Meet the Staff

Stephen Rowlands: Director / Presenter

Stephen trained as a Herpetologist, following 3 years of Animal care National diplomas throughout college, from which he obtained:

OCR Level 2 – Foundation in Herpetology (general care & husbandry of all reptiles) – Distinction.

OCR Level 3 – Advanced certificate in Herpetology- Distinction.

As a young boy, Stephen kept snakes and Tarantulas but also grew up with more domestic pets such as dogs, who were all called Ike. Leaving his home in Wales, Stephen started his career as a volunteer at a Birmingham Reptile Sanctuary and worked predominantly with reptiles from Snakes to Alligators. Stephen was in charge of Education and started doing talks for schools on behalf of the Sanctuary. As he got more involved with these talks, his interest in other exotic animals outside the reptile world grew. He was asked to take in an Orange winged Amazon Parrot and from that point, his collection and love of exotics has grown.

Glenn Arscott: Education Officer / Presenter

From a young age Glenn was interested in wildlife and had his first pet at the age of 10 years.

That was the key stone for where he is today.Glenn started his path working with exotic mammals with a reptile rescue centre where he volunteered full time to look after sick and unwanted reptiles, He later became a supervisor and head keeper of the reptiles for the centre where he also worked with many animals like Large snakes, lizards, crocodiles, Emus and monkeys .

He moved to Denmark, Western Australia for a short time, where he worked as a keeper for Reptiles and Amphibians in a Fauna ParK.

Glenn would teach young Australian children the importance of snake bite first aid which he would do public demonstrations at the zoo. Whilst at the zoo he would get regular phone calls to rescue venomous snakes from peoples home's and release them back in to the bush. For two months Glenn lived in one of the world's oldest jungles the Daintree rainforest where he photographed and studied the local wildlife which includes snakes, parrots, fruit bats and the mighty saltwater crocodile. During his free time in Australia he enjoyed white water rafting, Scuba diving and he photographed and swam with great white sharks in south Australia. Glenn returned to the U.K and joined Tropical inc. He now works full time with us and has had great success working with schools, colleges, universities and adults with learning difficulties.

Micaela Perry: Education Officer / Presenter

I have always been fascinated by animals. When I was young my favourite TV show was 'The Really Wild Show' and any programmes with David Attenborough.

I always knew I wanted to work with animals but I never thought I would be lucky enough to work somewhere like Tropical Inc.

My favourite subject at school was science so I chose to study triple science for my GCSE's, I left school after gaining my GCSE's and decided to take science further and studied AVCE science and also 'A' level English at college.


I always wanted to go to university and spent weeks looking at different universities and courses trying to find something I wanted to do, I eventually found courses in zoology I would like to study.

I passed my AVCE and 'A' level and was offered a place at the University of Derby to study zoology. I then decided to take year out before starting university so I could earn some money, then at university I found it amazing study in depth animal behavior, vertebrate and invertebrate biology and aquatic biology.

Towards the end of my third year I started to look for jobs in zoology, then one day I saw Tropical Inc on the Alan Titchmarsh show. I looked their website up and found they were based not too far from where I lived. I contacted them and soon joined them as a volunteer, when I qualified as a zoologist I was offered a full time position.

Since joining them I have been all over the country doing shows which I really enjoy, the animals I enjoy taking to shows are Skunks and Meerkats. I have recently taken a baby hand-reared Meerkat home to look after and I have named him Alfie, but my favourite animals are big cats and hopefully I will get the chance to work with them here at Tropical Inc one day.

Katie Woodroffe: Education Officer / Presenter

I've lived around animals all my life, and have never been without pets.

Whether it was dogs, snakes, rats, scorpions, horses, I couldn't imagine life without animals.

After doing many hours of voluntary work at my local vets when I was 14, I knew right then that a job with animals was what I wanted to aim for.

I left school in 2006 with 3 'A' levels and took a year out to decide where I wanted to head next, whether to start work straight away or go to university and study in a specialist subject. I chose the latter and started at the University of Derby in 2007 studying for a BSc Hons degree in Zoology.

After three years of in depth study into many areas such as Biology, Genetics, Animal Behaviour and Conservation I successfully graduated with a 2:1 and was extremely lucky to find a position as an Education Officer at Tropical Inc.
I thoroughly believe that education is an important part to conserving our worlds biodiversity and that present efforts of conservation biology can, in turn, be used for the education of future generations.

Kelly Shambly: Office Administrator

I have always been interested in animals from a young age and was lucky enough to have a variety of Pets including Dogs, Rabbits, Hamsters and Tropical Fish, but my favourite animals have to be my Marmoset Monkeys.

While at school, I was not sure what I would like to do when I left but not thinking or expecting to work with animals. I left School having passed 10 GCSE's and went onto work part time at a Body shop, until I found a full time job working as a Trainee Recruitment Consultant/Receptionist.

After 2 years of gaining office experience I was offered a position to work as Secretary / Receptionist here at Tropical Inc which means I can use my skills I was trained for, plus I am now also working and helping with the Animals. My Job at Tropical Inc includes managing all office duties, answering the phone and dealing with the many Email enquiries we have, but also look after some of the animals, cleaning and feeding them. When required I also attend displays and large events. I find my job challenging but highly rewarding and have had experiences that I know I would never have had from any other Job.