Tim Husband has lived an amazing life, surrounded by animals and filled with authenticity and depth. After being banished at age 14 from his religious community, he is compassionately embraced by the crew at ‘Stagland’, a local New Zealand zoo. He’s given a place to stay and a job caring for the animals. After connecting with the lemurs and observing their interactions, he successfully renovates their enclosure. Hopelessness and resignation are replaced with vitality, life force, and improved wellbeing – for both the author and lemurs alike.
What follows is an incredibly personal, raw, and insightful recount of a life outlined by personal trauma and injury, animal dung, work and personal politics, love, anger, grief and gratitude. Husband grows from strength to strength. His various zookeeper roles see him improving the lives of animals in wildlife parks across the globe.
He regularly pauses and observes his angry or traumatised emotional state with self-compassion – much like his connected observations with lemurs, chimps and other animals. My favourite metaphors include those of the humble dung beetle using the stars for navigation, the resonance between the author and the recovering animals in his care, and the human species is a loudmouth kid with sycophantic mates who are not bothered to listen to quieter conversations.
When Life Gives You Lemurs amplifies a profound message of empathy, resilience, belonging, connection, communication and compassion.
Reviewed by Mark Parry
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Husband is a highly experienced Captive Wild Animal Manager and Zoo Consultant. With over 40 years’ experience, Tim’s innovations include improving animal care practises, exhibit design, animal acquisitions, staff motivation and public presentation. He is well respected as a teacher, an ardent supporter of animal keepers and most of all, as a devoted advocate for the conservation of wild animals.
Deborah Kane has written scripts for children’s television and short films as well as plays for theatre. She has worked for the communications director for the Australian Human Rights Commision.
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