Simon Tonge

Chair of UK Trust

Simon is the former Executive Director of Wild Planet Trust, a charitable organisation based in the south-west of the UK, which owned Paignton and Newquay zoos, the Living Coasts exhibit in Torquay and three nature reserves in Devon. He graduated in Zoology from the University of Bristol in 1980 and his subsequent career included the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, where he was a herpetologist, and the Zoological Society of London. His career also included two years training as an accountant, which left him sadder but much wiser. He is a past chairman of both the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and sits on the board of two conservation charities in southern Africa. He is a serious birder and interested in all aspects of natural history and conservation.