Zoodart Consulting - Team Profile

Zoodart Consulting's founder, Trevor, was born in Rhodesia and has been an avid outdoorsman since a very early age where weekly trips out fishing and hunting were the norm growing up. Having worked in the bush throughout South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique he has a unique insight into the training requirements for individuals that may have to make use of firearms to humanely dispatch potentially dangerous animals. Trevor studied Nature Conservation and has worked within Wildlife Parks in Southern Africa since 1994 and this included training field guides in the use of firearms when guiding guests in reserves that have dangerous game. This training included practical assessments of the guides as well as safe systems of work when dealing with dangerous game encounters on foot. Trevor was also responsible for reserve management, game capture, culling operations, problem animal control as well as people animal conflict (P.A.C). He was also appointed as a Honorary Officer with Ezemvelo, KZN, South Africa.  He holds an African Professional Hunters qualification as well as a Professional Culling qualification in addition to various UK qualifications incl: Humane Animal Dispatch (H.A.D.) and DSC1. Trevor also holds a South African B.A.S.A. qualification. Combining 7 years of Zoo experience with 19 years of practical field experience having personally dealt with 71 exotic, domestic, plains and dangerous game species. He brings a unique insight on animal behaviour, firearms and ballistic requirements and the scenarios that someone may face when placed in a situation that requires the use of a firearm to humanely dispatch a dangerous game species in a high “pressure” high “stress” public domain environment. Trevor is a full member of BASC and the current Head Ranger of both The Port Lympne Reserve and Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent, U.K.

  Jack grew up in the lovely village of Stock, Essex and developed a keen taste for outdoor adventure and traveling in Africa, while attending Felsted School. After trekking in South Africa with the wilderness leadership school and aiding EHRA in their desert elephant program in Namibia, Jack went onto pursue a career as a field guide in South Africa. He completed FGASA level 1, Track and Field sign level 3 and finished top in his class for Advanced rifle handling. After gaining experience in the Tuli block area in Botswana to complete his back up trails he notes that due to the daily encounters with elephant herds on foot, conservation became the professional focus for his life. Working as a field and trails guide in the North-west province South Africa, then moving on to Helicon Game Capture’s team traveling across South Africa, he witnessed the many ways that South Africa depends upon and manages its wildlife. Wanting to always further himself, Jack returned to the UK to study Outdoor Leadership at the University of Derby Buxton, specialising in canoe expedition management and the study of resilience. Attending the University Officer training corps, helped further develop Jack’s time spent in the field, and knowledge of firearms from a UK perspective. In 2012 Jack started work as a Ranger, at Port Lympne in Kent. Always willing to help the animal sections and learn, he quickly developed numerous roles across the park which culminated in a 4 months research stint with the Reserves gorilla research project in Gabon. Aiding field staff in logistics, maintenance and training staff in encountering dangerous game on foot. Returning to the U.K. it was obvious that lessons learnt from his time in Africa, should be brought to that of the European wildlife industry. He has worked alongside Trevor McKenzie in developing the Dangerous Animal Response Training (D.A.R.T.) course and subsequently qualified with Zoodart Consulting as an instructor. Jack recently completed a Msc. in Conservation and International Wildlife trade from DICE, the University of Kent. Studying the impact of the international trade in lion bones on CITES and the influence of NGO’s on the process. Jack is a full member of BASC.

Although he was born in Gateshead, like Trevor, Vince grew up in Rhodesia and went to school at Plumtree on the border of Botswana. After completing his schooling he served in the Rhodesian Army during the Rhodesian Bush War before coming to the UK to join Kent Police, marrying Trish (another Rhodesian) a couple of years later.

For the past 40 years, Vince has been involved in armed policing as an operational operator and commander and as an instructor. He is both the longest serving firearms officer and firearms instructor in the history of Kent Police and has undertaken a variety of specialist operational roles, including commanding the intervention team, for two decades and being involved in many significant, often newsworthy, operations. In recognition of this, he has been awarded life membership of the Police Firearms Officers Association.

In his training role, the last 15 years of which have been firstly as Weapon Training Officer and latterly as Chief Firearms Instructor, Vince has introduced many initiatives and developed the training team in Kent into a respected national and international training provider. Examples of these initiatives are leading the development of training for armed policing in the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus and the introduction of tactical medicine to Kent Police through his involvement with the Counter Narcotics and Terrorism Operational Medical Support (CONTOMS) programme in the USA, to which he was appointed to the Board of Directors.

Vince has always driven the cause of academic underpinning to training and holds both Bachelors and Masters’ degrees in educational disciplines, and, as well as a number of vocational qualifications, he is a Fellow of the Society for Education and Training and an Associate Tutor for Canterbury Christ Church University. He was awarded a PhD in Criminal Justice for a thesis focussed upon judgment and decision making, which is apposite to all Zoodart Consulting training. 

Throughout his police career, Vince has served on a number of committees and working groups at local, regional and national levels and has addressed seminars and conferences at national and international events. Outside working hours, Vince retains his contact with the military, serving as Secretary of the Rhodesian African Rifles Regimental Association and has also been awarded life membership of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps Association.

Although most of his working life has involved tactical command and problem solving, as both a practitioner and trainer, his love of the bush and wildlife has constantly drawn him back to Africa whenever the opportunity arises, as well as visiting other wilderness areas worldwide.