If there were two things in life that Dr. Ian Walker was always sure of, one was that he wanted to be a veterinarian, and the other was to return home at some stage in his career to share with the Island the professional expertise he gained abroad.

Today, both dreams have come true, and he is now as happy as a Harrington Sound clam in his new post as curator of the Bermuda Aquarium and Zoo.

In fact, Dr. Walker?s association with the popular Flatts facility has now come full circle. As a child, he served there as a junior volunteer, returning later as a veterinarian intern. More recently, he wrote the preventative medicine protocols which are currently being implemented; and yes, he even met his wife Tanja there.

The story of the new curator?s journey to a top position at the Aquarium and Zoo began at the age of 12 when, in addition to being a junior volunteer, veterinarian Dr. Thomas James encouraged his interest in animal medicine by letting him help out behind the scenes at Ettrick Animal Hospital.

?He was my mentor and got me fascinated in veterinary medicine. I have to give him a lot of credit for that,? Dr. Walker says.

On completion of his education at Saltus Grammar School, Dr. Walker entered Queen?s University in Kingston, Ontario to begin a science degree before moving on to Edinburgh University?s veterinary school, where the focus was on domestic and large animals, such as horses and cows, but not exotic ones.

?It was fascinating and I loved my time at Edinburgh,? he says.

It was only after a year?s practical experience working in Scotland, when circumstances required him to return home, that Dr. Walker began developing his interest in and knowledge of exotic animals, particularly seals and sea turtles. He decided to attend a conference of the International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicine in Amsterdam, Holland, where he made many contacts, among them Dr. Brent Whittaker, director of animal health at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Subsequently, the Bermudian veterinarian told Dr. Whittaker that, because of the Baltimore facility?s structured programme, he would welcome an opportunity to learn about his aquarium, and he proposed a six-week period for which he was prepared to pay his own way.

?At the end of six weeks Dr. Whittaker offered me a job as the veterinarian intern, basically to do clinical medicine on their collection of 8,000 animals and 800 species ? everything from dart frogs to dolphins,? Dr. Walker says. ?It was like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool, but I loved it.?

So impressive did the young Bermudian prove, in fact, that at the end of his internship the National Aquarium created the position of associate veterinarian just for him ? something Dr. Walker describes as ?a fantastic honour?.

?Basically, I was in charge of clinical medicine which involved research; publishing papers and chapters in books, and various things,? he says. ?I love research and am a strong believer in it.?

And that is because he places great importance on educating the public about how it can help various species to survive in their natural environment. In this connection, Dr. Walker says that by exhibiting animals in more natural settings as opposed to the old style of simply caging them up for casual viewing, aquariums and zoos play a significant role in the education process.

?I am not a person who is in favour of having animals in captivity unless you make every effort to teach the general public about them, and how they can help those species (in the exhibits) in their environment,? Dr. Walker says. ?The American Aquarium and Zoo Association has now suggested that every zoo and aquarium has an enrichment programme so that the animals are not just sitting there in the enclosures, and there are many ways of doing this. It is really a matter of looking at an animal and asking: ?What does this animal have in the wild? What is normal for it in the wild? What does it need, and what makes it thrive?? You then look at the enclosure and say, ?What do you do to enrich their lives in captivity?? ?

The next step, the veterinarian says, is to evaluate what is needed as an enclosure, and then endeavour to replicate the inhabitants? natural environment as closely as possible in order to stimulate their brains.

For example, simply handing food to animals who would normally forage for it in the wild takes away from their natural instincts, so hiding it in, say, crevasses in their enclosure makes mealtime more interesting. Similarly, introducing into their enclosures new devices to climb on or toys to play with is also a part of the enrichment process.

?Many people think ?enrichment? is, say, throwing a ball to a dolphin, adding a water fountain, or having the dolphin jump for a fish, but we take it a step further and look at animals like spiders, centipedes and birds ? animals you don?t normally think of as having enrichment, but who in the wild capture their food and eat it. We ask ourselves, ?How can we make that happen in captivity?? ?

Citing the Bermuda Aquarium?s octopus as one example of its growing enrichment programme, Dr. Walker says its food is now put inside an object like a ball so that the animal has to search for and extract it. Similarly, various ways of feeding the fruit bats are devised to simulate the natural process of finding and eating food.

Training animals to become used to close human contact is another facet of the modern enrichment process in aquariums and zoos because it makes them more relaxed when veterinarians have to do clinical examinations, and that is something Dr. Walker will be moving towards here.

?Being able to do medical exams without having to capture animals in nets or darting them is something that is happening throughout the industry,? he says. ?Whatever we can do that doesn?t stress out the animals is much, much better.?

As can be imagined, with some 11,000 animals and 800 species under his aegis in Baltimore during his six years with the facility, there were few dull moments and many dramatic moments in Dr. Walker?s career.

He was, for example, in charge of rescuing dolphins and whales with the assistance of the US Coast Guard and US Army. A close relationship with the nearby Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical Centre meant that the National Aquarium received help from human experts who were interested in exotic animals, and at Johns Hopkins they could take animals to the advanced imaging laboratory for CT scans.

Dr. Walker reveals he has now established a similar collaboration with our hospital here, where the staff have agreed to fit in CT scans of the Aquarium and Zoo?s animals where possible. Cody the sea turtle was a recent patient who benefited from the new arrangement.

?It is a wonderful service, and the hospital was very happy to accommodate us,? the new curator says. ?Sea turtles are so threatened that you want to do whatever is in your power in Bermuda to look after them. Of course, humans always take priority, but the fact that the hospital has agreed to fit us into their schedule is wonderful.?

Meanwhile, plans are underway to improve veterinary care at the Aquarium.

?One of the things in the near future is to build a quarantine and veterinary hospital in the zoo area, which will help us to increase our facility?s veterinary care,? Dr. Walker says.

Sitting in his new, balconied office overlooking beautiful Harrington Sound, the newly appointed curator is clearly a very happy man who doesn?t think it at all strange to have given up such a prestigious position with all its exciting challenges in Baltimore to settle back in tiny Bermuda.

?I said in my letter of application to the National Aquarium that my ultimate goal was to return to the Island and bring back what I had learned there,? he says. ?Well, who wouldn?t want to live on this Island??

But it was the birth of his baby son Liam that proved the catalyst.

?That caused me to think about my life, and I asked myself: ?How much time am I spending at home? Where do I want my son growing up and experiencing the things I loved as a child?? ? he says.

Advised that the post of curator would become vacant when Brian Lightbourn moved up to be principal curator, Dr. Walker and his wife discussed the prospective move at length, and decided it would be the right one for them, so he applied and was successful. Mrs. Walker is a marine ecologist who did the research for her Master?s degree at the Bermuda Biological Station, and she loves the Island.

?It is wonderful to be back home, and great being back at the Aquarium, Museum and Zoo. We have a great staff who do a wonderful job,? the new curator says. ?It is also exciting being involved in a facility that helps to educate Bermuda?s young people ? to hopefully inspire an appreciation of island environments and Bermuda?s environment; and to teach children, and even have them teach their parents, that we need to protect it. We have to make what we have left special, and keep it special for future generations.?

The Bermudian veterinarian is also anxious to share his enthusiasm for what is one of Bermuda?s most popular attractions with the general public.

?There are a lot of exciting things planned for BAMZ. It is constantly growing and changing, and I invite the public to come down and see us.?