Sally came to India in the1975 to study yoga and was planning to leave 7 years later when she got involved with zoos.   After observing some problems with standards in zoos, and founding Friends of Mysore Zoo in 1981 she was asked to start a national level organization along the same lines, that was Zoo Outreach organization.  About the same time she moved to Coimbatore in 1987 to advise businessmen starting a modern zoo in the city.  Her  combined interest in animal welfare generally as well as wildlife conservation and public education has served her well in developing and sustaining a variety of innovative programmes and international relationships in conservation for Zoo Outreach Organisation.  She has also followed up her first interest – improving zoo standards – by catalyzing and nursing an initiative for the organized zoo community to take the lead in improving substandard zoos under the auspices and guidance of the prestigious World Association of Zoos and Aquaria WAZA.  She received the Heini Heidigger Award for her contribution to the zoo profession in2003, the first woman, the first non-academic and the first focused on non-western zoos.   She has numerous links with IUCN SSC, having designed and convened the first CBSG national / regional network programme.  She heads CBSG, South Asia and co-chairs RSG, South Asia; she is Regional Representative for the International Zoo Educator Association.  She coordinates the regional specialist group for Primates, Chiroptera and Rodents maintaining links with the SSC Chair or focal point.  She has worked honorarily from the beginning, supported by her parents of whom her father, Normal E. Raulston, is a lover and protector of wildlife and all things of the natural world.  Sally currently does her work for her from her father’s home in USA, providing care for him since the recent death of her mother.

Sarojamma worked for Sally Walker since 1980 as a housekeeper but demonstrated so much versatility that she became an office helper during the day and housekeeper by night ! She started with Friends of Mysore Zoo and helped Sally care for a variety of wild animals including tiger cubs ! . She has been with ZOO since its inception in 1985. Her work in the office runs from making tea to dispatching letters and parcels, collating books, overseeing building maintenance and generally keeping everybody on track!  She has a family in Mysore which he visits regularly. 

Latha finished her B.Sc. Mathematics and Post-graduate Diploma course in Computer Applications. She is from Coimbatore itself and she is married (to Ravi Kumar) with two sons (Rajesh Kanna and Tarun) and spends weekends involved in her family business. Her assigned duties are finance, accounts and administration although the bulk of her time is concerned with a great variety of projects including designing the scientific and education documents and registration and maintenance of societies connected with ZOO. Latha’s talents and versatility are well known, not just to her colleagues in ZOO, but now to numerous friends of ZOO around the world.  She is treasured by all who work with ZOO for her speedy resolution of problems ranging from travel needs to finding technical information.

Geetha has worked many years in our office with a break to start her family. She has 2 children named Veerakumar and Ashok.  She has learned a great variety of skills from Latha and is Latha’s “Woman Friday”.  Geetha is gentle and patient with all. She does any job willingly and with a cheerful attitude.

Sanjay is a native of Bangalore and holds a Master of Science degree in Zoology. He has been working in ZOO for nearly 15 years. Sanjay oversees both technical and practical works, assists in catalyzing new activities in conservation and maintains links with SSC. Sanjay is the Editor of a monthly conservation and taxonomy journal called ZOOS' PRINT JOURNAL. He runs two South Asian networks, for amphibian and reptile researchers and field workers, assists with other taxon networks such as invertebrates and pollinators as well as bats and rodents.  He is an expert in Red List assessment and categorization, has facilitated more than 18 conservation assessment workshops (C.A.M.P.s), and has assisted in the assessment of more than 3,000 taxa in South Asia. He and Sally share the Chair of the Reintroduction Specialist Group for South Asia. He is working on a PhD degree featuring bats and rodents with Dr. Mewa Singh at Mysore University as guide.

Daniel is a native of Tamil Nadu, Rajapalyam, home of the threatened domestic species, the Rajapalyam hound! He earned a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Kerala. He is married (to Rebecca) with an eternally curious 15-year old son (Josh). Daniel is an entomologist and runs a very large and successful network of entomologists in South Asia. He does scientific projects on a variety of invertebrates, always with a practical and conservation purpose. He is also interested in educating children about wildlife conservation and involved in all education projects conducted by ZOO. Daniel also assists with any of the technical workshops and projects for any species which are conducted by ZOO. 

Veni is a native of Coimbatore with two kids, Srikanth and Preethi. She joined ZOO in 1997 and has been with our screen-printing unit since. She works long hours and does neat and attractive work. She is a willing worker always and even takes home small but important jobs which can't be completed during the day.

Ravichandran's first job is with ZOO. He has graduated from doing miscellaneous activities in the office to becoming the Editorial Assistant for ZOOS’ PRINT (Journal and Magazine). He has developed his skills in DTP and other programmes associated with publications. He is yet another eligible bachelor who is constantly seeking female friends.  His current girl friend is a Golunda (Bush Rat). He is in the final year of completing B.Com. He is a volunteer in Project PteroCount and is interested in monitoring bats in and around Coimbatore.

He helps Veni in the screen-printing unit.  His service also includes compiling education packets, maintaining stocks and publications, among others.

Manju is a native of Rajasthan but brought up in Baroda, Gujarat and recently got married to Mr. Suresh Kumar. She is a spider taxonomist (Arachnologist). She has a Ph.D. degree in Zoology (on spiders of Agroecosystem) from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat. Manju works with WILD on a very exciting topic on distribution and status of Mygalomorph spiders in India. Her main job involves field surveys in different parts of India to collect ecological and taxonomical data on Indian Theraphosids. She has several scientific papers to her credit, the most important one being a complete checklist of Indian spiders. She is presently working on compiling the checklist of South Asian spiders, describing new Mygalomorph spiders, inventorying and monitoring large-bodied spiders. Apart from this Manju also helps researchers and forest department in identification of spiders from various parts of India. In office she assists in various technical jobs like field technique workshops and C.A.M.P.s. Her research interests are systematics, biogeography, conservation and ecology of spiders. This job has transformed a spider collector into a spider conservationist and she is very happy with this transformation.

Kumar is a native of Coimbatore, his services including purchasing, follow-ups, banking, postal work, compiling education packets, among others. He is a relatively silent person until he gets a cricket bat in hand.

Marimuthu is a M.Sc. in wildlife from A.V.C. College, Mayladuthurai and was one of the first employees of ZOO from 1990-94. After a stint of 10 years in Brunei he rejoined ZOO in 2004 as Education coordinator. His family of wife and two sons (Sathish and Surya) live close to the office which helps him take lunch breaks with them.  Marimuthu’s communication skill endears him to his target audiences who usually let down their guard and participate in the programmes completely.  He has had several trainings including the famous Jersey Training in Endangered Species Management and the World Conservation Society’s Education training in New York. He has been one of the more successful educator trainees involved in the Teachers for Tiger workshops of WCS & ZOO.

Pravin is a native of Coimbatore with special interest and skills in designing and DTP. He has rejoined ZOO after a gap of 6 years and in his present avatar he is the Database manager and coordinator of membership and subscription of ZOO. He has taken on the responsibilities of updating and maintaining zoo’s numerous databases with aplomb.

Radhika is a M.com graduate and a native of Coimbatore. She is the Front Officer Executive of ZOO. She has taken on the responsibilities of maintaining incoming and outgoing communications, stock, keeping up with education reports and also helps with general administration.