Welcome JJ, OWCN's New Wildlife Operations Specialist!

Hello OWCN Network. My name is Jose Javier Cruz. I am the newest member of the OWCN team and the new Wildlife Operations Specialist.

How did I get here? Since I was a little kid, I was always drawn towards wildlife. I spent countless hours watching wildlife documentaries and learning about the local species. When the time came to decide on what to study in university, you can guess what I went for… a major in Wildlife Biology and a minor in business, in Guatemala.

During my second year I published my first scientific paper in a well-renowned animal behavior magazine called Animal Behavior and Cognition, about the twerking black-eyed tree frogs. In my third year, I published my second scientific paper, in the magazine Herpetological Review, about geographic distribution notes on a rare species of salamander called Nyctanolis pernix. Finally, at the end of my fourth year of university I discovered a new species of salamander in a cloud forest in Guatemala, and published an article in Zootaxa about this new species, named Bolitoglossa qeqom sp. Nov.

After graduation, I started a company in Guatemala where I created wildlife documentaries as promotional material for Non-governmental Organizations to attract donors. After a couple of years working in Guatemala, I got an offer to go to Plymouth, MA to work at Whale and Dolphin Conservation for three months as an intern responding to stranded marine mammals in need of assistance. I ended up working there for a year as an Assistant Coordinator.

That is how everything started for me as an emergency responder. I absolutely loved responding to wildlife, and I want to continue working in this field. I am looking forward to working with the OWCN Management Team and going to all the trainings for my new position, including completing HAZWOPER this week and Motorboat Operations Training Course next week. I hope I get to meet more of you soon!