The Big Cat Sanctuary’s conservation and ethics committee oversees the ethical review processes and helps in planning and implementing the charity’s conservation and education strategies.
Andy Beer BSc (Hons), PGCE, FHEA
Andy Beer has been a member of The Big Cat Sanctuary Conservation and Ethics Committee for more than 10 years and its chair from 2015.
As Emeritus Director of Zoo Animal Studies at Sparsholt College Hampshire, Andy developed the range of training courses for staff employed in UK Zoos and Safari Parks from 1998 onwards. In association with BIAZA (British & Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums), he superintended and managed the UK and Irish Zookeeper staff development qualification (the Diploma in the Management of Zoo and Aquarium Animals) between 2002 and 2019. He also led its International development in 2012. Between 2009 – 2020, Andy was the first Zoo Nutritionist for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). The principal part of the role was to evaluate and modify the diets of the large range of species within the two animal collections that comprise RZSS: Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park. He is now engaged in freelance Zoo Nutrition Consultancy in the UAE and Zoos and Wildlife Parks in the UK.
Since 2019, he has also appointed as a Director of the Board of The Zoological Society of Ireland which oversees Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park. Andy currently chairs their Conservation and Research and Ethics sub-Committees.
He also participates on the Ethics Committees of a number of other UK Zoo and Wildlife Parks.