Jesra García is an early career ecologist employed by Nature Advisory Pty. Ltd. as a Zoologist and Scent Detection Dog Handler and Trainer. She has been working in Nature Advisory’s zoology and dog handler teams, focusing primarily on wind farm BBAMP implementation, including conducting monthly bird and bat mortality searches, monitoring for raptors and Brolgas, and has completed fauna habitat assessments and targeted surveys for various listed species across south-east Australia. She has contributed to monthly monitoring efforts across several wind farms since October 2023, and prides herself on maintaining and encouraging a work ethic that promotes sound scientific practice and strong animal welfare (considering canines, wildlife, and stock animals alike – as well as human employees!), for the best possible ecological outcomes whilst providing an enriching outlet for working dogs.

Jes is particularly passionate about the conservation of less-charismatic fauna, flora, and fungi, and hopes to engage her dogs’ aptitude for scent detection work into targeted surveys for the monitoring of threatened or invasive species.

Jesra’s conservation detection dog career began when she and Barkimedes took part in the Conservation Dog Network’s August 2022 intensive workshop for beginner conservation detection dog teams, run jointly by Skylos Ecology (Australia), Rogue Detection Teams (U.S.A), Conservation K9 Consultancy (U.K.) at Mt Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre.
She has since received training from Steve Austin, has attended various lectures, webinars, and symposia (including the 2022 ACDN Conference, the 2024 ACDN Webinar Series with Zoos Victoria on their Wildlife Detection Dog Program, and the “Using detection dogs in ecological research and monitoring” symposium at the 2024 ESA Conference), and has trained and deployed multiple scent detection dogs and handlers.