Meet the inspirational conservationist at Knowsley Safari

Merseyside is home to so many fantastic women, who are breaking gender stereotypes and achieving remarkable things.

Transcript

00:00International Women's Day is a chance to inspire all women to believe in themselves and their

00:08own ability. One inspirational woman I'm meeting today is proof that it's never too late to

00:12make a change.

00:13It was after my year in Australia that I kind of made the decision at the end before I came

00:17home that I'm going to come home and the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to apply

00:21for a zoology undergraduate degree. I studied psychology with clinical and health psychology

00:26I knew by that point that it wasn't what I wanted to do so I left and I became a preschool

00:31teacher and from that I actually got to go and spend a year abroad in Australia being

00:35a private nanny. I got to go see David Attenborough do a talk at Sydney Theatre and that was really

00:43the turning point. I think my face ached for about three days after that from just sitting

00:47there grinning the whole time.

00:49As well as Sir David Attenborough, Sophie says there's a few women who've inspired her

00:55in her life.

00:56There's a lady called Rosalind Franklin who was a scientist back in the 1950s working

01:00at King's College London. She worked in x-ray crystallography and she really should get

01:05more credit for helping discover the double helix structure DNA. Daphne Sheldrick, she

01:09worked in Kenya and she set up the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and then lastly, it's a bit

01:17cheesy but it's my mum. She is probably one of the loveliest people I know and I know

01:21we're all biased when we say our mums are lovely but I'm especially proud of her at

01:26the moment because this month she will retire from 45 years working as an NHS physio.

01:31After graduating with a first class honours degree in zoology, she obtained a Masters

01:35of Science in wild animal biology going on to work as a cryopreservation biologist and

01:41charity coordinator before coming to Knowsley.

01:45Knowsley Safari is home to over 700 animals from lions and tigers to rhinos, meerkats

01:50and giraffes. First opened in 1971, the safari drive now covers around 550 acres.

01:57I get to do a lot here and I think the most fulfilling part is just how many different

02:03conservation projects and kind of topics I get to contribute to on a daily basis.

02:09Working with local and international conservation partners who help protect species all over

02:14the world. Last September Sophie travelled to South Africa to gain more knowledge about

02:19vultures.

02:20All the sort of exotic international stuff is really exciting but I also love what we

02:24do in our own backyard here, not just at the safari but around Merseyside.

02:29Closer to home, Sophie has been working with Green Sefton and Hightown Beach Clean to help

02:34species local to the Sefton coast including Natterjack toads and the sand lizard.

02:39Sophie's also been working with local schools on projects to create wildlife gardens on

02:43their grounds aimed at promoting biodiversity of local species and helping to factor this

02:48into their lessons and curriculum.

02:51It feels like a really nice full circle moment. It feels really nice sort of helping connect

02:56the next generation to nature.