Dave Salmoni

Dave Salmoni
Born	September 4, 1975 (1975-09-04) (age 36) Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Animal trainer, entertainer, producer
Years active	2000-present
Website
http://www.dave-salmoni.com/

Dave Salmoni (born September 4, 1975) is a Canadian animal trainer, entertainer and television producer. He has his own production company, Triosphere, which is based in South Africa and specializes in wildlife films.

Life and career

Personal life

Salmoni's mother, a competitive figure skating coach, and father, a chemical engineer, fostered his love for the wild. Salmoni studied zoology at the Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, and wrote his undergraduate thesis on tracking the hibernation of Canadian black bears. Also while in university, Salmoni was certified in Chemical Immobilization of Wildlife and worked on an elk relocation project and at a deer count station for the Ministry of Natural Resources.^[1]

Animal training

In 1998 Salmoni began his apprenticeship as an animal trainer at Bowmanville Zoological Park.^[1] Salmoni left Canada for South Africa in 2000 as part of the controversial Tiger "rewilding" project.^[1] Dave Salmoni was attacked by one of his trained big cats named Bongo, a five hundred pound male African lion in August 1999 in Ontario, which inspired his making of After the Attack.^[1]

Television

He has hosted and produced several television documentaries, including Living with Tigers, which describes the progress he and John Varty made as part of a controversial Bengal Tiger rewilding project, Into The Lion's Den and Sharks: Are They Hunting Us?, both for Discovery Channel. He starred in the show Animal Face-Off as a host and expert. He currently hosts and produces the Discovery Channel show Rogue Nature,^[2] as well as After the Attack and Into the Pride^[3] on Animal Planet.

Salmoni has been criticized by credentialed research biologists for his theatrics in an effort to make more entertaining television at the expense of wild lions. His antics have drawn much concern from the scientific community including the leading big cat conservationists affiliated with notable organizations like Panthera Corporation and the Wildlife Conservation Society. There is much sentiment that he is impeding conservation efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and conveys the wrong message about the human-cat interface to viewers in regard to safety, animal behavior and conservation.^[4]

He is currently the host of Expedition Impossible, a Mark Burnett show on ABC.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Meet Dave Salmoni : After the Attack : Animal Planet". Animal.discovery.com. http://animal.discovery.com/tv/after-the-attack/dave-salmoni/dave-salmoni.html. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
2. ^ "Star presenter of Discovery Channel’s Rogue Nature series, Animal Planet’s Predator versus Prey » Meet". Dave Salmoni. http://www.dave-salmoni.com/blog/?page_id=2. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
3. ^ "Into the Pride, Dave Salmoni : Animal Planet". Animal.discovery.com. http://animal.discovery.com/tv/into-the-pride/about.html. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
4. ^ "Panthera: Dave Salmoni: Tormenting Lions for TV". Huffingtonpost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-rabinowitz/dave-salmoni-tormenting-l_b_257808.html. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 

External links

• Official website
• Dave Salmoni at the Internet Movie Database
• Active: Born to be Wild, Dave Salmoni interview / feature, Times Online, February 14, 2004

Persondata
Name	Salmoni, Dave
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1975-09-04
Place of birth	Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Date of death
Place of death