Sea World vet Claire Madden speaks out against animal activists who attack her
For Sea World chief vet Claire Madden, animal care and conservation is her job and her life. But she’s ready to take on activists setting her in their sights.
Gold Coast
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AS Covid closed the doors to the Gold Coast’s beloved theme parks, it wasn’t just us humans who were missing some animal interaction.
According to Village Roadshow Theme Parks chief veterinarian Claire Madden, the creatures missed our comfort too.
With Sea World’s attention-seeking dolphins especially missing the adoration of an audience, Dr Madden had to find a creative – and extremely cute – fix.
The solution, it seems, is seals.
“From a business perspective it was a very difficult time. And from an animal perspective, they missed the enrichment of visitors, so we had to find ways to keep them engaged,” says Dr Madden.
“We had lots of seal excursions. The seals would walk over and visit the polar bears – only looking from the outside – and the seals would visit the dolphins as well. They made great spectators.
“We also did lots of mock presentations, all of the shows that we do are the natural behaviours of these animals – they want to do it, but they’ve grown to like an audience.
“So we would sit in the stands and clap and cheer. It was really quite a special time for those of us humans who got to enjoy it, and it just adds to the bonding that we pride ourselves on.”
For 37-year-old Dr Madden, pride is a huge part of her job.
As well as looking after the animals at Sea World and Paradise Country theme parks, she also leads key rescues and works with Sea World’s Research and Rescue Foundation.
Despite working tirelessly both in her job and in her free time to fight for animal conservation and wildlife protection, as well as spearheading some amazing advances in the treatment of animals under her care, Dr Madden has found herself squarely in the sights of animal activists.
“I do get personally attacked, especially on Instagram, by keyboard warriors,” says Dr Madden, who grew up on the Gold Coast, attending Guardian Angels primary school and Aquinas College.
“I have had periods of anger and hurt because this job is everything I have ever dreamt of and I am just so proud of the work that we do and to have it inaccurately maligned is heartbreaking.
“A big component of this job is rescue and conservation. Sea World is privately owned by an Australian family and I could speak volumes for our executive team who will always put their hand in their pocket to help the animals. In no way are we associated with the American Sea World.
“However, I also realise that those people who are opposed to what they think happens here are actually people like me – they are speaking out in the best interests of the animals. The problem is they are misinformed, but ultimately I hold the same objectives as they do.
“Every time I am criticised online, I invite that person to come out here for a day and see what we do. I am so proud of our work I will show it off to anyone. I hold my head high. But not one single person has ever taken me up on that offer.
“It’s a real shame because if they got to know me as a person and to see how we operate I think it would make all the difference. We ultimately want the same thing – the best care and conservation of animals.
“The animal care that I undertake every day in the parks is also a huge factor in how successful we are with rescues and conservation.
“I am so proud of our organisation, we are so progressive, so aspirational and this is the place that I want to be. I want to make the Gold Coast proud of who we are and what we do.”
In fact, the animals under Dr Madden’s watch are given not just top medical treatment but are offered just as much autonomy over their healthcare than humans.
Dr Madden and Sea World’s head of marine sciences Wayne Phillips may not talk to the animals, but they absolutely communicate with them.
“Our aim and our practice is to give all of our animals choice and control, and I would say Sea World is a world leader with its animal training, ethics and education,” says Dr Madden.
“Through training, conditioning and bonding, we can take blood, do ultrasounds, give vaccinations, collect samples and more with the animal having complete choice, control and consent.
“If I need to collect blood from a polar bear, they know to offer their paw through the window. If they don’t, that’s fine … they are not consenting and they have that choice and control.
“I’ll come back and we’ll try again, and we always get it done. No anaesthesia, no restraints, no harm and no risk to the animal.
“The polar bears will offer their shoulders for vaccinations and they’ll do mouth presents, ear presents and eye presents so that we can regularly check them. The dolphins know when to swim over to the pool edge so that I can conduct an ultrasound, it’s real trust between us. It’s incredible.
“And the best part of this for me is that to teach them how to respond to my cues – voice calls, clapping, whistles and so on – it means I get to spend a lot of time with them to build our bond. We also reinforce when they’re doing well with rewards. It’s true communication between humans and animals.”
But when it comes to communicating conservation and protection messages to humans, Dr Madden has not had quite as much success.
She says while shark nets absolutely pose a risk to whales and dolphins, it’s fishing debris that is causing the most harm to marine wildlife.
“Shark nets are tough because I understand the need to protect humans as well, but I do think there are better systems out there,” she says.
“But what we really need to focus on right now is the impact that our commercial and recreational fishers are having on marine creatures.
“The amount of fish hooks that I am removing from birds and turtles is terrible – about three or four every week. Then there are the crab pots discarded in the water that are causing harm to dolphins, dugongs and turtles – this year alone there have been 78 turtles caught in fishing line and crab pot entanglements.
“There is just a lack of responsibility with the fishers’ techniques … there is a lot of debris and discarded gear left behind. We need people to think about using sustainable and biodegradable fish hooks and to check their crab pots every day.
“They have every right to enjoy our waterways, but please don’t forget about the animals who live there. We need to do better.”
Despite taking up the position as Village Roadshow Theme Parks chief vet just two years ago, Dr Madden says the role is the fulfilment of a childhood dream. Even if she’s not quite sure where that dream came from.
Having a passion for animals for as long as she can remember, Dr Madden says she was never discouraged from pursuing this profession, even when it took far longer than expected to be accepted into veterinarian training.
But she says it’s because of that long and winding road towards her career ambition that she eventually achieved her goal. And it’s timely advice as our Year 12s prepare for the next stage of their lives.
“I grew up in a family without animals, but for as long as any of us can remember – including my parents – I just loved them.
“During school I would volunteer at the pound and as a bird carer, I dreamt of being a wildlife vet but because I was such a netball nut I didn’t have the results to get into vet school,” she says.
“Instead I studied for a Bachelor of Science majoring in wildlife biology and then I spent an extra year studying echidnas at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. After that year, I was offered a job as a zookeeper, and then I went on to be a zookeeper at Australia Zoo as well.
“In 2006, I was a contestant on Big Brother – which I would never do again despite having a great time and meeting good friends – and I used that boost the profile of animal conservation. That helped me gain a role as an ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund.
“I just kept doing anything and everything that I could that would move me closer to my goals and keep me working with animals.
“I wanted to take bookkeeping further and was going to do a PhD on echidnas when (Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary veterinarian) Michael Pine gave me the advice that being an echidna specialist would never take me as far as being a wildlife vet.
“So I applied for vet school again – and didn’t get in. But the third time was the charm and I applied myself in a way that I never could have done straight out of high school. Plus I had so much real world experience, it really was a lesson that the straight-forward path is not always the best way.
“Besides, all the connections I had made as a zookeeper really helped me find work as a wildlife vet, which is a highly competitive field since there are so few jobs.
“Whenever I speak to kids at schools I always remind them to just follow their passion. I know I was so lucky to always have this dream, and not everyone has that, but if you do – just keep pursuing it.”
It’s a message that, especially for our soon-to-be Schoolies, should be a real crowd-pleaser … just like those sweet seals at Sea World.
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