Dr Chantal’s career with wildlife started as a zookeeper at Taronga Zoo in the early 1990’s in the bird department. A highlight was being part of the team that collected Regent Honeyeater nestlings from the wild, hand raising them to become the founder group for the current Regent Honeyeater Recovery Program. She did a 12-month sabbatical at Healesville Sanctuary and spent time working with the Helmeted Honeyeater in situ and ex situ facilities and the Orange Bellied Parrot first ex situ facility. She assisted in establishing husbandry and breeding protocols and nutritional management.
As a mature age student, Chantal graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Melbourne in 2000. She worked at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital for a stint and then travelled to the UK and worked for 3 years in small animal practice.
Arriving back in Australia in 2004, Chantal worked for 3 years at the Beaumaris Veterinary Hospital before heading back to NSW to work at South Nowra Veterinary Hospital. Here she started to work more with wildlife and exotic pets. During this time, she completed a Master of Wildlife Health and Population Management at the University of Sydney.
In 2016 Dr Chantal started a position as Senior Veterinarian at Mogo Zoo (now Mogo Wildlife Park). In 2020 she established a mobile veterinary service At Home Veterinary Care and WildVets Zoo and Wildlife Consultancy. During this time, she was contracted to Sydney Zoo as Manager of Veterinary Services. From 2021 to 2025 Dr Chantal was associate veterinarian at Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital where she gained valuable experience with wildlife of the Northern Rivers region and the care groups that support them.
Dr Chantal has volunteered overseas for the Bornean Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) and in 2023 she spent time volunteering for Orangutan Foundation International (OFI)in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia training the veterinarians to use specialised dental equipment on the orangutans. She is now an ambassador for OFI Australia.
Dr Chantal is passionate about wildlife medicine and about the plight of so many of our Australian native species due to loss of habitat and climate change. She feels very fortunate to be part of the veterinary team at Northern Rivers Wildlife Hospital, working to save our species and rehabilitate them with the help of the amazing wildlife carers of Northern NSW.