Paul Sinclair

Having been infatuated with the outdoors and animals since I was a young child, I am in awe that on every continent, and in every country, every corner you turn, you meet some amazing new creature you have yet to discover. My over riding ambition is to meet as many as possible, in far flung places on our planet, before its my time to leave it.

In his role at Wildlife Drones, Paul Sinclair is responsible for relationship management and ensuring our customers are provided with the tools they need to undertake their research, invasive species or livestock management, utilizing the world’s most advanced drone tracking systems. With more than 20 years in sales and customer management, he thrives on finding solutions for the challenges our customers experience in the field of wild animal research and conservation.

If you’re interested in using our technology, Paul is likely the first person on the team to talk to.

What does a day at work look like for you?

A day’s work for me is amazing. In any single day, I can present our drone technology to, primarily, researchers on 2 or 3 different continents about their need to track animals for their research projects. In one day, I was in meetings with someone discovering how we could aid in their research of manatees in the Amazon basin and Belize; tracking bats in a coal mine in the US; and koalas in a forestry block proposed to be milled in Australia. Of course, there is also a reasonable amount of sales management to ensure the wheels don’t fall off, too.

What do you like most about working at Wildlife Drones and why?

Being able to solve problems for people with challenges in their research is incredibly satisfying, to the point where every new project I hear about has me wishing I was part of it and helping on the ground. I find it is good for my soul to be helping them to help nature recover from the mistreatment we have inflicted on our earth. I guess this way, I get to be a part of all of them!

If you could choose, what animal would you like to track?

Oh, so many! If you push me, I think it would have to be the snow leopard, but with some regrets.

It is such a magical mysterious creature, in such a beautiful but harsh environment. To understand more about its habits and habitat and man’s influence on their numbers and to put measures in place to ensure it survival would be so rewarding. The regret is it has such an aura of mystery that knowing too much might take some of the magic away.

Your favorite Podcast?

I don’t have a favourite, but if you haven’t seen this film on a big screen, you are seriously missing out:
The Velvet Queen (Credit: Youtube)

What volunteering or passion projects do you do outside of work?

My wife and I are fortunate to live on a piece of wet forest country, 2.5 hours to the east of Melbourne, in outback Victoria, in Australia. The land has a wildlife covenant over it, so it can’t be farmed and must be managed for the wildlife. We are passionate about ensuring that this is the case. As part of that management, we are involved in the re-establishment of the Gang-gang Cockatoo. Their numbers were seriously impacted by the massive fires experienced in South Eastern Australia in 2020. Our contribution is to replant areas of the land with favoured food and nesting species for the Gang-gang Cockatoo and to erect nesting boxes across the property in the hope they breed here. They reward us with their irregular flight, unique calls telling us they are visiting, and the male’s wonderful bright orange head plumage.

Funniest wildlife tracking story

Some years ago, I was tracking Sika deer in the Kaweka Ranges on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. I had seen a stag a 100m in front of me, so with the wind in my favour, I very quietly tried to sneak closer, making no sudden moves, and using any available cover. When I had travelled the 100m meters, barely breathing and believing I was undetected, I found the stag had melted into the environment. Having been concentrated and so careful in my approach, I gave up in disgust. As I stood up and turned around, I got a massive fright as the stag had been following me and was about 15m behind me with a very quizzical look on its face.

• 
•