Michael Pentland
Manchester
Summary
Experienced wildlife conservationists with a strong background in animal husbandry and behavioural observation. Demonstrating a high level of species identification and data collection, with a proven track record in environmental education and public engagement. Skilled in team collaboration and communication, consistently calm under pressure, and adept at problem-solving. Career goals include advancing conservation efforts through innovative strategies and fostering sustainable wildlife practices.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Verification Assistant (Volunteer)
Butterfly Conservation
07.2024 - Current
- Verifying records which are inputted from the public to help show the distribution of species of butterfly within the UK. Ensuring that these records are correct is essential.
- Home-based.
- Engagement with the public.
- Species identification (Butterfly)
Intern Supervisor
Rescate Wildlife
10.2025 - 04.2026
- Maintained highest safeguarding and welfare standards for interns through proactive liaison.
- Facilitated positive intern experiences at Rescate by ensuring a supportive environment.
- Assisted with scientific data collection concerning birds, primates, and activities at the release centre.
Bear Rehabilitator
JAAN (Jakarta Animal Aid Network)
05.2025 - 09.2025
- This role involves a hybrid of five days a week helping a sun bear cub with daily walks into the forest to practise natural behaviours, such as foraging for food (forest fruits, insects), climbing, making nests, etc.
- I also create reports, which I review every week. This is based on the behaviour I have observed in the sun bears, and I place recommendations on the next steps for these bears.
- Back at the Sumatra Wildlife Centre, I help to maintain animal husbandry and enrichment for several species, including siamangs, sun bears, macaques, binturongs, civets, and several more species.
Avian Technician (Volunteer)
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, England
04.2023 - 05.2025
- Helping on the City Blues Project every spring and summer.
- This entailed checking the boxes on a three-day routine basis to check the status of the nest.
- Weigh the chicks.
- Identify adults.
- Aid to ring the adults and chicks.
- Spreadsheet data input
Animal Keeper
The Manchester College
01.2024 - 05.2025
- This role entails looking after the animals' welfare by providing the husbandry needs required to sustain a happy lifestyle for each species.
- Sections include the Inverts/Reptile Room, Mammal Room, Outdoor Zoo, and the Geodome.
- Our role as welfare technicians is to ensure that every species has the correct husbandry related to their specific lifestyle, and this will be via diet/nutrition, enrichment, and enclosure design, to ensure their stimuli are met correctly and positively.
- Biosecurity is also an essential task to ensure the health of each animal and us.
- We take every caution possible to ensure that the animals live a healthy and stress-free lifestyle.
- The role also entails the technicians overseeing any practical sessions.
- This can be with assistance on how to conduct the correct husbandry requirements, advice on dietary requirements, or general tasks.
- Leading the students is a fantastic opportunity to build our leadership skillset and collaboration.
Conservation Volunteer
Salford Ranger Team
01.2020 - 04.2025
- The Salford Ranger team's role involved various areas within the conservation section.
- Mostly, I worked at the Kersal Wetlands site (in place to help reduce flooding and improve local biodiversity), which aimed at removing willow buds and the overall maintenance of the site, which helped improve my knowledge of freshwater ecosystems.
- I also helped to bed the plants at Peel Park, along with the maintenance of the park, and tree planting on Crescent Meadow.
- Volunteering with the Salford Ranger team also allowed me to be a part of a Dragonfly and Damselfly workshop at Blackleach Country Park, and a workshop on identifying invasive plants around the Salford and Bolton area (mainly Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, and giant hogweed).
- Other various roles have included the upkeep of the ponds at Kersal Dale, and wildflower planting around Salford.
Laboratory Technician (Volunteer)
Manchester Metropolitan University
, England
01.2023 - 09.2024
- I assisted in the lab with several of the animal-based topics.
- This includes working with aquarium species such as sponges and corals, fragging, and general maintenance work, including cleaning, feeding the animals, and their respective tanks.
- I also participate in the general upkeep by assisting with the maintenance of the poison frogs, cichlids, and snails kept here.
- Frog work will include handling the frogs to determine their sex and identify the individuals through their unique belly patterns.
- I completed work on Valentine Ants for my postgraduate degree and I helped with their basic husbandry requirements such as feeding (Sucrose and Drosophila).
Animal Keeper
Salford City College
04.2023 - 01.2024
- Duties include animal husbandry, feeding, watering, cleaning enclosures, providing enrichment for stimulation, ensuring health is maintained, and repairing broken enclosures.
- We also help to train the animals to undergo basic tasks.
- Target training is our focus with animal training, to help have greater control over them when trying to weigh the animals.
- I also take classes of up to 14 on teaching them how to provide the correct animal husbandry.
- Also, if any animal requires medication, we adhere to what medication they need and follow a strict routine to ensure the animal improves on the physical and mental stress they have endured.
- Animals working for ranges from capybaras, emus, marmosets, sheep, stick insects, fish, hedgehogs, tortoises, lizards, alpacas, snakes, wallabies, chickens, ducks, and many more.
Environmental Educator (Volunteer)
The Wildlife Trust (Cheshire)
09.2021 - 12.2023
- Roles have included helping with wildlife discovery days for the public, and in local schools with the Wild Stockport team.
- These wildlife discovery days included surveying equipment such as sweep nets, magnifying glasses, bug pots, and white trays to help people find and engage with nature, although my role was mainly to engage people in invert surveys to help identify what we can spot in the local green space.
- This also included giving talks to people on what invertebrates, and other wildlife, they can find within their chosen green spaces.
- However, ensuring that people are safe and enjoying themselves is also an important aspect of my role with the public.
- Educating people on how they can help in their local green spaces and homes for wildlife, with an emphasis on helping hedgehogs, pollinators, and swifts in their local surroundings, which was a focal objective of the Wild Stockport team.
Ocean Internship
Red Sea Project
, Egypt
09.2023 - 09.2023
- Over the month weeks, I have helped with the RSP Coral Watch project, collecting data in bioblitzs (Aquatic & terrestrial), and contributed to the garden work within the gardens situated in the Wadi Sabarah lodge.
- Turtle and dugong surveys were also conducted, with any violations towards the animals from the tourists recorded.
- We would also set up stalls on the local beaches to talk to people about how best to treat these animals.
Student Researcher
Blackpool Zoo
08.2022 - 09.2023
- I worked with the research and elephant team to gather behavioural recordings on a herd of six Asian elephants.
- These are interval recordings taken over five minutes in two-hour slots, and I wrote down every behaviour the elephants exhibited to gain insight into their welfare and psychological understanding.
- I also gained insight into how the elephants are cared for and trained, and was shown how the talks are given to the public.
Seasonal ecology consultant
Ecus
05.2022 - 09.2022
- Seasonal ecology consultant work mainly undertaking bat surveys and abiding by any other tasks which my fellow managers/team leaders set me.
- Conducting bat surveys.
- Writing down the behaviour of the bats and anything which will help to determine their habits on a daily/nightly basis.
Biodiversity Surveyor
Crees
Peruvian Amazon, Peru
08.2021 - 09.2021
- Here at the Manu Learning Centre (MLC), there was a bio-garden project that was at the heart of food provided for the people here.
- One major task was to teach young Peruvian children, which, along with the language barrier, caused problems; however, when we had live specimens and adapted our style to a more hands-on approach, this created a positive environment for all involved.
- Other tasks include surveying species daily throughout the forest.
- This was to maintain that the forest was healthy, as bioindicators surveyed and identified included butterflies, amphibians, and other species.
- Observational treks were conducted daily to understand and determine the behaviour of animals, which could be seen throughout a diurnal survey; this was also conducted during the nocturnal hours.
- Other surveys included a biodiversity pitfall trap that surveyed all the forest floor invertebrate species.
- Bat mist nets were also put up and holes were repaired daily.
- Colpa surveys were also conducted on parrots and parakeets to show their behavioral patterns during the morning hours.
Home from Home Pet /Service
03.2009 - 03.2017
- Helping with my mother’s home-from-home pet service which would mainly include dogs, but people have left their rabbits, guinea pigs, frogs, mice, rats, cats, and snakes with us in the past.
- Cleaning and feeding were the main purposes but also providing that the pet receives the same love and care it would like if it were at home.
- Advising people on what pet food to get for their dogs and helping them with any medications they need daily.
Education
MSc - Zoo Conservation Biology
Manchester Metropolitan University
09.2024
BSc - Wildlife Conservation with Zoo Biology
University of Salford
07.2022
Access to Higher Education (HE) Diploma - Social Sciences (Biology, Chemistry & Physics)
Trafford College
07.2018
BTEC - Sport Studies
Aquinas College
07.2013
GCSE - Maths, Statistics, Physical Education, English Studies, Information Technology, Performing Arts, Science, Religious Education
St Annes RC High School
07.2010
Skills
- Animal husbandry
- Behavioural observation
- Species identification
- Data collection
- Environmental education
- Team collaboration
- Public engagement
- Communication skills
- Problem-solving
- Willingness to learn
- Calm under pressure
- Public speaking
References
- Dr Jim Gilles, +44 (0)1772 892400, jmgillies@uclan.ac.uk, Lecturer Pharmaceutical Sciences (UCLan)
- Dr Scott Pedley, 0161 247 1152, s.pedley@mmu.ac.uk, Senior Lecturer in Ecology (MMU)
Extra Qualifications
Extra Qualifications
TQUK Level 1 in Mental Health Awareness - Pass (2025)
iNaturalist Ambassador Sep 2025 - Present
Center of Excellence Diploma
- Zoology- Distinction - 2020
- Entomology- Distinction - 2020
Bolton Conservation Volunteers/ Salford Ranger Team - 2024
- Great Crested Newt Certificate License- Pass
AQA Environmental Visualisation (Salford Ranger Team) - 2023
- Pass
PADI Open Water - 2023
- Pass
Bird Identification Course (Cheshire Wildlife Trust) - 2023
Timeline
Intern Supervisor
Rescate Wildlife
10.2025 - 04.2026
Bear Rehabilitator
JAAN (Jakarta Animal Aid Network)
05.2025 - 09.2025
Verification Assistant (Volunteer)
Butterfly Conservation
07.2024 - Current
Animal Keeper
The Manchester College
01.2024 - 05.2025
Ocean Internship
Red Sea Project
09.2023 - 09.2023
Avian Technician (Volunteer)
Manchester Metropolitan University
04.2023 - 05.2025
Animal Keeper
Salford City College
04.2023 - 01.2024
Laboratory Technician (Volunteer)
Manchester Metropolitan University
01.2023 - 09.2024
Student Researcher
Blackpool Zoo
08.2022 - 09.2023
Seasonal ecology consultant
Ecus
05.2022 - 09.2022
Environmental Educator (Volunteer)
The Wildlife Trust (Cheshire)
09.2021 - 12.2023
Biodiversity Surveyor
Crees
08.2021 - 09.2021
Conservation Volunteer
Salford Ranger Team
01.2020 - 04.2025
Home from Home Pet /Service
03.2009 - 03.2017
MSc - Zoo Conservation Biology
Manchester Metropolitan University
BSc - Wildlife Conservation with Zoo Biology
University of Salford
Access to Higher Education (HE) Diploma - Social Sciences (Biology, Chemistry & Physics)
Trafford College
BTEC - Sport Studies
Aquinas College
GCSE - Maths, Statistics, Physical Education, English Studies, Information Technology, Performing Arts, Science, Religious Education
St Annes RC High School