The CEO of Banham Zoo and Africa Alive! is leaving Norfolk to go back to his roots with a new role in Scotland.
David Field, who heads up the Zoological Society of East Anglia, has headed up the region's two zoos since 2018. He is taking up a new post bossing Edinburgh Zoo and it's where he started out his career 20 years ago, as well as being the place he met his wife.
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"I just couldn't say no," he told this newspaper. "Edinburgh has an incredible conservation programme, particularly with wild cats, but I'll be sorry to leave Norfolk where we've achieved some incredible results."
Mr Field will take up the post in early summer and a recruitment programme is underway to find someone to take over in Norfolk.
Mr Field was previously zoological director in London as well as curator at Whipsnade Zoo and assistant director at Dublin Zoo.
He got hooked with animals after helping out at his local zoo, aged 12. "The zoo became my life and that passion is still there. It becomes a lifestyle rather than a career."
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