Sean Murphy
Sean was born and raised in a small mountain town in southwestern Virginia, where the number of coal trucks rivaled the number of people. A curiosity and love for Nature was instilled in him at a young age by his adventurous parents, who made sure Sean and his brother received sufficient doses of backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, canoeing, and trout fishing in the surrounding central Appalachian Mountains.
Sean played football at the University of Kentucky while earning a B.Sc. in Forestry. Eager to get back in the woods, Sean worked as a Research Technician on studies of Florida black bear ecology in southcentral Florida and the reintroduction of federally threatened Canada lynx in Colorado. After a few years of gaining invaluable experience and learning from excellent university researchers and agency biologists, Sean returned to the University of Kentucky where he earned a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Animal Science while investigating the demographic, genetic, and spatial outcomes of American black bear reintroductions.
Sean was the Large Carnivore Research Biologist for Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, where he was responsible for conducting research to inform recovery of the federally threatened Louisiana black bear. Following the delisting of Louisiana black bears, Sean was hired as the Carnivore and Small Mammal Program Manager for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, where he was responsible for research, management, and conservation of large carnivores (bears and cougars), furbearers (bobcat, foxes, raccoons, etc.), and non-game small mammals (mice, chipmunks, etc.). Think all things with fur!
