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Dr. Ingrid N. Visser – Whale Rescue Co-Founder
Ingrid has attended numerous mass and individual strandings. She is experienced in sampling and data collection at these events, and in the use of refloatation Rescue Pontoons and other rescue equipment. She has served on the Board and was a trainer for another stranding rescue group.
Ingrid began studying NZ orca in 1992, going on to complete the first and only PhD dissertation on this population. Since then, Ingrid has become an internationally-acclaimed authority on orca, having established research projects and studied orca in Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Iceland, Antarctica, Russia, North America and, not least of all, NZ. Ingrid founded and to this day still runs the Orca Research Trust, Adopt-an-Orca, AKWIC (Antarctica Killer Whale Identification Catalogue), Punta Norte Orca Research, and Papua New Guinea Orca Research.
She is an accomplished wildlife photographer, as her many awards attest to, a PADI Dive Instructor, and a commercial skipper. Ingrid has been instrumental in introducing the public to wild orca and their lives through her countless TV appearances, starring roles in documentaries, and popular articles in magazines, not to mention her two children’s books and autobiography. She has published a multitude of scientific manuscripts in peer reviewed journals, along with presenting talks and posters at marine mammal conferences throughout the world.