Jeff began his career as student volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo at the age of 16 where he had the opportunity to work with the Giant Pandas during their stay at the Los Angeles Zoo for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He was then hired as a full-time keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo working with a variety of species from marmosets and tamarins, African ungulates, rhinos, tapirs, marsupials and monotremes as well as working in the zoos nursery hand rearing gorillas, orangutans, zebra duikers and gerenuk among other species.

Between 1986-1994 Jeff worked on my B.S. Degree in Zoology while working full time as a keeper. He focused on mammals and in particular rhinos, tapirs, ungulates, marsupials and monotremes. During this time, he worked with the several Sumatran Rhinos that arrived at the LA Zoo as they were imported into the United States as part of the Sumatran Rhino Alliance, which was to establish an ex-situ breeding population for the species. In 1994 he was promoted to senior animal keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo supervising a large portion of the zoos' collection, which included the Bird Department, Reptile Department, Large Mammals, ruminants and the Commissary. At that time, he was selected to be the studbook keeper for babirusa for the AZA Pig and Peccary Taxon Advisory Group.

In 1996, Jeff was hired as General Curator at the Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi, California, a
small 5-acre zoo.

In 1999 he returned to the Los Angeles Zoo as curator of mammals where he began developing and working on in-situ conservation programs and taking a more active role in ex-situ population management. He was the coordinator of the species programs: Black Duiker, Babirusa, Red River Hog and Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby. He was chair of the Wild Pig, Peccary and Hippo Taxon Advisory Group and Caprinae Taxon Advisory Group and vice chair of the Small Antelope Group.

Jeff developed the Zoo Consortium for support of the Peninsular Pronghorn Recovery Program in Baja California and is today a member of the Recovery Team. He is also a member of the USFWS Sonoran Pronghorn Recovery Team. In partnership with Gono Semadi and Erik Meijard, he assisted in the development of the Javan Warty Pig Recovery Program.

CONSERVATION INVOLVEMENT

Peninsular Pronghorn Recovery Project: Baja California, Mexico – 2002-Present
Developed the project in cooperation with Espacios Naturales and Los Angeles Zoo. Provide assistance and technical expertise in the management, husbandry and capture of peninsular pronghorn.

Sonoran Pronghorn Recovery Project: Arizona and Sonora, Mexico – 2010-Present
Member of the USFWS Sonoran Pronghorn Recovery Team. Provide technical expertise in the management, husbandry and capture of Sonoran pronghorn.

California Sonoran Pronghorn Recovery Project: California– 2016-Present
Member of the Recovery Team providing technical expertise in the management, husbandry of pronghorn.

Lowland Tapir Habitat Assessment and Distribution in the Chaco of Paraguay: Paraguay – 2018 - Present
Developed study with the Chaco Center for Conservation and Research. Project is a multi-year study that will look at the habitat use and distribution of the lowland tapir. This is accomplished with the use of camera trap surveys and the capture of 5-10 lowland tapirs to be fitted with GPS collars.

Chaco Center for Conservation and Research, Paraguay
Science Advisor to the Center. Provide assistance on the husbandry and management of the Chacoan peccary and advise on various projects.

Tamaraw Conservation Project: Mindoro, Philippines
Leading Feasibility Study for Captures, Translocations and Captive Propagation of tamaraw.

Anoa and Babirusa Rescue Centers on Sulawesi: Sulawesi, Indonesia
Leading Assessment team to determine type, location and scope of the rescue center network for anoa and babirusa throughout Sulawesi in cooperation with the Indonesian GSMP, KKH and PKBSI.

Senior Capture and Husbandry Advisor for Sumatran Rhino Survival Alliance, Indonesia
Coordinating and advising on the capture operations and husbandry and management of the Sumatran Rhinos

Annamite Re-Wilding Project, Vietnam
Coordinating and advising on the establishment of an ex-situ program for Annamite species such as large-antlered muntjac, Annamite striped rabbits, Vietnam pheasant and silver pheasant.