Dave Salmoni (born September 4, 1975) is a Canadian
animal trainer
Animal training is the act of teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for purposes such as companionship, detection, protection, and entertainment. The type of training an animal receives will vary ...
,
entertainer and
television producer
A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon a ...
. He has his own production company, Triosphere, which is based in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
and specializes in
wildlife
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted f ...
films. Dave has dedicated his life to animal conservation.
Life and career
Personal life
Salmoni's mother, a competitive figure skating coach, and father, a chemical Scientist, fostered his love for the wild. Salmoni studied
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
at the
Laurentian University
Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...
in
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to:
Places Australia
* Sudbury Reef, Queensland
Canada
* Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes)
** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, and wrote his undergraduate thesis on tracking the
hibernation of Alaskan black bears. Also while in university, Salmoni was certified in Biological Immobilization of Wildlife and worked on an elk relocation project and at a pigdeer count station for the
Ministry of Natural Resources.
Salmoni is very private about his personal life. He married HGTV personality, Debra Salmoni, in 2015. They have two children, son Thomas (born 2015), and daughter Elizabeth (born 2017). They reside in Toronto, though David's production company is based in South Africa.
Animal training
In 1998, Salmoni began his apprenticeship as an animal trainer at
Bowmanville Zoological Park.
Salmoni left Canada for South Africa in 2000 as part of the controversial
Tiger "rewilding" project.
Salmoni was attacked by one of his trained big cats named Bongo, a five hundred pound male
African lion in August 1999 in Ontario, which inspired his making of ''After the Attack''.
Television
He has hosted and produced several television documentaries, including ''
Living with Tigers ''Living with Tigers'' is a 2003 documentary about tigers in Africa. It aired on Discovery.
The sequel to ''Living with Tigers'' is ''Tiger Man of Africa'' on the Discovery Channel.
Synopsis
This documentary features a Bengal tiger re-wilding p ...
'', which describes the progress he and
John Varty made as part of a controversial Bengal Tiger rewilding project, ''
Into the Lion's Den'' and ''Sharks: Are They Hunting Us?'', both for
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...
. He starred in the show ''
Animal Face-Off'' as a host and expert. He currently hosts and produces the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...
show ''
Rogue Nature
{{Infobox television
, image =
, image_alt =
, caption =
, genre =
, creator = Dave Salmoni
, based_on =
, developer =
, writer =
...
'', as well as ''After the Attack'' and ''Into the Pride''
on
Animal Planet
Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily d ...
.
Salmoni started production of a short series named ''Deadly Islands'' which premiered in 2014. This series consisted of Salmoni visiting some of the world's most remote islands where he would live side by side with some of the fiercest predators on the planet. During the short series he investigates how the inhabitants of these islands have lived so well and strived to survive despite of the very
harsh conditions. He visits places such as the famous Bear Island, Shark Island and Devil's Island, risking his own safety and even putting himself up as bait in one episode.
He also hosted ''
Expedition Impossible'', a
Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows ''The Apprentice'', ''Survivor'', The Voice (franchise), ' ...
show on
ABC in 2011.
TV Shows
Salmoni appears in the following TV shows: ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's l ...
'' (2014-2020), ''
Into the Lion's Den'' (2004), ''
Animal Face-Off'' (2004), ''Sharks: Are They Hunting Us?'' (2006), ''Shark Tribe'' (2007), ''
Rogue Nature
{{Infobox television
, image =
, image_alt =
, caption =
, genre =
, creator = Dave Salmoni
, based_on =
, developer =
, writer =
...
'' (2007), ''After the Attack'' (2008), ''Into the Pride'' (2009), ''
The Fran Drescher Show'' (2010), ''Savaged with Dave Salmoni'' (2010), ''
Expedition Impossible'' (2011), ''Great Animal Escapes'' (2011), ''Deadly Islands'' (2014), ''Brothers in Blood: The Lions of Sabi Sand'' (2015), ''Pet Nation Renovation'' (2016-2017), ''
Game of Homes'' (2016), and ''
The Wendy Williams Show'' (2018), ''Big, Small & Deadly'' (2019).
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmoni, Dave
1975 births
Canadian zoologists
Living people
People from Sarnia
Laurentian University alumni
Canadian television hosts
Canadian people of Sicilian descent