Speaker bio page for Claire Petros

Bio

As a biologist and a veterinarian, Claire has always had a passion for nature and has known from a young age that she had wanted to work with wildlife. After completing her undergraduate course in Biological Sciences at Oxford University she went on to complete her veterinary training at Bristol University with the Bristol Zoological Society Prize for Zoological Medicine.

During her time in Oxford Claire specialised in marine ecology, and undertook her final year dissertation studying coral bleaching in the Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia. It was during this time that she developed her love of diving, which inspired her desire to work closely with protecting marine life.

Whilst at Bristol Claire spent her final year elective in North Carolina State University (NCSU), she joined the exotic and Turtle Rescue team under the supervision of Professor Gregory Lewbart. During her time in NCSU, Claire witnessed a cataract surgery on a Loggerhead sea turtle! It was an invaluable experience that led to a deeper fascination in turtle medicine. After graduation Claire spent some time in Grenada working as a research assistant for the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network. It was here that her ambition to combine being a ‘sea turtle vet’ and marine wildlife conservationist began.

In November 2016 Claire joined the Olive Ridley Project and moved to the Maldives to open a Marine Turtle Rescue Centre for ghost gear entangled sea turtles, the first veterinary clinic in the country. Every day Claire would swim in the sea or paddle board around the island and would often encounter turtles, sharks and rays, sometimes even pods of dolphins!  Having spent some time working as a small animal vet in London, she is now focussed full time on pursuing turtle conservation work for the Olive Ridley Project. She is also traveling to turtle rescue centres around the world to learn more about how best to medically treat and rehabilitate sea turtles and with the help and support of OceanCare plans to begin a PhD investigating turtle medical welfare at rescue centres in 2019.