Karen Whitley

Karen Whitley

Finance Officer

Karen Whitley served as the UK Administrator for the World Parrot Trust since 1998 before changing roles in 2024 to Finance Officer.  

Her first introduction to animals and their behaviour happened when she was lucky enough to attend one of the first ‘Join Up’ Tours by Monty Roberts (horses) in the UK in the early 90’s.  Since then, understanding animal behaviour and its use with animals in captivity has been of deep interest to her and she has attended conferences on this subject for horses, dogs, cats and parrots.  Although having not grown up with any pets – her parents travelled regularly – she found her passion was for animals and their welfare.  She also began to understand the problems being created by the trade in wild animals.  Having an employment history of Administration though, the prospect of work in any such environment was very limited.  Therefore, when a chance to become involved in parrot conservation and welfare at an administrative level was advertised, she jumped at the opportunity.  From there she has learned about the wonderful work done by Steve Martin and the many others interested in promoting understanding bird behaviour and applying it in captivity.