Dr. Brooks was born and raised Pendleton, South Carolina. His early years were spent walking through the woods and searching out wildlife in the trees, brush, ponds, and streams wherever he went. As he got older, he spent more time caring for his own pets and those of his neighbors when they were away from home. His path in life was solidified when he spent the night at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC in the 5th grade. From there, he knew he was going to work in the zoo field someday.
In 1999, he started in the Animal Veterinary Science Undergrad Program at Clemson University. He later transferred to Animal Sciences program at Cornell University for his junior & senior years. By providence, the professors there helped guide him to an internship in the Fort Worth Zoo Nutritional Services Dept. This life changing experience in one of the few zoo nutrition labs in the country started him down the nutrition path he is on today. After graduation, he returned to the Fort Worth Zoo as a Nutrition Lab Technician. He spent a year in the lab and another year as a Nutritional Services keeper doing daily diet prep and delivery before leaving for a Masters program in Nutrition at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. His two years at A&M were spent studying lipid metabolism and marbling development in cattle and as a teaching assistant in all of the human nutrition courses. He then left for a 3-year PhD program at the University of Missouri-Columbia where he worked in protein and carbohydrate digestion in ruminants such as cattle and Mule deer, in collaboration with Mazuri Feeds and Washington State University. He rounded out his academic journey with a Post-doctoral position at North Carolina State University looking at bioavailability of trace minerals in poultry.
In 2012, Dr. Brooks was hired as their first Nutritionist for the Oregon Zoo. He spent his 7 years there building the program from a commissary to a Nutritional Services program. This included formulating diets, creating diet cards for the whole collection, drafting contracts and working directly with the zoo vendors, improving efficiencies in both budget and workflow, creating and collaborating on research projects, and working directly with the veterinary team on clinical cases.
In 2019, Dr. Brooks moved to the Indianapolis Zoo to be the Director of Nutritional Services. At Indy Zoo, He worked closely with the keepers and within the Animal Health team to improve the daily lives of the animals in their collection. In one year, he was able to reduce the animal food budget by over $80,000 through diet and vendor changes while still improving the nutritional health of the animals.
In 2021, he went into business for himself and started Animalis Nutrition Consulting, LLC to use his education and experience to continue to help improve the nutritional well-being of domestic and exotic animals everywhere.
