22/05/2026
Meet the Team!! We’re starting off our new series with Raine, who joined the team in 2025…
What’s your role at the sanctuary, and what does a typical day look like for you? I’m the Marketing & Fundraising coordinator here at BWS. My day usually includes monitoring and creating content for our social media platforms, working with local tourism agencies who book visits to our sanctuary, taking and collecting photo and video media of our residents, and a handful of other meetings and community engagement activities throughout the day.
What drew you to working at an animal sanctuary specifically? As a child, I dreamed of being a zoologist but my path ended up leading me to social work where I’ve been the last 20 years. However, moving to Iceland meant leaving that behind. The Beluga Whale Sanctuary rekindled that original love I had for animals and I knew finding a position here was just always meant to be.
Do you have any pets of your own… and do they know you work with birds and whales all day? I have two cats, Vincent and Scout, who moved with me here from the USA. They may not know I work beside beluga whales but they definitely know about puffins because we’ve had several pufflings stay with us overnight during puffling season!
Which sanctuary resident has stolen your heart? Definitely Moli, our Common Guillemot. He lives with our puffin colony and has the biggest personality, always greeting his humans with a bow and a squawk.
