Terry Hornsey to leave ZSEA

After almost 28 years, Terry Hornsey (Animal Manager) has made the difficult decision to leave Zoological Society of East Anglia.

Terry Hornsey has worked in zoos for 43 years. Starting as a Trainee keeper at London Zoo in 1978, he specialised in hoofstock and in 1981, was seconded by ZSL as part of an initial team of five animal keeping staff, to assist in the setting up of The National Zoo of Qatar. As the ‘Hoofstock Specialist’, he was part of a small team responsible for the unloading, of what was at the time, the largest consignment of zoo animals to ever leave the UK. In 1986, Terry left ZSL London for the position of Head of Section at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, again working with hoofstock (including rhino), as well as carnivores, primates, rodents, marsupials, bats and a variety of different bird species, before acquiring in 1991, the position of Curator of Elephants, Carnivores and Hoofstock at Perth Zoo, Western Australia. He returned to the UK for family reasons in 1993 and joined the Suffolk Wildlife Park, which at the time, had only recently been purchased by Banham zoo.

In 2006 the park was rebranded and renamed Africa Alive!. Terry’s position at the park is Animal Manager and he is also Chair of the European Cattle & Camelid Taxonomic Advisory Group (TAG), Global Species Management Plan (GSMP) Convenor for the Anoa and C0-Leader of the GSMP Fundraising Working Group. He is the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Saola Working Groups Captive Breeding Task Team Leader, is on the Species Committees for Fossa and Black Lemur and is a Screener for the EAZA Accreditation Programme. In the past, he has also been Co-ordinator of the Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group (AWCSG) ‘Captive Breeding Working Group’, U.K representative for the black & white ruffed lemur EEP and a Year 1 & Year 2 National Assessor and Co-ordinator for the BIAZA Diploma in the Management of Zoo and Aquarium Animals.

Gary Batters, Managing Director of Zoos at ZSEA, has known Terry for around 38 years. He commented "Terry is a true zoo professional, with a great depth of knowledge and superb practical animal keeping skills. He has also been great fun to work with both at home and as a social focal point at conferences and other zoo get togethers. Terry will be missed by all of us at ZSEA as he has played such an important part over the years of making ZSEA what it is today. Terry will be leaving with our very best wishes and we understand his desire to take this opportunity to have a more relaxed lifestyle with his family, particularly his grandchildren"