Island Life Magazine Ltd February / March 2016 | Page 12

INTERVIEW

Animal
magnetism
Some of her earliest playmates were tiger cubs - so it’s no wonder that these
big cats continue to exert a powerful influence on Charlotte Corney’s life.
In fact, it was a tiger that led her to ditch her plans for university, and
ultimately to take on the heavy mantle of Director at the Isle of Wight Zoo
at the age of just 26. Here, she talks to Jackie McCarrick about her unusual
childhood, her passion for animals - and her vision for the Zoo.

images:
Far right: Charlotte with female
tiger Aysha
Right: A young Charlotte with a
tiger cub

FACT:
It has been estimated that all
the last remaining subspecies
of tigers could become extinct
in the wild in as little as 15
years…
We have lost 97% of the
wild tiger population in the
last century, and numbers
continue to get lower.

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C

harlotte was just three months old
when her late father Jack Corney took
what many would have viewed as a
crazy decision: to uproot his young family
from Manchester and decamp to the Isle of
Wight, after buying a neglected old zoo at
Sandown.
Construction engineer and long-time
animal lover Jack had the idea of running the
zoo as a hobby – but it didn’t quite work out
that way, as he quickly discovered the reality
of what he had taken on. In fact, the zoo
had become so run-down that many of the
animals were diseased or had behavioural
problems, and had to be put to sleep.
Says Charlotte: “The last thing on my mum’s
agenda, with two very young children (older
sister Emma was aged two) was a dilapidated
zoo on the Isle of Wight, but my dad had
always had a fierce interest in the natural
world and nature, and she was amazingly
supportive of him”.
In fact Charlotte describes her mum
Judith, who is now enjoying a well-earned
retirement from the zoo, as “The most
patient and tolerant individual I know”.
Whilst bringing up a baby and toddler,

Judith also found herself with the job of
raising tiger cubs, after Jack began restocking with animals from other zoos.
“In our heyday we had 22 tigers and 28 big
cats in total, because my dad could never
quite say ‘no’” recalls Charlotte.
All of which led to a childhood that was
bound to be - as Charlotte now describes it
- “pretty eccentric”.