David Conrad Taylor, BVMS, FRCVS, FZS (11 February 1934 – 29 January 2013), was a British veterinary surgeon. He was the first veterinary surgeon to specialise in zoo and wildlife medicine. Taylor worked with zoo and wild animals from 1957, acting as a consultant on the treatment of some of the rarest species on Earth. He was world-renowned as an expert in marine mammal medicine. From 1968, he was the vet in charge of Cuddles, the first captive killer whale to be kept in the UK, at Flamingo Park, North Yorkshire. Life and career Taylor was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, and qualified at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine in 1956. He attended the inaugural meeting of the Federation of British Zoos in 1967 which was held at the Zoological Society of London. He was awarded the first RCVS Fellowship for a wild animal topic (diseases of primates) in 1968, and was recognised as an RCVS specialist in zoo and wildlife medicine, areas to which he made significant contributions. He was the first user of the dart gun in the UK and was the first vet in the country to trial and adopt the newer immobilising drugs for large animals. He was known for inventive and unusual treatments, on one occasion successfully treating a haemorrhaging killer whale by feeding it black puddings. Taylor worked for zoos across the world. These include Chester Zoo, London Zoo, Chessington Zoo, the now closed Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester, Flamingo Park Zoo in North Yorkshire, Windsor Safari Park, Parc Astérix near Paris, Marine Land, South of France and Madrid Zoo. He has also worked for some of the most famous circuses in the world. In 1976 he founded the International Zoo Veterinary Group (IZVG) with his partner Andrew Greenwood and the Dinnes Memorial Veterinary Centre in Santa Clarita, California. Today, the IZVG is one of the largest and best-known independent zoological veterinary practices in the world. In March 2008, Taylor retired from the International Zoo Veterinary Practice, though he still acted as a consultant and continued to be a prolific writer until his death. One by One In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, Taylor wrote a popular series of autobiographical books that charted his life and experiences as a "Zoo Vet". These books were adapted for Television in a drama series, One by One. The BBC made three series and 32