Meet Mish Simpson

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mish Simpson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mish below.

Mish, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I have always loved animals which is largely due to my Dad’s influence. Growing up we had a wide variety of animals including injured wildlife that my Dad would rescue and care for. In my final year of high school I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career. I had always wanted to be a veterinarian but at that time there were no study options without relocating to a new state. So I completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sub-majored in law which set me up with some life skills which would later help me navigate the crazy world of wildlife rescue and running my own charity.

After graduating, I eventually landed a job with the Commonwealth Government and worked my way into a job making legal decisions as a Senior Case Officer. I loved the job and my original manager was a true inspiration but sadly my life was turned upside down when she retired and handed over the reigns to a toxic colleague. I fell into some deep depression due to the behaviour of this manager and realised I needed something else to focus on. So I fell back on my love for animals.

I enrolled to study a certificate 3 in Animal Science which required 150 hours of work placement which I completed with Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), I then completed by certificate 4 and another 100 hours with RSPCA which only cemented my love for rescuing animals, in particular wildlife. I signed up to a local wildlife rescue only to learn that the wildlife world was full of people who meant well but behaved in very toxic ways. The bullying broke me down mentally which shook me as I had long considered myself a mentally strong person. With the support of my husband we left this organisation and decided to start our own wildlife organisation. A wildlife organisation with a positiive cultlure that valued the mental health of their team. A wildlife organisation that took a scientific approach and collected meaningful data. This is where I found my purpose and whilst I am still working my government job I hope to one day secure the funding to pursue my purpose full time and make the wildlife rescue world a safer place for all the rescuers and carers that help our native animals in need.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
For my government job I am a data scientist which is where the data driven focus for our charity Southern Koala and Echidna Rescue (SKER) stems from. My husband and I founded SKER in 2018 after being dismayed by the politics that was embedded in the wildlife rescue sector. So many carers had lost sight of what was important which is the best interests of the animals we rescue. We chose to focus on koalas and echidnas as they are both very complex and specialized species and there was a lack of carers for these species in our area.

We built the charity from the ground up and with our own funds (and the help of the bank providing a mortgage) we purchased a 22 acre property in Onkaparinga Hills which is now the base for SKERs operations. The charity currently has 35 actively engaged volunteers and employs two part-time vets in our very own vet clinic. Yes, that’s right we built a custom designed Rehabilitation Centre which is a registered veterinary service provider. This makes us the only 24-hour rescue in the state with it’s own vet clinic. This has been a game changer and supports our commitment to prioritize the best interests of animals above all else. By avoiding the need to transport animals off-site for vet visits we significantly minimize any stress that encounter which in turn results in more rehabilitation successes.

SKER’s mission is to ensure South Australia’s native wildlife continue to enjoy a quality life in the wild by providing advice, advocacy, rescue and rehabilitation services, specialising in the rehabilitation of koalas and echidnas. We protect these populations through revegetating their habitats and working alongside researchers to provide meaningful data.
We think differently about wildlife rehabilitation. We’re driven by a deep understanding of wildlife behaviour, that has resulted in the development of impactful wildlife solutions. We are working hard to advocate for these solutions to be adopted by our government so we can prevent the needless deaths of so many native animals.

My personal passion for data means we continually strive to learn from every wildlife interaction. The sad reality of wildlife rescue is we can’t save them all but I never wanted a life to be wasted so I have been building relationships with Universities all across Australia and collecting samples from as many koalas and echidnas as we can because with this data we can hopefully learn how to save these species from extinction.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Authenticity- My wildlife rescue journey has been a tough one with my husband and I feeling ostracized at one stage purely for wanting to put the best interests of a koala first, but that meant going against the wishes of some strong personalities. We stuck true to ourselves and what we learned was just being ourselves and sticking to our morals gained us the support and respect of our local community. This gave us the courage to step away from group and start our own. We continued to treat the rescuers who previously ostracized with respect and keep out of the politics and over time those rescuers started reaching out to us for advice and they began referring calls for injured animals to us if they were in our area (prior to this they would have one of their rescuers drive longer to get the animal because they refused to call us).

Belief in yourself- In my life I have had a lot of people underestimate my capability and I have had to constantly reassure myself that I can do what I set out to achieve and learn to ignore what people would say about me to my face and to other people. I had to learn that I couldn’t rely on others for my own self worth.

Trust- Previously I was the type of person who trusted people very easily and took everything on face value. But this lead to me constantly being burnt by people who didn’t have my best interests at heart. Now I approach everyone I meet with caution. This doesn’t change how I treat them, but it does change how much information I share with them initially. For me trust has to be earnt and that goes both ways. I don’t expect trust from anyone until I prove I can be trusted.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Our small charity has achieved so much in a relatively short space of time but there is so much more that we want/need to do to change the face of wildlife rescue in Australia .I am currently still working a government job while running a charity, managing 35 volunteers and 2 part-time employed vets.

With the cost of living crisis, fundraising has become more challenging as people are struggling to meet their day to day expenses. At the same time, climate change has lead to some significant weather events which results in influxes of koalas needing assistance. This has meant less time for our small team to spend on raising money to cover our costs. We want to do so much more to help our precious wildlife but to do that we need to be better resources. We need funding to meet operational costs and allow for secure employment for our vets and we need to fund a full time Operations Manager.

Every day that goes by where our charity isn’t fully operational is another day of our precious wildlife dying of diseases that could be preventable or on road that could be made safer.

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