Dr Stephen Cutter B.V.Sc(hons)

Principal Veterinarian

Stephen is our head vet and practice principal. Stephen grew up in the Territory but moved to Melbourne with his family as a teenager. After graduating from Melbourne Uni in 1995 he set about returning to the territory. Stephen's main passion was the dog health programs in indigenous communities he established. Initially he migrated backwards and forward between started migrating backwards and forward between the top end and melbourne for a few years. He originally moved to Darwin to work with community dog health programs and his first clinic in Darwin was set up to support that work. The Ark is a result of many changes and was established to get back to that original vision. Stephen is passionate about many different aspect in his work, Wildlife, animal welfare and dog health programs are just some of the areas that Stephen works in on a daily basis.

Stephen is Chairperson of the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee in the NT. Wildlife Rescue Darwin, PAWS Darwin and the Prison program are all results of the passion he has to achieve changes in the community.

stephen@thearkvet.com

Lisa Hansen 

Lisa and Stephen began working together approximately 5 years ago. They have opened several animal hospitals under the name of the Ark animal Hospital. In March 2007 they saw an increasing need to open another organization committed to animal welfare. This became known as The Ark Animal Welfare Services Limited. An organization encompassing Wildlife Rescue and PAWS Darwin(which is an adoption center for preloved pets) Lisa never without an injured or rescued animal within her care has spent most of her adult life dedicated to animals. The work she does through the animal welfare service is all for non profit and often comes out of her own pocket.
Lisa's favourite animal in her care at the moment is Anthony the Fruit Bat. A young orphaned bat that cries for dummy(a small marsupial teat)when he loses it.

lisa@thearkvet.com

Dr Tom Dunnett Veterinarian

Managing Veterinarian Humpty Doo Clinic

Dr Tom joined the team from the Humpty Doo veterinary Clinic in October 2007. He was originally from New Zealand. Tom's laid back personality and commitment to his job have seen a rapid growth at Humpty Doo Vet Clinic. He is keenly interested in many aspects of Veterinary science and has a growing interest in wildlife and exotic animals. An interesting case he had recently was a blue tongue lizard which had been bitten by a freshwater crocodile. (Both were someone's pet). Tom is also involved in Indigenous dog health programs.
Tom and his wife Susanne have numerous pets including ducks who add excitement to their lives.

Dr. Sarah Renshaw Veterinarian

Veterinarian

Sarah is an excellent and caring veterinarian. Sarah grew up in Darwin and after living/working in the Pilbara and Kakadu has returned to join us. Sarah loves wildlife and orthopaedic surgery.

Dr Marie Montgomery-quin B.Sc. BVMS

Veterinarian

Geraldine 

Veterinary Nurse

Geraldine or "Gee" is an extremely enthusiastic staff member. Gee has a constant stream of babies (orphaned or injured wallabies, possums, birds etc) Gee is very good at caring for them and has now had many grow up and be released back into the wild. (which is a very bitter sweet moment for Geraldine.)
Geraldine's favourite part of being a Veterinary Nurse is assisting the Vets during surgery.

Geraldine@thearkvet.com

Hannah 

Veterinary Nurse

Hannah is an enthusiastic and hardworking member of our team. Hannah's cares for a wide range of orphaned wildlife but possums are her favourite. Hannah has raised 7 possums so far. One of her favourites has been a little fellow that she named George. Hannah also finds the surgeries the best part of her job

Lana  Cert IV Veterinary Nurse, Cert IV in Remedial massage.

Veterinary Nurse

Lana is an extremely enthusiastic staff member. She has a particular passion for the strays, the homeless as well as the extremely sick. She makes it her mission to ensure that the "hopeless cases" have hope.

Renee  

Humpty Doo Vet nurse

Renee is a bright and cheery personality, Renee is passionate about animals and very good at her job. One of her favourite customers is a big boofhead dog who comes to visit the Humpty Doo clinic of his own accord. Daily, he walks in and takes his place at reception (in the aircon) and only goes home after he has had a treat. Renee has her dream dog all picked out and checks the adoption lists daily to see if it has arrived yet.

Caroline Teacher, Veterinary Nurse

Trainer, educator & Vet Nurse

Caroline has recently joined the team at The Ark after initially being a volunteer within the Wildlife Rescue Hospital and a Wildlife Rescue Carer. Caroline is a qualified teacher who now plays an educator role. She runs the Wildlife Rescue training courses and other courses we hold. Caroline also gets to visit schools as part of our pet pep program. Caroline is also studying as a Veterinary Nurse.

Sandy 

Puppy Preschool trainer & PAWS walk coordinator

Sandy is a qualified Veterinary nurse & groomer and dog show judge. Sandy has over 30 years experience in training dogs and is a second generation dog trainer. Sandy is very experienced and is a wealth of knowledge and a great asset to our team.

Geoffrey 

snake catcher

Geoff has been at the Ark since its opening, He is one of the longest serving employees and has been a great support to the building of the Ark clinics. Geoff has a strange sense of humor and he uses it often. His ability to challenge everyone with unique quiz questions means we all learn lots of obsolete general knowledge about people and places we would never have previously thought about. His best quote to date:

"We don't need gravity either but we have that."

His favorite thing to do is to try and find questions that Stephen doesn't know the answers to.

Geoffrey took on the role of snake catcher fairly recently. The challenge of being on call 24 hours a day every day can be difficult but fortunately he is as nocturnal as most of the animals he is called in to rescue. His favorite time for a call out (not) is 6:30 in the morning, too early to be awake, to late to go back to sleep.
Best thing about his job: he gets to drive a lot and his mates all want to go along with him.

Tess Bachelor of Applied science (majoring in wildlife biology)

Wildlife care coordinator & Veterinary Nurse.

Tess is a very experienced wildlife carer and has worked in a number of zoos across Australia and has been a wildlife carer for many years. Tess brings a wealth of knowledge and skills to our wildlife rescue program.

Nicole Cert III in Business Administration

Receptionist

Vicki  Studying Certificate II in Animal Studies

PAWS shelter manager

Vicki joined the Ark team in October 2007, while studying Certificate II in Animals Studies. Vicki has a real passion for all fields within The Ark Animal Hospital, running the PAWS shelter for dumped and orphaned animals, with herself rescuing a PAWS dog "Nala". She also raises abandoned wildlife with her most recent success story being "Dozer" the agile wallaby which she released back into the wild at Nina's Wallaby Sanctuary.
Vicki's passion for preloved animals is helping PAWS Darwin to grow, this growth has seen a jump of 3 adoptions a week to 17 in the week just past. In the future she hopes to help PAWS grow to a 20 dog kennel facility and 20 cats, and this is well on its way.

Brian 

Ark nimal Wlefare Director

Brian, who is also Lisa's Dad,was managing the Darwin City Council pound contract held by Ark animal Welfare Services. He has long been committed to the Ark and all it stands for. Both he and his wife Sandra have been heavily involved with the prison program and with Wildlife Rescue. Their support for all the Ark does is invaluable. Brian loves his football and his dogs. He has a knack with baby birds and there are many free ranging birds at his home who blatantly refuse to move on and often insist on helping Brian with a whole range of jobs including cementing and welding. One of his releases is an adult Sulphur crested cockatoo who comes down daily to open the pet birds cages and steal their food.
(oh and he plays Father Christmas for the animals for us each year).

Jessica 

Animal Care attendant

Rebekah 

plays in the snake room

Even though she is only 14 Rebekah has a knack for reptiles and her favourite jobs are those involving snakes. She is quite put out that she is not allowed to be the snake catcher because of her age. Rebekah is planning on being a Vet one day. She is also Lisa's daughter.

Danica 

Priscilla 

Cameron 

Kennel Assistant AWS

Cameron is a versatile young man and works for both the Ark Vet and the pound. he is currently studying year 12 and wants to be an architectural engineer. Cameron has a very soft side. Although he often complains about how many animals his mother has (Lisa), he is often found to be more softhearted than any one else. When he was much younger he was responsible for one of the original adoptions that led to the starting of PAWS Darwin. A litter of kittens had come in with their mother from the RSPCA to be euthansed and he sat gooey eyed over them until Stephen agreed to let him take them home. All the kittens and their mother went on to be adopted out bar one - Enzo who currently resides with Brian and Sandra. (cameron's grandparents)

Connor Certificate II in Animal Studies

Kennel Assistant

Connor began volunteering with the Ark through his school based training course in May 2007. He showed a keen interest in the Animal Care Industry and began studying his Certificate II in Animal Studies through Katherine Rural College. Connor is now an employee of the Ark Animal Hospital and continues his studies doing Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing along side doing year 12. He hopes to become a Veterinarian and come back and work for the Ark again.
UPDATE: Connor has left us to go to study vet science in Western Australia, he promises he is coming back to work for us once he is a vet!

Kaye