You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Meet Greg van der Lee
Job description:
I work with detector dogs to locate rodents with Sassy, and mustelids with Maia. I also do public advocacy for pest free Islands, school visits, bio-security checks on people and their stuff and vehicles or cargo going to pest free islands. I travel all over New Zealand to check pest free islands or sanctuaries for rodents or mustelids. This includes lots of boat and helicopter travel.
Work background:
I have had a varied working life; welders assistant, surface coatings technician, construction foreman, steel fabricator, chocolatier, and then I started with DOC as a goat culler in 2007. From there I worked through the Department’s different work streams until this job became available about 2 years ago.
Favourite part of job:
Working with dogs.
Least favourite part of job:
Working in front of video cameras.
What I am working on now:
Rodent surveillance on the Mercury & Aldermann archipelagos and Cuvier Island.
A quick story about a job well done:
Last year I was at home working on my tractor about 2pm when I got a phone call from my boss. One of the farm workers on Ahuahu had seen what he thought was a rat. I was told to meet a helicopter in Whitianga to be flown with Sassy out to Ahuahu to see if we could verify the sighting. I was in Whitianga by 4pm and searching for the rodent by 5pm. That is the fastest dog handler response to a rodent sighting on a pest free Island on record. Sassy and I couldn’t find any rodent scent, so I guess the farm worker might have seen a bird running along the ground. This is quite common on pest free islands because the birds have learned there are no predators trying to eat them, so they don’t need to fly away.
A (humorous) story about a job that went badly and what you learned:
This is not a bad job story, but I found it kind of embarrassing.
I was working on public advocacy about pest free islands on a Friday evening by the Auckland Ferry wharves in downtown Auckland. There were crowds of people walking by and lots of people were stopping to pat the dogs and chat about what we do, and why we were there. A woman stopped to meet my dogs and was patting them. She just said “Oh, they’re so cute” and started crying.
I didn’t know what to do or say. I think I turned four shades of red. I generally try my best not to make people cry.
These little dogs are cute! I knew that but I didn’t realize how much they could affect some people.
Qualifications:
Jack of all trades and master of none, from the University of hard knocks. I have always had dogs and have been hunting with dogs for most of my adult life. I have done some dog agility training and trained dogs to do silly things like shutting the front door or bring me their supper bowl at dinner time.
Interests outside work:
I live on a 17-hectare lifestyle block in the southern Coromandel. So, I’m a bit of a farmer, dad, and a dog trainer as I have 4 dogs of my own that need as much attention as Sassy and Maia. So, six dogs altogether.
I like fishing, skiing, hunting, and going to the movies with my son. Spiderman movie is pretty cool!
Greg with Maia, the mustelid detection dog. Image: Greg van der Lee.