Oceania Kreutzer
MSc Student
Companion Animals
About
As an Indigenous student, my path has not always been linear. During
my undergrad at UBC in the Applied Animal Biology program there was a
lot of debate about what I wanted to do with my studies. I have always
loved animals as a child, and have grown up having many different
pets. This included dogs, a bird, a crested gecko, a bearded dragon,
many hamsters, some guinea pigs temporarily, a hedgehog, chinchillas,
fish and now a cat. As you can see, the majority of those animals are
small pets, which is where a lot of my interest lies; in the little
guys.
I decided I wanted to get into research and as well some travel so
through the Go Global program at UBC I did an exchange in my undergrad
to New Zealand at the University of Canterbury where I got to do some
project studies on the foraging behaviour of European black birds. I
found that I enjoyed research and I was then selected to be part of
the Honour’s Applied Animal Biology program at UBC. Through the
program I was mentored by Andrew Trites and Rhea Storlund at the
Marine Mammal Research Unit at UBC and then I proceeded to do an
undergraduate thesis with Dr. Alexandra Protopopova on the behaviour
of feral rabbits living in urban environments.
Currently, I am now doing a Master’s with the AWP that will be focused
on continuing research on domesticated and feral rabbits in different
environments. I am wanting to use traditional Indigenous knowledge to
help analyse this project through two-eyed seeing while also keeping
ecological processes in mind and general Western science views.
Education & Awards
Bachelor of Science in Honours Applied Animal Biology at UBC 2024
Awards: LFS Indigenous Graduate Fellowship (2024-2026)