Dave Salmoni

Personal History

Before Dave became a television presenter, he was known in animal training circles for his work with individual Tigers, Jaguars and Lions. He had guided some of the most temperamental and dangerous feline personalities in the business through feature films, television commercials and live performances.

He had also paid his dues via a serious mauling – see his answers to prime questions.

The popular image of the "lion tamer" – top hat, glitter'n'spandex, the whip-cracking showman – never applied to Dave. Mention this kind of performance to him and he'll chuckle. His training style was based on "positive reinforcement", a humane method that simply rewards the animal for doing as asked. And his regular working outfit was fatigues and t-shirt. Passion for biology

Fatigues versus spandex aside, what set Dave apart from the showmen of his trade was his academic grounding and passion for biology. In 1998 he completed the highly regarded four-year Biology Honors Program at Laurentian University, Ontario. His first experience of working with big, dangerous animals came in his fourth year with a research project on Black Bears for Canada's Ministry of Natural Resources. The bears were becoming a nuisance to nearby human communities, and the project was geared to finding humane solutions. Solving such problems in a way that benefits both human and animal welfare has since been an ongoing theme in Dave's life.

With shovel and talent

On finishing his studies, Dave was offered a job with the Bowmanville Zoological Park, near Toronto. Bowmanville is among the world's biggest humane-accredited providers of highly trained animals.

Dave found himself apprenticed to Bowmanville's founder, legendary animal trainer Michael Hackenberger. "Michael saw the size of me and said I would be good for shoveling a lot of elephant, er, waste," Dave recalls with a grin. While the job did involve some shoveling, Dave soon proved to have an extraordinary talent for training animals of all shapes and sizes.

Dave went on to become head trainer at Bowmanville. He specialized in big cats but also became adept with trainees ranging from Domestic Cats to Arctic Wolves.

Life-changing tigers

Then, in January 2000, Dave received another life-changing offer. Two of Bowmanville's young Bengal Tigers, Ron and Julie, were on their way to Africa. There they would be habilitated into the wild, to start a breeding population that could serve as a model for conserving tigers in Asia. Would Dave accompany Ron and Julie, and help them adapt to a strange new wilderness?

Of course he would. Dave fell in love with the Tigers, and was to devote the next four years to them. While he had not been cast as the main character in the film of the project, the camera found him anyway – and simply couldn't let go.

Living With Tigers riveted television viewers around the globe, and Dave was flooded with offers for further appearances. He had to learn fast how to deal with media controversy, being pursued by opponents of the Tiger project and then the Roy Horn catfight (in which Dave's shoot-from-the-hip responses to questions on the mauling of the Siegfried & Roy trainer drew heavy crossfire). Dave was also pursued by fan mail offering everything from breathless teenage crushes to suggestions that he would be a worthy contender in a fistfight.

Into the future

Dave's next major program, Into the Lion's Den [link to stills in Dave Salmoni Driven Programs], was a two-hour special for Animal Planet that followed Dave on a project he'd first intended as a quiet private "vacation": walking, unarmed, for three months, with a pride of lethal wild Lions. Dave's courage and charisma on Into the Lion's Den again captivated viewers around the globe, and the program marked his leap from documentary character to star presenter.

The programs that followed would see Dave move increasingly from the role of big cat specialist to fascinated generalist – an explorer eager for new experiences with every kind of adrenalin-firing animal, terrain and tribal culture.

Issued by Triosphere. This article may be freely quoted or reproduced in part or in full.