Dr. Grey Stafford is the Director of Conservation for the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium and author of the animal training book, ZOOmility: Keeper Tales of Training With Positive Reinforcement. Grey and ZOOmility were featured on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Internationally known animal adventurer and Emmy winning TV show host, Jungle Jack Hanna, wrote the book’s foreword.
As a zoo professional for more than 20 years, Grey has frequently shared his animal and behavior expertise on CNN & HLN (e.g., Issues with JVM, Prime News) to discuss a variety of topics such as: working safely with animals, the conservation importance of zoological parks and wild animal behavior. He has helped feature numerous animals on nationally broadcast shows including: The Talk, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Larry King Live, Martha Stewart, Rosie O’Donnell, Good Morning America and others. As Director of Animal Management for Dolphin Quest Oahu (2002-2004), Grey assisted several show productions with remote site filming including: Weekend Extra, The Bachelor and The Osbournes..
Grey appears weekly on Phoenix television (KTVK, KPHO CBS 5 and KSAZ FOX 10) to promote wildlife & wild places, positive reinforcement training and at times, Mother Nature’s wicked sense of humor. With more than 1000 segments so far, Grey has experience with live in-studio, live to tape, “talk backs” and taped packages. Over the years, producers have asked Grey to cook, SCUBA dive with sharks, fly a plane, test consumer products, practice yoga, even Bollywood dance on camera. He particularly enjoys the bimonthly live call-in segments on KTVK focused on offering viewers positive reinforcement-based pet training solutions for real world situations.
Growing up in the Midwest, Grey completed his undergraduate degree in physics before starting his zoological career as a marine mammal trainer at SeaWorld of Ohio. Over the next several years, he learned to train and present dolphins, killer whales, sea lions, walrus, and otters to thousands of spectators. Since then, he has studied, trained and cared for hundreds of other mammal, bird and reptile species from all over the globe. To bridge the gap between the behavioral and biological sciences, Grey completed his doctoral research, focused on energy use and thyroid function in two small species of New World primate, at Kent State University’s Department of Biological Sciences.
In his spare time, Grey presents positive reinforcement-based pet training seminars throughout the U.S. and Canada to clubs, corporations and professional conferences. In addition to contributions to regional and national magazines (most recently, September 2011 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal), Grey serves on the editorial board for two professional journals: Aquatic Mammals, published by the European Association for Aquatic Mammals and Soundings, published by the International Marine Animal Trainers Association (IMATA). He is a member of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums and IMATA.
