New Noah returns home: a bittersweet journey

Posted onMarch 27, 2020byWildlife Preservation Canada|Canada's New Noahs, News and Events

What is the Canada’s New Noah Program? Since 1988, the Canada’s New Noah program has provided young conservation biologists in Canada the opportunity of a lifetime. Each year, WPC selects a dedicated biologist from applicants across Canada to undertake a 3-month course at the Durrell Conservation Academy in the U.K. followed by a 6-month internship on the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. This is an opportunity unlike any other for young Canadians to learn firsthand how the world’s most successful conservation recovery programs are managed and to bring this knowledge and experience back to improve Canada’s conservation capacity. The Canada’s New Noah Program is generously supported by the Alan & Patricia Koval Foundation.

Well, I suppose it was inevitable, but the global pandemic finally made it’s way to the quaint little island of Jersey.

One day it was business as usual, with the noted exception of watching several YouTube tutorials on proper had washing techniques. The next day, after listening to Trudeau tell Canadians abroad, “it’s time to come home” and consulting with friends and family in Canada, I found myself trying to book one of the few remaining flights back to Toronto. After a couple hectic hours I had managed to get myself a seat home in two days time.

Gerry Durrell & I. Both equally disappointed in me having to leave Jersey early.

Perhaps Jersey, being an island, forms its own sort of bubble from the outside world; or maybe we were all just too focused on our coursework; but many of us were caught off guard by the urgency to get home. Students from around the world were looking for information on travel restrictions to their home countries and our instructors, Tim and Helen did everything they could to help through this unprecedented situation.

Despite the gorgeous sunny weather and the scent of spring blooms wafting through the air, the mood was tense and you could tell people were on edge.

With two days before my flight, I was determined to make the most of my remaining time in Jersey.

In these stressful times, we all needed a distraction. Enter our guest lecturer, Carl Jones. As the chief Scientist at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the current scientific director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, the man is a treasure trove of conservation stories. He is probably best known for his leading role in the recovery of the Mauritius kestrel, bringing the species back from just four individuals in 1974, to an estimated 400 today.

Jones applied the techniques he developed for the kestrel to six other species of critically endangered bird species in the Mascarenes: the pink pigeon, the echo parakeet, the Rodrigues fody, the Rodrigues warbler, the olive white-eye, and the Mauritian fody. He has been an influential member of the team dedicated to restoring Round Island, my once home away from home, and it all likelihood, has probably saved more species from extinction than any other individual.

(Left) One of 4 passengers on an empty flight leaving Jersey. At least it meant I got an upgrade! (Right) Waving goodbye to my little island home of Jersey! It’s going to be strange to be living on a mainland for the first time in 9 months.

At the beginning of each lecture, Carl would tell us to stand up, stretch your arms out, and embrace the world. As cheesy as it sounds, it’s just what we needed in such stressful times.

Looking around at my classmates (all of whom were at a safe distance from each other), you could see grins start to appear and anxious faces relax. Carl’s ability to shape a rich story took us away from the stresses of the moment and transported us around the world. My last few days were spent discussing conservation issues over dinner (again, from across the room at a safe distance) and talking about how we’d work to protect the biodiversity of our home countries when we managed to get home.

Although it wasn’t the end I imagined for my journey as Canada’s New Noah, the connections I made both at Durrell and in Mauritius are invaluable and ultimately, what made this a once in a lifetime experience.

Eric Jolin

30th Canada’s New Noah

Eric grew up in a small town on the shores of Lake Erie, and was fascinated with wildlife from an early age, a passion that he continued through his schooling at the University of Guelph and into his early career as a park naturalist and outreach educator at Killbear Provincial Park. Eric has been an active member of multiple reptile and amphibian recovery teams across Ontario. Most recently, he spent the winter working with the University of Washington on a study examining the interactions between a re-colonizing wolf population and white-tailed deer in Washington.