DAVID Stanley Gill was born on May 26, 1961.
The former Dowdales School pupil started out keeping and breeding animals in his one-acre Dalton back garden, which featured kangaroos, pheasants, parrots, ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs and goats, to name a few.
He built South Lakes Wild Animal Park on converted farm land, with construction starting in November 1993.
It opened to the public on May 28, 1994, with 100 species of birds and animals, ranging from porcupines and racoons to exotic birds.
The transformation into what is now South Lakes Safari Zoo, with tigers, giraffes and baboons now among the animals residing at the Dalton attraction, has been enormous.
The 53-year-old, who has done lots for animal conservation, lives between Dalton and Sechura in Peru.
His storied life, which has not been without controversy was documented in his autobiography, Nine Lives.
The synopsis for the book says: "Nine Lives is such a roller-coaster ride that you might expect to find it in the fiction section of the book store.
"Yet every event here actually happened for real. These events would have killed lesser men but David S Gill is a survivor and he is still surviving to tell the tale - a tale you must read to believe."
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