Spotlight on new Pledge member

Carol’s work has taken her round the world to observe and learn from poultry facilities in countries such as Northern Ireland, the United States, Zimbabwe and Australia.

A self-proclaimed biosecurity champion, Carol is truly passionate about ensuring that pests and pathogens are kept out of New Zealand. She says, “We are extremely fortunate not to have diseases that are present in other parts of the globe and it is vital we keep it that way. The New Zealand poultry industry is proactive in setting up surveillance programmes and acts decisively to improve the health and welfare outcomes for our flocks.”

“The risks for New Zealand are huge. Part of my work is to educate people to be cautious and tell them what to do if they think they’ve discovered a pest or disease is present. In my work I always stress that if you are ever in doubt, it is far better to act by reporting than risk an incursion that could have devastating impacts.
One of the risks of being disease-free is that we can become somewhat lax in our attitudes. It is preferable to report a suspected issue rather than to ignore it.”

In her collegial spirit, Carol joined the Pledge to expand her knowledge of what other industries are doing within biosecurity. She says that “although the principles of biosecurity are the same whether you are running a dairy herd or helping regeneration of the kiwi population, to make connections with other sectors helps you to look at the bigger picture.”
Carol has a wealth of experience and knowledge of biosecurity risk management practices and believes knowledge is for sharing.