Living in a wildlife wonderland
Bill Abercrombie’s love of animals and the outdoors led him to becoming an animal control expert. But sometimes he has clients that want him to do a lot more than just control their animal problems.
Abercrombie’s love for the outdoors started at a very young age. He says he just wanted to “spend a lot of time in the bush with wildlife.”
“I had an uncle who was a homesteader and trapper up in Peace River country. His story had a big influence on me.”
That led him to his own life working outdoors as a trapper, slowly moving into setting up his own business — Animal Damage Control. The biggest obstacle for him was the changeover from his life’s passion, into a career.
“All the skills that I didn’t start out with, all the skills I had to learn, I had to learn the hard way. But I think that if you’re passionate about with what you do, you stick with it,” he says, “I had a good skill set, I had a good grasp of what I wanted to do and I had a vision of what I wanted to do. It kind of just kept morphing from there.”
Now, with his own business, Abercrombie does consulting work for research in the academic and scientific community, as well as conflict resolution and workshops for helping people deal with wildlife.
“We do a lot of work in not just wildlife, but research, helping reduce the footprint and helping people coexist with wildlife as well.”
Bill Abercrombie, president of Animal Damage Control, is committed to providing his services to the public with his extensive knowledge of animals.
Photo credit: Bill Abercrombie
When Abercrombie receives a call for his services, some clients just want to rid of their problem. But he says he wants to do more than that, taking into account wildlife conservation, relocation and prevention.
Abercrombie says he finds that many people have their own agendas, and “trying to get people to grasp the situation, the problem with the animals and how to deal with it in a proper way can be bit of a struggle.”
However, that does not stop him from doing what he does.
“There is nothing more satisfying than when you’ve helped somebody when no one else could help them. When no one else can or would help them, you were able to help them. I find that very, very satisfying.”
“All the skills that I didn’t start out with, all the skills I had to learn, I had to learn the hard way. But I think that if you’re passionate about with what you do, you stick with it”
– Bill Abercrombie