Meet The Team
Dr Annie Vera Hunnestad
Chairwoman and Trustee
Annie has a Masters in Environmental Chemistry and a PhD in Marine Biogeochemistry at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She first volunteered at the
Tiger Temple in 2010, and has since then spent time at the temple as both volunteer and staff. Her focus there was always on improving the welfare of animals in a vulnerable position, which she feels
is best done through direct action. She lived in Thailand fulltime between 2012 and 2016, and started surveying South East Asian zoos and animal venues with Tanya in this period. Annie also worked with stray cats in Thailand, providing vet care, housing and spaying/neutering to cats in the
local area.
Tanya Erzinclioglu
Founder and Director
From 2010, Tanya spent six years working at Tiger Temple, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. During this time she worked towards improvements in the tigers' welfare through implementing an enrichment programme, pushing for further enclosures to be built and working with the veterinary team to ensure proper health care was given. At the same time, she investigated other Thai facilities in order to get a full understanding of the welfare issues in the country.
Once the Temple closed she, and other ex-staff members and volunteers, proceeded to raise funds for the Temple tigers and thus the idea of For Tigers was born.
She holds an MSc in Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law from the University of Edinburgh.
Heather Morelli
Founder and US representative
Heather began volunteering at the Tiger Temple in Thailand in 2014 with the purpose of improving the lives of the animals living there. She has formerly worked as an educator of herpetofauna at Reptacular Animals in Los Angeles, California. She has also volunteered at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito caring for California sea lions for rescue and release and at the Wildlife Waystation in Los Angeles assisting with the care of primates, big cats and wild canids. She has an MSc in Wildlife, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health from the University of Edinburgh in effort to focus on the conservation of tigers in captive environments.
Dr Sharon Erzinclioglu
Treasurer and Trustee
Sharon studied Zoology at Bangor University in North Wales and then pursued a PhD in Animal Behaviour at Durham. She kept up her interest in the natural world, working part-time as a science copy editor for Cambridge University Press on various books and the journal Animal Conservation. Returning to full-time research she joined the Medical Research Council’s Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit (CBU) where she joined the Environment Group, serving as Chairman for the past 3 years. In addition to For Tigers, she is a volunteer for the Cambridge Mammal Group and the Wildlife Trust’s Ecology Group.
Chairwoman and Trustee
Chairwoman and Trustee
Secretary and Trustee
Secretary and Trustee
Treasurer and Trustee
Tomas Brown
Intern manager
Tomas has an interest in promoting ethical wildlife tourism and has volunteered in facilities across Europe and Asia. From 2015 until it’s closure, he was a volunteer at Tiger Temple, Kanchanaburi, Thailand predominately helping with the enrichment programmes on site. Since 2016 he, alongside ex-staff members and other ex-volunteers, began to raise funds for the Temple tigers.
Currently based in Liverpool, Tomas is studying a BSc in Wildlife Conservation alongside participating in volunteer work at local animal rescue centres.
Anna Fourage
Trustee
Anna lived in China from 2005 to 2016, where she co-founded the charity - People for Pets - in Shanghai that rescued and rehabilitated sick and injured street dogs and cats. In 2016 she moved to Thailand, where she recently became involved with the work at For Tigers as a Trustee. She completed an MSc at the University of Edinburgh in International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law and is currently a PhD candidate at Oxford Brookes University where she is studying welfare, conservation and wildlife trade issues at Thai wildlife tourist attractions.
Rajatanan Prapatsorn
Veterinary and health consultant
Rajatanan is a qualified veterinary medical professional, completing a 6-year program in Veterinary Medicine at Chiang Mai University in 2010. During that time she also assisted a veterinarian working in the Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM), and volunteered at WARF’s Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in Phuket. For eight years she worked as a veterinary practitioner at various Thai facilities, specializing in captive wildlife welfare, preventive medicine and wildlife health management, with a recent focus on tigers. Currently, she is studying a Masters in Biodiversity at the National Taiwan University.
Tunya Chinpilas
Communications manager
Tunya is an Illustration graduate turned Zoology student with a passion for tiger behaviour and welfare. Whilst at her first university, Tunya published 'Seeing Red', a non-profit publication project discussing the relationship between perception and zoo design. Between 2016-2019, Tunya volunteered at Safari World Bangkok as a zookeeper and Animal Care Officer, curating the zoo's first exhibit design syllabus alongside initiating the application of animal behaviour knowledge in everyday husbandry procedures. During her integrated placement year in Thailand, Tunya interned at Khao Kheow Open Zoo as part of the research & enrichment department, studying the effects of enrichment on the resident Bengal Tiger.
Chatraporn Thamthong
Volunteer
Chatraporn worked at the Tiger Temple, Kanchanaburi, Thailand from 2009 until it closed in 2016. She was instrumental in getting enclosures for the tigers built enabling them to have outside access, many for the first time, and thus improving their welfare. Working with Tanya she implemented an enrichment programme to further improve tiger welfare within the facility. She also worked with the veterinary team to ensure good health care was provided. Since the Temple’s closure, she has continued her work to help the Temple tigers and is key to liaising with the Department of National Parks for all the tiger-related projects For Tigers does within their facilities.
Candice Restrick
Volunteer
Candice first began volunteering internationally in 2010. Working with children and animals she realized her passion for helping those in need. After years volunteering at the Tiger Temple and numerous other sanctuaries around the world, she created Volunteer Truth, an information site based on volunteering. Her Internships and years of animal skills landed her a management role at an animal sanctuary in Ecuador, revamping the enclosures, diets, enrichment and all things that improved the lives of over 300 animals. She has worked on various conservation projects and a few documentaries as well as local volunteer work in Vancouver, Canada. She is currently working one on one with reactive dogs.
Jenna Buchanan
Volunteer
Jenna qualified with honours from her Animal Biology degree at Edinburgh Napier University. She first volunteered at the Tiger Temple ni 2015 and returned regularly on a yearly basis throughout her continuing studies. Whilst at the Tiger Temple, she found a passion for the education and implementation of community-based welfare improvement. She hopes to continue this passion in order to improve both local and international knowledge of captive tiger welfare both across Asia and on a global basis.