Michael Day was born on the west coast of Suffolk in 1953. Much of his childhood was spent exploring the woods and fields of his father's farm where he developed an early passion for wildlife and the natural world. He livid much of his adult life abroad and it was in 1990, while camping deep inside the rain forests of southern Thailand, that a chance encounter with a wild tiger convinced him to dedicate his time to saving the largest of the big cats from extinction. He founded The Tiger Trust with his wife Sophy two years later, and it rapidly established itself among the leaders in tiger conservation. But Michael Day is no ordinary conservationist; he has learnt the feildcraft of the spy and frequently disappears undercover into China, Taiwan and Russia to unearth the horrors of the illegal trade in wildlife. His dangerous operations have received worldwide media coverage since Yorkshire Television's award-winning documentary The Tigers of Thailand, which extensively featured his work, was shown in 1993. He has now returned to Suffolk and lives in a secluded country cottage with his wife and family.