REMEMBERING BETTINA DALTON

She was not on the list.

It is with great sadness that WildBear Entertainment announces the untimely death of its trailblazing, talented and multi-award-winning colleague Bettina (Tina) Dalton.

A much-loved and respected filmmaker, especially in the field of natural history where her dedication to the natural world shone through, Tina was both Emmy nominated and Sundance-selected. Her production credits over 30+ years include the feature documentaries Every Little Thing, Playing with Sharks and Rachel’s Farm. Playing with Sharks was part of the official selection at Sundance Film Festival in 2021 and went on to win numerous awards around the world. Her many TV credits include Boss Croc, King Kangaroo and Dolphin Dynasty for National Geographic, Australia’s Hidden Islands for Love Nature and Bushfire Animal Rescue for ADF/Arte, ZDFE, PBS Nature and SBS Australia.

In Australia, she will be remembered as a pioneer of women in natural history filmmaking, while internationally, she will be celebrated for bringing uniquely Australian stories to the world and for showcasing humanity’s place in nature. Her legacy also includes being an early proponent for building vital Impact campaigns alongside filmmaking.

Michael Tear, CEO of WildBear Entertainment and a longtime friend and colleague of Tina, says: “The world of natural history filmmaking has lost one of its brightest stars and strongest advocates. Everything that Tina did shone an important light on a different aspect of the world around us, with her passion for social and environmental issues in particular helping to promote greater understanding. Our collective knowledge base about the planet is so much richer because of her work.

“Clever, creative, visionary and great fun, Tina was a supportive and inspirational colleague who played a major part in putting WildBear Entertainment on the map. She will be sorely missed by our team, as well as by the extensive international network that she had fostered throughout the industry. But she was also so much more than a colleague and co-principal of the business; she was a dear friend and will leave an unfillable gap in my life. My thoughts are now with her daughters and wider family.”

Producer/Director Sally Aitken, who worked extensively with Tina, comments: “Bettina Dalton was a woman of extraordinary passion, grace, integrity, and curiosity with an unshakeable belief that things would always work out, that cats are actually Jedi masters, and in the possibility of a good story to change things. For Tina, life was in motion. She was a fierce booster of women, a champion of the natural world, and a dynamic producer who could turn conviction and gut instinct into action. What began as a creative partnership became a deep friendship, as the stars aligned when we made Playing with Sharks and Every Little Thing together, incredible experiences and films that travelled the world, touching hearts and minds. Tina wholeheartedly believed in me as a director and taught me so much about living your values through your work. I will always be grateful for that. We had so many stories yet to make. Today, I am profoundly sad knowing all those she leaves behind and how much she loved life. I’m also sitting with appreciation for her can-do spirit, her great friendship and the generosity with which she shared her remarkable energy.

“It was a glorious Sydney sunny day when I heard the news, and I found myself thinking of Tina as pure energy and light — like the hummingbirds she loved, glimmering in the sun, magical messengers of the mystery and wonder of the wild. Thank you, Tina.”

Fred Kaufman, Executive Producer, Nature, comments: “This is such a loss. Bettina was one of my favourite people. She was smart, sharp and talented and her films represented the very best of PBS Nature. I will miss her grace.”

Bettina Dalton biography

Tina was born and raised in the town of Bli Bli on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. She showed a fascination with the natural world from an early age, when she used to collect dead animals on the way home from school, putting them in the family freezer so that she could study them in more detail later. After obtaining a degree in Rural Techniques at the University of Queensland, her first job was as a park ranger for the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service – which in turn led to her first taste of television with an on-screen role as ‘Ranger Tina’ in Mark Lewis’ seminal film Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.

Her film and TV career began in earnest as a producer and presenter on children’s environmental series Bushbeat. From there she went onto work with renowned British naturalist Sir David Attenborough on The Trials of Life series in 1990 and then in 1992, she joined the original presenting team on Nine Network’s massive travel series Getaway – a programme she revisited twice in recent years as a guest presenter in episodes about Greenland and Antarctica.

A pioneer for women in television – and particularly natural history – in Australia, at a time when the industry was male dominated, she then transitioned to focus behind the screen and in 1998 established Absolutely Wild Visuals with Gary Steer. A production company that also sold wildlife film footage shot by Australian filmmakers, this business – eventually re-branded as Content Mint – has grown to become one of the largest and most impressive wildlife footage libraries in the world today, with thousands of hours serving domestic and international broadcasters and producers. Through the library’s continued expansion over nearly four decades, Tina developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the images it held and the extraordinary animal behaviour they revealed.

In 2010 she set up the production company Wild Fury with fellow filmmaker Veronica Fury, where they were both co-Managing Directors. In 2014, Wild Fury (along with the Content Mint business) was merged with Michael Tear and Serge Ou’s Bearcage Productions to become WildBear Entertainment, a new business which saw Tina take the dual roles of Principal and Executive Producer.

Always an astute businesswoman, Tina used her understanding of how to manage and run a footage library to develop preferential access arrangements with other key libraries such as AP and also became MD of the British Movietone library from 2011-14. These relationships led to the creation of many notable history and other series for the wider WildBear Entertainment business.

Today, the WildBear Entertainment that she helped create is Australia’s largest independent factual studio, with a team of +100 producing a wide range of film, TV and commercial content for domestic and international partners.

Throughout her career, Tina also used her platform to foster the next generation of Australian filmmakers, actively mentoring emerging directors and producers through initiatives like ShowdownDoc. She also wrote three wildlife books and was awarded the Gatton Gold Medal for career excellence and community impact in 2004.She was a member of the Producers Guild of American and the Television Academy.

Tina shared her life with John Schaeffer, a Sydney businessman and notable art collector and philanthropist, until his untimely death in 2020. She is survived by her daughters, Pnina and Chana, as well as her mother, sister and brother.

Tina passed away on the Sunshine Coast on the 24th of August after a short period of illness.

Producer

Wild Tales

executive producer

TV Series

The Colleano Heart (2025)

The Colleano Heart

7.7

producer

2025

Every Little Thing (2024)

Every Little Thing

7.2

produced by

2024

F. Murray Abraham, Peter Coyote, Allison Argo, David Attenborough, Paul Christie, John Benjamin Hickey, Howard McGillin, George Page, Jay O. Sanders, Craig Sechler, Nora Young, Toby Leonard Moore, and Chris Morgan in Nature (1982)

Nature

8.9

TV Series

executive producerproducer

2011–2023

Extreme Snakes (2023)

Extreme Snakes

7.4

TV Mini Series

executive producer

2023

Revealed: Reefshot (2023)

Revealed: Reefshot

8.8

producer

2023

The Platypus Guardian (2023)

The Platypus Guardian

9.0

TV Movie

executive producer

2023

Rachel's Farm (2023)

Rachel's Farm

8.0

producer

2023

Caught in Motion (2021)

Caught in Motion

TV Series

producer

2021

World's Most Toxic Animals (2021)

World's Most Toxic Animals

TV Mini Series

producer

2021

Valerie Taylor in Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story (2021)

Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story

7.5

producer

2021

Wild Workers (2021)

Wild Workers

7.2

TV Series

executive producer

2021

Animal Arms Race (2020)

Animal Arms Race

TV Series

executive producer

2020

Bushfire Animal Rescue (2020)

Bushfire Animal Rescue

6.9

executive producer

2020

Monster Constrictors (2020)

Monster Constrictors

TV Special

producer

2020

Island Paradise: Living in the Torres Strait (2019)

Island Paradise: Living in the Torres Strait

executive producer

2019

World's Greatest Natural Wonders (2018)

World's Greatest Natural Wonders

7.1

TV Series

co-producer

2018

Boss Croc (2017)

Boss Croc

8.0

producer

2017

Dino Bird (2017)

Dino Bird

7.1

producer

2017

Over Australia (2017)

Over Australia

7.8

TV Series

executive producer

2017

Deadly Australians (2017)

Deadly Australians

7.2

TV Series

executive producer

2017

Australia's Hidden Islands (2017)

Australia's Hidden Islands

8.0

TV Mini Series

executive producer

2017

Top 10 Secrets and Mysteries (2016)

Top 10 Secrets and Mysteries

5.2

TV Mini Series

producer

2017

Borneo's Secret Kingdom (2016)

Borneo's Secret Kingdom

7.4

TV Series

producer

2016–2017

Desperate Hours (2016)

Desperate Hours

6.1

TV Series

producerproduced by

2016

Dolphin Dynasty (2016)

Dolphin Dynasty

TV Movie

producer

2016

The Amazon of the East (2016)

The Amazon of the East

7.2

TV Mini Series

executive producerproducer

2016

World of the Wild (2016)

World of the Wild

7.9

TV Mini Series

producer

2016

Animals That Changed History (2016)

Animals That Changed History

TV Mini Series

series producer

2016

Top 10 Architecture (2016)

Top 10 Architecture

7.4

TV Series

producer

2016

Big Red: The Kangaroo King (2015)

Big Red: The Kangaroo King

7.3

producer

2015

World's Weirdest Animal Faces (2015)

World's Weirdest Animal Faces

8.8

TV Series

producer

2015

Hanging Australia (2015)

Hanging Australia

producer

2015

Making Tracks (2014)

Making Tracks

7.2

TV Mini Series

producer

2014

Nature's Greatest Secret: The Coral Triangle (2014)

Nature's Greatest Secret: The Coral Triangle

7.3

TV Mini Series

series producer

2014

Wild Australia (2014)

Wild Australia

7.1

TV Series

producer

2014–2021

When the Queen Came to Town (2014)

When the Queen Came to Town

producer

2014

Mysteries of the Human Voice (2014)

Mysteries of the Human Voice

6.8

TV Movie

producer

2014

Australia's Wild Places (2013)

Australia's Wild Places

5.6

TV Series

producer

2013

Koalas: Slow Life in the Fast Lane (2012)

Koalas: Slow Life in the Fast Lane

producer

2012

Weapons of the Wild (2012)

Weapons of the Wild

TV Series

producer

2012

Pelicans: Outback Nomads (2010)

Pelicans: Outback Nomads

producer

2010

The Ocean's Supermum: Wildlife Documentary Making 101 (2010)

The Ocean's Supermum: Wildlife Documentary Making 101

Video

producer

2010

The Ocean's Supermum (2009)

The Ocean's Supermum

TV Movie

producer

2009

Great National Parks of Australia

TV Series

producer

2003

Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina (2003)

Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina

7.2

executive producer (as Tina Dalton)

2003

Pelicans of the Ghost Lakes (2000)

Pelicans of the Ghost Lakes

TV Movie

producer

2000

Animal Weapons

TV Series

producer

1999

The Art of Tracking

TV Special

producer

1996

Flight of the Rhino (1993)

Flight of the Rhino

TV Special

producer

1993

Director

Australia's Hidden Islands (2017)

Australia's Hidden Islands

8.0

TV Mini Series

Director

2017

Desperate Hours (2016)

Desperate Hours

6.1

TV Series

Directordirected by

2016

World of the Wild (2016)

World of the Wild

7.9

TV Mini Series

Director

2016

Wild Ones 3: World of the Wild (2016)

Wild Ones 3: World of the Wild

TV Series

Director

2016

Top 10 Architecture (2016)

Top 10 Architecture

7.4

TV Series

Director

2016

Animal Armory (2016)

Animal Armory

7.5

TV Series

Director

2016

Moody Beasts (2016)

Moody Beasts

TV Mini Series

Director (as Tina Dalton)

2016

Big Red: The Kangaroo King (2015)

Big Red: The Kangaroo King

7.3

Director

2015

Super Senses (2015)

Super Senses

7.5

TV Series

Director

2015

My Animal Friends 3: Underwater Mission (2015)

My Animal Friends 3: Underwater Mission

TV Series

Director

2015

Making Tracks (2014)

Making Tracks

7.2

TV Mini Series

Director

2014

Shadow of the Shark (2000)

Shadow of the Shark

TV Series

Director

2000

Animal Weapons

TV Series

Director

1999

The Art of Tracking

TV Special

Director

1996

Eye on the Reef (1995)

Eye on the Reef

TV Special

Director

1995

David Ogden Stiers, Stacy Keach, Neil Ross, Jay O. Sanders, Craig Sechler, J.T. Turner, and David Pogue in Nova (1974)

Nova

8.7

TV Series

Director (as Tina Dalton)

1995

Flight of the Rhino (1993)

Flight of the Rhino

TV Special

Director

1993

Writer

Boss Croc (2017)

Boss Croc

8.0

Writer

2017

Over Australia (2017)

Over Australia

7.8

TV Series

Writer

2017

Australia's Hidden Islands (2017)

Australia's Hidden Islands

8.0

TV Mini Series

Writer

2017

Terra Mater (2011)

Terra Mater

8.0

TV Series

Writer

2015

Weapons of the Wild (2012)

Weapons of the Wild

TV Series

Writer

2012

The Ocean's Supermum (2009)

The Ocean's Supermum

TV Movie

Writer

2009

Great National Parks of Australia

TV Series

Writer

2003

Animal Weapons

TV Series

Writer

1999

The Art of Tracking

TV Special

Writer

1996

Flight of the Rhino (1993)

Flight of the Rhino

TV Special

Writer

1993

Additional Crew

Joh: Last King of Queensland (2025)

Joh: Last King of Queensland

6.5

principals: WildBear Entertainment

2025

Adolf Hitler: Decoding a Dictator (2025)

Adolf Hitler: Decoding a Dictator

7.0

TV Series