Executive Profiles


President - Alyssa Metro

The President shall be ex-officio a member of all Committees. He/she shall, when present, preside at all meetings of the society and of the Board. In his/her absence, a chairperson may be elected at the meeting to preside

Hello!


I have been the president of AARC since 2018. I have always had an interest in animals (primarily herps and inverts) for as long as I can remember. I have a diploma in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation and BSc. in Conservation Biology. I have done some trips to Southern Alberta and Arizona to see wild herps, as well as other wildlife related adventuring around Southeast Asia and Central America. My top species I would still like to find in Alberta is the Western Hognose. Most of my time is spent birding/ herping or in my "reptile room" taking care of my exotics.



Founder - Ian Kanda

Ian co-founded the Alberta Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy to create a conduit for people from all walks of life to be able to participate and contribute to the conservation of Alberta's herpetofauna. In 2014, he completed a population census of red-sided garter snakes and counted 2,453 snakes at the Eden Garter Snake Den to document the species decline in the area. He continues to work with AARC and enjoys seeing how far it has come since its inception.


Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Ian earned a Diploma of Animal Health Technology from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2000. In 2018 he was accepted into the Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Clinical Practice as a specialist in Exotic Companion Animals.  He is currently a veterinary technician in the zoological medicine service at Oklahoma State's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. His research interests include blood cell morphology and parasitology of exotic pets and wildlife, wildlife conservation, diseases of wildlife, advancements in captive husbandry and in clinical procedures for minute patients.


Favorite Quote: "When conserving endangered species, you don't have an animal problem, you have a people problem." - Bob Johnson, Toronto Zoo at the Amphibian Conservation Academy.


Founder - Colin Sanders



Treasurer – Cheryl Tebby

The Treasurer shall receive all monies paid to the society and be responsible for the deposit of same in whatever Bank, Trust Company, Credit Union or Treasury Branch the Board may order. He/she shall properly account for the funds of the society and keep such books as may be directed. He/she shall present a full detailed account of receipts and disbursement to the Board whenever requested and shall prepare for submission to the Annual Meeting a statement duly audited of the financial position of the society and submit a copy of the same to the Secretary for the records of the society. The Office of the Secretary and Treasurer may be filled by one person if any annual meeting for the election of officers shall so decide.


Cheryl joined the AARC back in 2015 due to her fondness of all things that creep and crawl. As a child she spent many hours hunting for frogs, tadpoles and snakes, but unlike her peers she never grew out of searching for critters. Nowadays Cheryl spends most of her time pursuing insects and butterflies, but she will always have a special appreciation for reptiles and amphibians.





Secretary - Dr. Teresa Bousquet

It shall be the duty of the secretary to attend all meetings of the society and of the Board, and to keep accurate minutes of the same. He/she shall have charge of the Seal of the society, which whenever used shall be authenticated by the signature of the Secretary, his/her duties shall be discharged by such officer as may be appointed by the Board. The Secretary shall have charge of all the correspondence of the society, and be under the direction of the President and the Board. The Secretary shall also keep a record of all the members of the society, and their addresses, send all noticed of the various meetings as required, and collect and receive annual dues or assessments levied by the society. Such monies shall be promptly turned over to the Treasurer for deposit in a Bank, Trust Company, Credit Union, or Treasury Branch as required.



Hello!


I am Dr. Teresa Bousquet, secretary and former president of AARC. I am a small and exotic animal veterinarian, practicing at Park Veterinary Centre in Sherwood Park. My passion for herps came to me late in life, after I had graduated from vet school. Every other exotics practice I had ever been to only saw a smattering of reptiles and amphibians, but Park saw almost as many reptiles and amphibians as they did exotic companion mammals! Since our education on herps in school is very limited, I decided to dive in and study everything I could get my hands on, from magazines, to journals, to textbooks, to online vet courses, to lectures at conferences. The more I learned, the more I loved it! Then Ian Kanda, former president of the Edmonton Reptile and Amphibian Society, and founding member of AARC came to work at my clinic. We became fast friends, and a great team, constantly working to raise the bar and offer the most up-to-date care we could for reptiles and amphibians. He recruited me to join AARC, and the rest is history.


Education Coordinator - Corrianne Brons

I'm Corrianne, and I've has always been passionate about misunderstood wildlife. From an early age, invertebrates, snakes and toads were my favourite animals, and wandering around in the woods lifting logs a treasured pastime. I joined AARC as a member at large in 2016 or so, and stepped into the education coordinator role sometime after that. Conservation education and science communication are my driving passion and what I've built my career upon: I am also Operations Director and Outreach/Field Trip Coordinator at Butterfly Wings N' Wishes Ltd. I'm most normally found somewhere in an Alberta school classroom with a bug or a snake in my hand, teaching students: but when I'm not there, you can probably find me in a wetland somewhere, also with a bug or a snake in my hand.

I assist in bringing educational events and endeavours to our team's attention. Have an event and want us there? We can offer educational displays, guide nature walks, give talks or presentations, and assist in animal ID sessions, bioblitz, or other nature/conservation based events. We can also provide experience or assistance for herptile conservation efforts.  Contact us today!




Conservation Coordinator - Damon Waselenchuk

The Conservation Coordinator will be responsible for organizing and chairing meetings of the Conservation Committee. The goal of said committee will be to develop conservation programs that can be executed and/or supported by the members of AARC for benefit of native Alberta herpatofauna. The Conservation Coordinator shall present the activities and recommendations of the Conservation committee to the Board for approval.


Hey everyone!


I joined AARC in 2015 and am the current Conservation Coordinator. I have a BSc. in Conservation Biology and a Technical Diploma in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation. I’ve had a passion for reptiles and amphibians since I was a little kid. Any type of interaction with them brings me so much excitement. I’ve been fortunate enough to do some work with prairie rattlesnakes in Dinosaur Provincial Park, amphibians and chytrid fungus monitoring in a cloud forest in Honduras, collecting population data on endemic island boas off the northern coast of Honduras, and been part of a few small-scale amphibian relocation projects. Alberta has many amazing herps and I look forward to being able to participate in conservation initiatives to ensure their persistence in perpetuity








Member at Large - Svetlana Kuzmina


I am Svetlana Kuzmina, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Science (Moscow), Royal Holloway University of London (UK) and the University of Alberta (Canada). I am now a freelance palaeoentomologist. During my active scientific career, I studied fossilized insects (primarily beetles up to 1 million years old) from the permafrost in North-Eastern Siberia, Alaska, and the Yukon.


Small animals, such as insects, amphibians, and reptiles, have attracted me since my early childhood years. I always shared my home with some caddis fly larvae, ground beetles, aquatic frogs, toads, land snails, garter snakes, etc. My first experience with field science happened in high school. It was a Biology school based at Moscow University, with summer practicums at a research station. Among other duties, I helped counting frogs using different sorts of pit traps. During my own fieldwork in the North, I collected Siberian salamanders for colleagues who studied their unique ability to resist cold.


Member at Large - Alexander Morozov


Hello


I am Alexander. I like frogs, lizards and snails.


I help out with the website and tag along when everyone goes herping :)






Member at Large - Samantha Morris-Yasinski


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