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Published on: 1/1/2009
Last Visited: 6/3/2009
Sally R. Walker
Sally Walker was a "lost" American who visited India for a three months stay to study yoga.
After 7 years of this, she literally fell into an unplanned and till date unpaid zoo career which is currently in its 28th year.
Not a fan of zoos at that time, but definitely an all-animal lover, she began volunteering in Mysore Zoo after a few minutes holding a tiger cub.
Subsequently she founded the first zoo society in India , the Friends of Mysore Zoo.
Her work at Mysore Zoo publishing India's first zoo magazine and running training and scientific workshops earned her a seat on India's National Zoo Advisory Board.
As a result of this, she met government officials who encouraged her to set up a national level zoo organization funded by the Ministry of Environment.
When government changed funding ran out, but Sally continued to raise funds by visiting western zoos and explaining her goals for the society, Zoo Outreach Organsation.
She earned her own living as a freelance writer for the Indian press and her more than 300 positive and constructive articles about zoos changed public and political perception of these beleaguered insitutions and catalyzed the passage of zoo legislation for the country.
She served as a member of the law mandated Central Zoo Authority for six years till 2000 when her two terms completed.
She then founded the South Asian Zoo Association
Zoo Outreach Organisation was never only about zoos but focused on linking zoos and wild and expanded its mandate by associating closely with IUCN SSC thematic and taxon based specialist groups.
Now with ZOO there is a sister organisation called WILD working in both in situ and ex situ conservation with over 1000 South Asian academics.
Sally has received awards for her work in animal welfare and wildlife science.
She is a fellow of the Linnean Society of London and is till this date the only person to have been awarded the Heini Heidigger Award of the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria and the Ulysses S. Seal Award for Innovation in Conservation.
For many years a resident of India, she now divides her time between India and USA in three month increments so that she can help her father who supported her in her work for nearly three decades.
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