Master of Science grad thanks a chicken named Swordfish

A chicken named Swordfish kept Georgia Pringle on track to graduate this week with a Master of Science in Biosecurity and Conservation.

Georgia, 31, researched lures to attract feral cats for predator control. (Canned tuna and broadcasting rabbit sounds turn out to be the best options).

“Swordfish didn’t quite make it to her first birthday because of a feral cat, and she gave me a particularly personal reason to keep going in my research,” she says.

While managing feral cats can cause some contention, love for her childhood cat Zoe kept Georgia connected with the concerns of cat-lovers.

"People often assume I hate cats but I really don’t. All predator control should be undertaken with compassion and respect for the animal. They are just doing what they know best which, unfortunately for our native wildlife, is hunting."

Georgia roams the sand dunes of Northland, leading Department of Conservation predator control work to protect New Zealand’s most endangered bird, the tara iti or fairy tern, from predators.

Taking “the squiggly path” in life, Invercargill-born Georgia first studied the performing arts at Te Kura Toi Whakaari. She spent time working in the arts and travelling before returning to Auckland to study science.

But the arts still play an important part in her life, especially through performing improv on Friday nights in Auckland in a group called Bullrush. She will stage her first solo show, Nature Brain, at Basement Theatre on Queen Street from 14-18 July. 

“What do you have in common with a moth? What about an albatross? Or even an ant?” the show asks, through a light-hearted and comedic theatre lens.

Always outdoors, Georgia can be found tramping, kayaking, wildlife monitoring, snorkelling, skiing and somehow "always coming home with sticks in my hair, or a weta, or a lizard – that did happen once".

Georgia especially thanked her Masters supervisors Al Glen and Margaret Stanley for “amazing support and guidance,” her family, partner and all of the landowners who made her field work possible.

She’s now living in Warkworth with her partner Michael – a park ranger – and six happy chickens.

"Engaging with nature allows us to see the bigger picture, to be amazed by all the taonga species that we have, and to feel compassion for those species and each other," Georgia says. She hopes more people can find a way to connect to nature.