In the second of a series of blogs looking at significant figures in the pet world; we turn the spotlight on Steve Leonard.
Steve Leonard, who was born on September 1972 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland is a TV personality and British veterinarian.
Career
Steve Leonard studied veterinary science at Bristol University Veterinary School. The BBC approached the college in the final year of his degree to film a group of final-year undergraduates. Originally seeing the concept as "a bit of a joke" and being able to appear on TV, he decided to take part in the filming. The series ‘Vet School’ was an enormous hit, and ‘Vets in Practice’ quickly came after it. He continued with Trude Mostue to present ‘Vets in the Wild’ from 2000 - 2002.
He left his full-time veterinary job and found himself travelling with the BBC Natural History Unit around the globe, filming for a show called 'Ultimate Killers'. He travelled to places as far away as Indonesia and India. Steve also went on to present ‘Extreme Animals’ and ‘Animal Camera’ in 2004, an intimate look at the animal kingdom through cutting-edge camera filming methods. More recently, in ‘Journey of Life’ and ‘Animal Journeys’, he explored the origins and evolution of life on Earth and animal migration.
Steve is currently working at the Leonard Brothers Veterinary Centre, along with his older sibling Tom Leonard in Whitchurch, Shropshire, and Crewe, Cheshire. Steve explained during the ‘Vets in Practice’ program shown in July 2008 that he had chosen to return to being a full-time veterinarian and to fit and filming obligations around his veterinary profession. He lately returned from Borneo where he filmed with co-presenter Michaela Strachan on the second series of ‘Orangutan Diary’.
Steve helped launch the soil and earthworm survey of the Open Air Laboratories Network (OPAL) at the Natural History Museum in March 2009; a scheme that aims to involve the public more in science and nature.
Leonard presented the ‘Animal Kingdom’ series on ITV. The show was broadcast in 2011 and lasted six episodes, filmed in the Erindi Game Reserve, Namibia.
In 2017 Steve received with Distinction his BSAVA Certificate in Small Animal Medicine.
What Steve is doing and what he has done for the industry is truly fantastic, and we hope it inspires a generation of vets and surgeries now and in the future.
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