By Kerryn Le Cordeur
Animal Planet presenter, Dave Salmoni, is currently in South Africa to promote Discovery Networks and the Animal Planet portfolio, as one of the major hosts of Animal Planet and one of the faces of the channel’s Heroes campaign.
Media Update’s Kerryn Le Cordeur recently chatted to Salmoni at Athol Place in Sandton about his respect for wildlife; how he ended up on Animal Planet; and what he enjoys doing in his ‘down-time’.
Salmoni has been part of several flagship programmes on Animal Planet, including
Rogue Nature;
After the Attack;
Into the Pride;
Into the Lions’ Den; and the upcoming
World’s Deadliest Towns. He explained that while taking on any of these projects is risky, he always has a good reason for doing so – he has a question and sets out to find the answer, while at the same time raising awareness.
With
Into the Lions’ Den, currently on Animal Planet, Salmoni wanted to show that lions and humans can share common space, and that while lions are certainly top predators, they are willing to learn how to co-habit with humans, provided that mutual respect is earned. He added, however, that he chose Thornybush Game Reserve to film the programme as he wanted to work with lions that he could be sure had never had any negative experiences with humans, as this would be counter-productive to his work. At the same time he wanted to be sure that once he was finished, the lions’ trust wouldn’t be used against them by hunters who could get closer to them than ever before.
World’s Deadliest Towns is a completely different type of TV for the zoologist whose expertise lies with big cats. Salmoni said that once again, his intention was to create awareness of the world beyond our backyards, as opposed to trying to enforce Western solutions. To explain what the show is all about, he gave the example of a village in India, which is on the border of a forest where a herd of elephants live – but the area of forest is decreasing, and as such, the elephants are wreaking havoc in the village as humans and animals must no co-habit. He also described another village in India which reports one person per day being hunted by a tiger, and said that the Western world needs to understand that there is a war raging between humans and animals – and
World’s Deadliest Towns is on the frontline.
Another war which is raging between humans and animals in our own country is the current issue of rhino poaching. When asked how he feels about this, Salmoni exclaimed, “I want to shoot the rhino poachers!” He added that the rhino industry is so well-organised and funded, with machine guns and helicopters at its disposal, like an army, so he feels that we are in “desperate trouble” and we need to solve the problem now, or we are in danger of losing all our rhinos within a year.
This ties in with Animal Planet’s leveraging of its Heroes campaign by teaming up with Save the Rhino International to stop rhino poachers in South Africa. Of his role in the Heroes campaign, Salmoni said that he wants it to be a projection to people who love wildlife and want to conserve, that they can make a difference. He hopes that people pay attention to the message that he and the channel are putting across, because he feels there is no purpose unless there is a message.
Moving on to the personal side of Salmoni, although he is of Canadian origin, having grown up and studied Biology in Ontario, he is no stranger to South Africa, where he has lived on and off for 10 years – he described a link to the country and its culture of respecting wildlife. On top of the relative ease of access to wildlife South Africa presents him, he has also established a production company, Triosphere, in Johannesburg, which is involved in the production of films and commercials, and is not exclusively wildlife-centred, although the need to conserve always remains top of mind for Salmoni.
He can’t trace where his love of animals began, but said his mom has it in his writing as a young boy that he wanted to be a zoologist, and while he was convinced during high school and university that he would be a football player, he always had pictures of animals on his walls, and eventually realised his childhood dream to become the successful zoologist he now is.
Of his move to TV, Salmoni explained that he “just fell into it” after deciding not to do his PhD and moving instead into research and animal training so that he could interact with animals. He ended up on a conservation project in South Africa, which was featured on a Discovery Channel special, and this saw the start of his career with Animal Planet. He attributes all of this to accepting every opportunity that comes his way and not considering the risks.
Of course, with being an Animal Planet presenter, and good-looking to boot, comes being thrust into the media spotlight. While he doesn’t particularly enjoy that part, he realises that it facilitates many opportunities and the chance to interact with animals, as well as allows him to work towards the greater cause of conservation, which he believes is of utmost importance.
So, with so many unforgettable experiences under his belt in his quest to get to know animals and conserve the planet, what has been Salmoni’s most memorable experience? He answered that this changes almost every day, but one experience that stands out is the first time he got to touch a wild animal – something he had dreamed of every time he looked at the pictures on his wall. He described seeing the lion, Bongo, walking toward him, and succumbing to the urge to run to him and wrap his arms around him. He added that his boss at the time told him afterward that this was by no means a normal reaction!
Interestingly, Salmoni’s most harrowing experience was also courtesy of Bongo, who after nine months of getting to know Salmoni, nearly killed him. However, he survived and feels that Bongo taught him an important lesson – that even with trust, the animal instinct remains and anything can happen.
He really does have animals and the bush coursing through his veins, admitting that even in his free time, he enjoys going into the bush – without cameras, of course! He also values the relationships he has with his family and friends and tries to see them as much as possible.
So, it seems Salmoni is just as in tune with humans as he clearly is with animals. Certainly reason enough to tune into Animal Planet and take a leaf out of his book when it comes to conservation and respecting and understanding the wild world out there.