Our hard working and dedicated General Manager, Karen Swiegers, has been with us for an entire decade this year. She has climbed the ranks and is now tasked with overseeing the day to day functions at HESC. Although she is very much behind the scenes, she keeps our cogs running. Karen is grateful for the support of an excellent team and is proud to be part of it.
Highlights of Karen’s day include visiting the animals at the centre during her breaks and meeting like-minded people who share her passion for conservation. She loves to chat to visitors and hear their compliments on the centre’s conservation efforts.

Her motto is to take each day as it comes because she has learnt that no matter how much one prepares, each day presents new and unexpected challenges. She has learnt to expect the unexpected and that endurance is key, in her role as manager.
We never have to worry when Karen is around, because nothing breaks her stride. She’s quick, patient, and leads our team by  example, and is not easily shaken.

We asked her what the hardest thing she has had to deal with at our centre, and she said it was witnessing the long and hard journey that Dingle Dell and Lions Den had to endure through their recovery, after surviving a rhino poaching attack. She has a big soft spot for those two strong survivors, and is proud of what the centre achieved in rehabilitating them. She says it makes all the hard work worth while when she sees them so happy.

We appreciate all of the passion Karen puts into her day to day activities and her team behind the scenes.
Thank you Karen for ALL of your phenomenal work.