Lance Woolaver

Lance is the Executive Director for Wildlife Preservation Canada. He is a member of the IUCN’s Reintroduction Specialist Group and a Canadian Committee Member of the IUCN.

Lance has more than 25 years of experience managing recovery programs for some of the world’s most endangered animals including: the pink pigeon, Mauritius kestrel, Round Island reptiles and echo parakeet in Mauritius; ploughshare tortoise, side-necked turtle, Alaotra gentle lemur and Madagascar pochard in Madagascar; and Ridgway’s hawk and bay-breasted cuckoo in the Dominican Republic. Focus has been on managing integrated conservation projects with conservation breeding and reintroductions as catalysts for habitat protection and restoration, applied research, wise stewardship, and strong community engagement within conservation projects.

Some of his personal career highlights include carrying out the first release of echo parakeets in Mauritius, radio-tracking kakapo and takahe in New Zealand, searching for scops owls, magpie-robins and paradise flycatchers in the Seychelles, discovering a new species of tarantula, sleeping overnight in a California condor nest cave, and helping local farmers return Ridgway’s hawk nestlings to artificial nest sites in the Dominican Republic.

Lance’s early career began as a wildlife biologist for the Department of Natural Resources in Nova Scotia and Canadian Wildlife Service in Newfoundland - working with seabirds, sea ducks, small mammals, and mustelids. This led to a master’s thesis at Acadia University on the Habitat and artificial shelter use by American eider nesting on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. Lance also has PhD from York University on the Ecology and conservation genetics of the critically endangered Ridgway’s hawk and has authored more than 40 popular articles, book chapters and peer-reviewed publications.

Lance was Canada’s 8th Canada’s New Noah. He then stayed on in Mauritius for 4 years to manage species recovery projects for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation as Fauna Conservation Manager, with focus on invasive species management and the reintroduction of birds and reptiles. Upon return to Canada, Lance helped develop techniques for some of the first releases of eastern loggerhead shrikes in Ontario.

Lance has recently returned from seven years in Madagascar as Head of Species Conservation and Research with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Lance was humbled by the opportunity to work alongside a highly dedicated team of Malagasy biologists striving to save critically endangered species from extinction under exceedingly challenging conditions. The recovery programs in Madagascar centered around integrating captive-breeding and reintroductions with protected area management and community-based conservation projects.

Lance currently lives in Guelph, Ontario with his wife Rina, two boys Jeremy and Glen, and their Malagasy/Newfoundland dog Malala and dwarf hamster Josh.

He is immensely grateful to a career in conservation biology that has allowed him to meet beautiful creatures, travel to remote places, and be inspired by amazing people.