Linda Elliott is the Founder, President and Center Director of the HAWAI‘I WILDLIFE CENTER, now under construction on Hawai`i Island. When the CENTER is complete, it will be a state-of-the-art facility for the rehabilitation of sick, injured and contaminated native wildlife.
Linda is a graduate of Kalaheo High school, attended the U. of Hawai‘i, Manoa, holds B.S. degree in Wildlife Biology from Arizona State University, a 40 hr. HAZWOPER certification and is the only oiled wildlife response manager in the region.
Linda’s passion and dedication for wildlife began before she was ten years old. She will tell you that her earliest life defining moment was when she saw the movie, Born Free. From that point forward Linda has pursued her passion for wildlife and conservation. Her father’s military career brought her family to Hawai‘i in 1974 and then began her interest in island wildlife and ecosystems. She and her husband moved to the Big Island of Hawai‘i in 1988.
Linda began her wildlife conservation career at the Honolulu Zoo with reptiles, birds and mammals, successfully running the Zoo’s wildlife health center. She developed major improvements and standards for the care of captive animals at the Zoo and for a national resort corporation, including unique public-private partnerships for State conservation programs. She originated native wildlife rehabilitation programs for the State of Hawai‘i.
Ms. Elliott began providing wildlife rehabilitation services to the State of Hawai‘i in 1988 as the Wildlife Manager of a partnership program with State and Federal wildlife agencies. A resort sponsored this program and made available a set of unique resources to support it. However, the program ended in 1994 with a change in ownership of the resort, and this left the state without a wildlife center.
Linda has been immersed in wildlife response projects for close to twenty years, working 18 oiled wildlife responses worldwide. As Rehabilitation Director for the world’s largest and most successful oiled penguin response in South Africa, Linda was instrumental in releasing 93% of 20,000 treated penguins. More recently, Linda was the Animal Care Manager working with Focus Wildlife International rescuing nearly 3,000 oiled birds, mammals and freshwater turtles at the Marshall Michigan oil pipeline leak on the Kalamazoo River, 2010.
Linda is formerly the Hawai‘i Audubon Society's Oiled Wildlife Program Director and Hawai‘i & Pacific Islands Regional Response Coordinator for International Bird Rescue Research Center, respectively. As Avian Botulism Rehabilitation Director, she directed and provided care for two endangered & endemic species and several migratory species of water birds in 1994 at Kaloko-Hohokohau NHP and the for the critically endangered Laysan Duck on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 2008. She is currently a consultant to the Save our Shearwater program on Kaua‘i, developing state-wide protocols, facilities and training for threatened and endangered seabirds. She served for four years as the Pacific Rim regional representative to the Pacific Seabird Group.
Linda helped design the state's first protocol to deal with avian botulism outbreaks in the native avifauna. Since 1994, she has trained first responders to avian botulism outbreaks in endangered water birds for the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and for local organizations. She worked with State of Hawai‘i's Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) studying avian malaria in Hawai‘i's forest birds. Linda worked with green sea turtles in a tagging and monitoring program with the Hawai‘i office of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). She co-produced an educational poster featuring international seabird handling and by-catch mitigation and assisted the USFWS & NMFS in development of seabird handling protocols and training materials for the long-line fishing industry. She is an advisor to USFWS relating to the endangered Laysan Duck, the international Laysan and Short-tailed Albatross relocation projects and the wedge-tail shearwater chick rescue and raising project. Linda continues to assist DOFAW with banding endangered Nene in West Hawai‘i.
Linda participates on the Hawai‘i West Nile Virus Prevention and Response and Avian Influenza Working Group. She has been an active member of Hawai‘i Oiled Wildlife Area Contingency Plan Working Group since 1992, and has facilitated and presented at numerous volunteer & first response training programs for Hawai‘i, Midway Atoll, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, and has developed response plans and protocols specifically for the Pacific. These include recent instructing in Micronesia 2010, USFWS National Oil and Contaminants Training program in Honolulu, 2004, and Hawai‘i FWS 40 hour HAZWOPER Training, 2005.
Linda has been a dedicated conservation educator throughout her wildlife conservation career, beginning with public and school groups at the Honolulu Zoo. She hosted community education programs, developed educational displays and articles, and provided Hawai‘i middle school students mentor programs at the wildlife facility at a large Hawai‘i resort chain. Additionally, Linda instructed and designed programs for a noted ocean science course for 8-12 year olds.
Linda was an instructor for a Brown University
summer courses on Science and Culture of Hawai‘i and worked with Cornell University
on undergraduate conservation biology education. She provides comprehensive
training programs throughout the Pacific region with state and federal
agencies. Linda was a Mentor in conservation education for 8th & 9th
grade students from Kohala. In 2006 & 2007 Linda coordinated
a Research Experience for Teachers program with two West Hawai‘i
middle school teachers in a unique partnership with the Big Island
Country Club. This project focuses on teaching the public how to
assist the endangered Nene’s return to former West Hawai‘i
habitats.
Log of Oil Spill Response Missions: Linda Elliott
Man-made disasters often cause acute and lethal calamities for wildlife. Oil spills demand rapid response by trained wildlife rescue workers. Linda Elliott has performed this work worldwide for over 10 years. Her on-call work oftentimes takes months to complete. Linda has directed and supervised oil spill response missions for agencies ranging from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to the U.S. Navy. Her work has taken her as far afield as Spain, South Africa, and the Galapagos Islands.
Spill Responses Managed or Directed by Linda Elliott: |
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| 1. | Metrolink, Long Beach, California | Feb. 1995 | 130 hours | IBRRC | Supervisor |
| 2. | Pribilof Islands/Citrus, Alaska | Feb.-Mar. 1996 | 195 hours | IBRRC | Supervisor |
| 3. | Waiau Pipeline, Oahu, Hawaii | May-Jun. 1996 | 195 hours | IBRRC/Chevron | Director |
| 4. | Cordigliera, Port Elizabeth, South Africa | Nov.1996-Jan. 1997 | 400 hours | IBRRC/IFAW | Supervisor |
| 5. | Santa Cruz fish/vegetable oil, California | Oct.-Dec. 1997 | 260 hours | IBRRC | Supervisor |
| 6. | Pt. Reyes Mystery spill #2, California | Dec. 1997-Mar. 1998 | 260 hours | IBRRC | Supervisor |
| 7. | SPM Hose spill, Oahu, Hawaii | Sept.-Oct. 1998 | 520 hours | IBRRC/Tesoro | Director |
| 8. | New Carissa, Coos Bay, Waldport, Oregon | Feb.-Mar. 1999 | 195 hours | IBRRC | Supervisor |
| 9. | Stuyvesant, Humbolt Bay, California | Sept. 1999 | 195 hours | IBRRC | Supervisor |
10. |
BEI Sulfuric Acid spill, Oahu, Hawaii | Dec. 1999 | 130 hours | IBRRC/BEI | Director |
| 11. | Erika, Brittany, France | Jan. 2000 | 195 hours | IFAW/IBRRC | Supervisor |
| 12. | Treasure, Cape Town, South Africa | Jun.-Sept. 2000 | 650 hours | IFAW/IBRRC | Director |
| 13. | Jessica, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador | Jan. 2001 | 195 hours | IFAW/IBRRC | Director |
| 14. | Ehime Maru #1, Oahu, Hawaii | Feb. 2001 | 130 hours | IBRRC/Navy | Director |
| 15. | Ehime Maru #2, Oahu, Hawaii | Aug.-Oct. 2001 | 390 hours | IBRRC/Navy | Director |
| 16. | Prestige, Galicia, Spain | Nov.2002 -Jan.2003 | 390 hours | IFAW/IBRRC | Supervisor |
| 17. | Wabamun Lake, Alberta, Canada | Aug.-Sept. 2005 | 450 hours | FOCUS WILDLIFE | Supervisor |
| 18. | Marshall Pipeline Leak, Michigan | Jul.-Nov. 2010 | 400 hours | FOCUS WILDLIFE | Supervisor |
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