Captive Bears Expert Team Co-chair

In her role as a veterinarian, Kirsty has worked with captive bears in Southeast Asia for over a decade. Alongside husbandry and management teams and with veterinary colleagues she has developed and overseen veterinary health programmes for bear rescue and conservation organisations, and continues to provide regular support and advice to veterinarians working with captive bears across Asia. She has an interest in the disease risks we as humans create for bears through captivity, and how they might be mitigated, managed, and ideally, avoided. The focus of her Master of Veterinary Studies in Conservation Medicine was oral squamous cell carcinoma syndrome in captive sun bears, and her current research is investigating the emergence of human tuberculosis strains in captive sun bears and Asiatic black bears in high tuberculosis burden regions. Kirsty is a director of Vets Beyond Borders and is committed to finding ways to improve access to appropriate, high quality, and locally driven veterinary care for all species, particularly in isolated and low resource settings.