Our Council

Stuart is a lecturer in wild animal health and the course director for Masters programmes in Wild Animal Health and Biology at the Royal Veteirnary College. as well as being the pathway leader for the MSci in Wild Animal Biology. His main interests are in the relevance of disease processes to conservation, and how this changes as existing populations become more fragmented.

Nathalie graduated from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain) in 2004. After seeing practice in several exotic/wildlife practices and zoos around the world, she completed a one-year rotating internship at Davies Veterinary Specialists. She was the head of the exotic and zoo medicine department at a practice in bedfordshire for 14 years before moving to Chipping Noron Veterinary Hospital in 2020. In 2010 she passed her RCVS Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (Zoological Medicine). In 2016 she obtained the RCVS Diploma in Zoological Medicine with a Reptilian specialty and is also an RCVS Recognised Specialist in Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. Her main focus is in exotic pets but she is also the head veterinarian for Woburn Safari Park and several smaller zoological collections

Elliott graduated from the university of Bristol in 2014. After spending five years working in mixed practice with a heavy zoo and exotics caseload, and volunteering on a small island in the Grenadines, Elliott established his own company providing clinical and consultancy services for falconers, zoos and private exotics clients across the East of England, before joining the International Zoo Veterinary Group (IZVG) in November 2021, now working across the UK with zoological collections and wildlife rehabilitation providers. He also sits on the University of the West of England Animal Welfare and Ethics Sub-Committee (AWESC).

Elliott holds a Guinness World Record for performing the first ever caesarean section in a tapir.

Sonya qualified from Bristol University in 2013. In 2015 she started working for Highcroft Exotic Vets and now leads the busy first opinion and referral level department. Sonya become an RCVS Recognised Advanced Practitioner in Zoological Medicine in 2018 and in 2020 she became a WAVMA certified aquatic species veterinary surgeon. In 2020 she created Just Exotics, an on-demand webinar platform where her passion for teaching aims to support veterinary practitioners for a variety of species. Sonya enjoys all aspects of working with exotic species, specifically reptiles, amphibians and fish. She particularly enjoys performing soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery, as well as teaching her interns and veterinary students seeing practice within the department.

Mark graduated from University of Glasgow in 2009 and has spent most of his career working with exotic pets, wildlife and zoo species. He is based at Battle Flatts Veterinary Clinic in North Yorkshire where he sees a busy caseload of both first opinion and referral cases in practice and provides veterinary services for a number of zoological collections and to a local wildlife rehabilitation centre. Mark regularly works with a wide range of species from mega-vertebrates to fish but has a particular interest in avian and amphibian medicine and surgery. Mark has been involved in teaching of vets, nurses and students both within the UK and abroad and holds the RCVS certificate in Zoological Medicine as well as Advanced Practitioner in Zoological Medicine status.

Formerly Veterinary Surgeon to Blackpool Zoological Gardens. Past President of BVZS, Past president of EAZWV. Current advisory Board member EAZWV. Hon Member BVZS. Hon Member EAZWV. Chairman The ZEBRA Foundation for Zoological Veterinary Education is committed to helping vets and vet students gain skills and experience in zoo and wildlife medicine. We do this through the provision of small research project grants to individuals. These could used be used for elective study as part of a degree or higher qualification, laboratory research – or a project undertaken whilst undertaking a clinical placement in zoo and wildlife medicine.

The Zebra Foundation is a registered charity, funded by the European Association of Zoo and Wildife Veterinarians (EAZWV), the British Veterinary Zoological Society (BVZS) and public donations.