About The Team

Dr Bryan Carroll joined Bristol Zoo Gardens as Operations Manager in August 1995. He came from Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (Jersey Zoo) where he had been Curator of Mammals for six years. In 1993, Bryan gained his PhD in primate social behaviour.

In 2010 he became Director of Bristol Zoo following nine years working as Deputy Director. Bryan chairs the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), the EAZA Ape Campaign and the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation and Sustainability Committee. Bryan is a also a member of IUCN UK Executive Committee, Defra Zoo Inspector and Trustee of Ape Action Africa, a charity dedicated to helping Cameroon’s threatened primates.

John Partridge joined Bristol Zoo Gardens in January 1975. As the Senior Curator he is responsible for the whole of the Animal Department and during his time at the Zoo has worked on many of the animal sections although his particular expertise is linked to mammal husbandry.

John sits on several UK and European working groups and species committees and is responsible for the European studbook for black howler monkeys. He is an assessor for the nationally recognised zoo keepers' training course and has produced three internationally used animal husbandry publications on exotic cats, bears and raccoons and mustelids.

Sallie Blanks joined Bristol Zoo Gardens in 2005 and quickly moved across to join the Project Team for the National Wildlife Conservation Park and has since taken over the post of Client Project Manager. A Prince 2 qualified Project Manager and with a background in Company Secretarial skills and Occupational Psychology, Sallie has been responsible for the latter stages of the planning and design phase of NWCP, culminating in the delivery of the planning application.