put ‘and Wetlands’ into the title, established new centres at Llanelli and Castle Espie, and laid the groundwork for the fine London Wetland Centre. I also dealt with lots of fabulous birds.

After that I did a few short consultancies overseas, then was Special Projects Coordinator at Bristol Zoo, responsible for new development projects, especially those for seals and penguins, invertebrates, nocturnal animals, lawn theatre, and car park (rather a zoological comedown).

For the past 36 years, I have been a Zoo Inspector on the Secretary of State’s list, in the course of which have inspected well over 100 zoos – which are improving well.

Since retirement, I have been much involved with various ZSL committees, with proofreading zoological magazines (as a natural pedant). I cultivate vegetables, bees and family. And I am pleased to hear from Perseans on bbertram@btopenworld.com.

I GOT A SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW IN BEHAVIOURAL ECOLOGY (THEN CALLED SOCIOBIOLOGY) AT KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND WE STUDIED THE COMMUNAL NESTING SYSTEM OF OSTRICHES IN TSAVO WEST NATIONAL PARK IN KENYA.

I truly have wonderful memories of my time at The Perse School for Sixth Form. I was in the very first cohort of girls to arrive at the School – it was an adventure, and to an extent it felt like a bit of an experiment. There were only 13 girls in our year and of course, therefore, the whole school. I can remember we were made incredibly welcome and to be honest, thinking back, really quite possibly a little bit spoilt. At the time I was eventing at a serious level and it was therefore extremely important to have as much time as possible to ride and train the horses. The School was very understanding and I was able, during Upper Sixth, to take sports afternoons to go home for coaching and riding. I was competing nearly every weekend during the spring and summer months and have memories of revising for exams in the back of the horsebox in between my dressage, show jumping and cross country phases of events. I managed to qualify for Windsor International Threeday event that year as one of the youngest GB competitors.

During my gap year, I worked for the family business teaching in the riding school and competing the horses. Then I went onto The Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester to take a degree in Equine and Agricultural Business Management. This was excellent, it helped to give me such an enormous overview of the whole equestrian industry. As part of an exchange programme I was lucky enough to spend a term at The University of Kentucky, Lexington. Here I was learning primarily about the racing industry, thoroughbred and sports horse breeding. Kentucky has produced some of the greatest racehorses of all time and this was a brilliant experience to spend time out there with some of the most expert racehorse producers and trainers in the world.

At Cirencester, I also discovered polo and ended up coming home with an old polo pony. This led to an accidental diversification with the family business. Within a few years my brothers were playing professionally and we imported polo ponies form Argentina for teaching new players and matches. In the early 2000s we put in an all-weather arena for polo, one of the largest in the UK. I was teaching clients, from total beginners who had never ridden a horse before upwards. Cambridge University Polo Club played out of our grounds at Haggis Farm and polo begun to grow hugely. Now schools and university polo is proving hugely popular, with over 3,000 members playing in the UK. Polo and riding are exhilarating and often at times can be a great leveller – a brilliant sport that really can be taken up by anyone at any age and enjoyed at all standards.

By my early thirties I decided I wanted to move to London for a bit of a change in direction and now today, as well as still being heavily involved in Cambridge Polo Club, and the family business I work for a small media company in Luxury Travel Marketing. This is something which I greatly enjoy, proving all skills learnt along the way can be hugely beneficial and transferable to different industries.

FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” POLO AND RIDING ARE EXHILARATING AND OFTEN AT TIMES CAN BE A GREAT LEVELLER – A BRILLIANT SPORT THAT REALLY CAN BE TAKEN UP BY ANYONE AT ANY AGE AND ENJOYED AT ALL STANDARDS.

I joined The Perse Sixth Form in 2006 and after studying the three sciences and art for A Level, my teachers were wholly supportive of my ambition to go to Vet School. But I realised, after a dramatic imitation of a stampeding rhino, that it was Mr Pickstone, my biology teacher, who most shared my joy in the natural world.

During my time at the School I also joined the CCF. By nature I was rather quiet, and the CCF did wonders for improving my confidence. I achieved the grades I needed and got my place at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at Nottingham University.

I adored my five years at Vet School; the course was taught practically and suited me perfectly. After qualifying I started work at a small animal hospital in Bedfordshire. My first year as a practising vet was a baptism by fire. The hours were long and the caseload was huge, but I was well supported by those around me and I learnt quickly. I grew in competence and confidence over my first few years, and specialised further in cardiology.

After four years in practice I no longer felt as if I was just trying to keep my head above water; I had settled into the rhythm of a busy general practice. At the time I hated the out of hours work, but with hindsight the stressful 2am surgeries, worried owners and critically ill animals not only taught me a lot about my trade but also made me realise that I loved working under pressure. I really enjoyed my job, but wasn’t sure it would keep me happy until retirement. I was ready for another challenge. I wanted to find a way to develop myself further whilst maintaining my veterinary skills. I was drawn to a Royal Army Veterinary Corp stand at a conference – Military Working Dogs, the outdoors, teamwork. I was hooked.

I started doing loaded marches, press-ups and runs in my spare time to get fit for application and before long I attended the Army Officer Selection Board at Westbury. Three days of interviews, psychometric testing, fitness tests, assault courses and command tasks – easily the most intense job interview I’ve experienced. I passed and attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2017. Weapon skills and drills came flooding back to me from CCF, and I took to yomping around in the cold and the mud like a duck to water.

I commissioned on 25 November 2017, cheered on by my two best friends from The Perse, and since then have been working as a Troop Commander in the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment. My soldiers inspire me on a daily basis – committed men and women working to keep people safe around the world. The dogs we use fall broadly into two categories: those that search and are trained to detect weapons, ammunition and explosives (these tend to be Labradors and Spaniels) and those that protect, which tend to be Belgian Malinois, Dutch Herders or German Shepherds. Much to my civilian vet friends’ bemusement I can honestly say that the protection dogs are significantly safer to handle than your average Chihuahua.

So far my time in the British Army has delivered exactly what I had hoped. On a ‘typical’ day I could be treating strays in Cyprus, leading my Troop on Exercise in Canada, behind my desk managing my soldiers’ careers, getting involved in army-wide organisational change or visiting other NATO Forces.

Until I sat down to write this, I hadn’t quite realised how many of the threads in my life lead back to my time at The Perse!

DURING MY TIME AT THE SCHOOL I ALSO JOINED THE CCF. BY NATURE I WAS RATHER QUIET, AND THE CCF DID WONDERS FOR IMPROVING MY CONFIDENCE. UNTIL I SAT DOWN TO WRITE THIS, I HADN’T QUITE REALISED HOW MANY OF THE THREADS IN MY LIFE LEAD BACK TO MY TIME AT THE PERSE!