FIVE months after Mr Bernard Harrison quit Singapore Zoo, his life still revolves around animals.

So much so that the former zoo chief is looking somewhat like Tarzan, king of the jungle, himself.

He used to keep his hairdo above the collar and only wear earrings at the weekend. Now, he lets his hair down.

Untameable hair, streaked with resplendent grey, tumbles over his face and shoulders. A silver loop earring dangles from his left earlobe.

Corporate days behind him, the first thing he did was 'put on an earring and let my hair grow'.

'I want to look like a pirate,' declares the 51-year-old who is growing a ponytail.

Certainly he has the liberty to dress and behave the way he likes.

He has always been known for his buccaneer ways - even when he was the chief executive officer of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), which runs the Zoo, Night Safari and BirdPark. It has an annual turnover of $60 million and an 800-strong workforce.

Mr Harrison was always out for action.

He preferred meeting his zookeepers and animals, rather than staying cooped up in his air-conditioned office.

Two months after his headline-grabbing resignation, he started a one-man zoology consultancy company called Bernard Harrison & Friends, which specialises in zoo design, planning and operations.

'I'm surviving,' he says. 'I've got good contacts and most people think of me when they want to set up a zoo.'

Just last week, he was in Thailand helping to set up a night safari in the northern town of Chiangmai. He has another 15 potential projects in countries such as Sri Lanka and India.

Ironically, Singapore Zoo has not sought his help, even though he was made its honorary consultant.

He now works from his home, a bungalow in Upper Thomson painted in a riot of red, yellow and orange hues.

His dogs, Ah Beng and Brandy, an Alaskan malamute and a Siberian husky, run freely in the compound. On the walls are framed-up pictures of himself taken with animals over the years.

In fact, with its array of ginger, starfruit, jambu, mango, rambutan and banana trees, his home looks like it could play host to a mini-zoo.

But does he miss the real zoo, where he spent 29 years of his life and which he has not visited since he left?

'I miss it, especially the morning walks listening to the gibbons calling,' he recalls.

He says he has been too busy to visit the zoo.

As of now, he has yet to 'speak a single word' to his former boss, Dr Kwa Soon Bee, the chairman of WRS, said to be a 'top-down' leader who relies on standard operating procedures.

Admitting that they had 'a lot of differences', he says Dr Kwa 'wanted total central control' and had 'an old-school way of doing things'.

Mr Harrison, however, preferred 'management by exception' - his staff members were left to do what they wanted without reporting to him.

When he left, about 15 other staff members - many in senior positions - followed suit.

Till today, many refused to speak on record, but one said: 'So many of us were inspired by Mr Harrison. He trained and inspired us. It's a great loss.'

Mr Harrison's position was filled two months ago by Mr Asad Shiraz, a former senior tourism marketing director at the Singapore Tourism Board.

The new CEO credits his predecessor for his mark which 'is evident across Singapore Zoo - from the animal collection to the exhibit designs'.

These days, Mr Harrison is making his mark elsewhere.

Abroad for two weeks every month, he zips from Thailand to Mexico, liaising with clients and attending conferences.

When he is back home, 'it's a completely different routine', he says. 'I can get up and do nothing.'

That leaves more time to spend with his girlfriend, Ms Tina Lim, 40, a training consultant on presentation skills, and her two children aged 14 and 10, who live with him.

He also keeps in contact with his two children from a previous marriage, Sean, 13, and Sharda, 15. They live with their mother Madam Nazli Anwari, 47, a trained horticulturalist.

These days he values the time he has with his children, who are spending the school vacation at his home.

In fact, Sean went along to Kuala Lumpur with his dad on a business trip last Friday.

Mr Harrison plans to laze around the hotel pool with his son, talking about life, family and animals - the same way his father, British zoologist John Leonard Harrison, bonded with him when he was a kid.

Besides writing two books - one on poetry and the other on cooking - Mr Harrison has also found a niche giving talks on leadership skills to corporations.

He charges $5,000 for each session he conducts overseas and $3,000 here.

He becomes animated as he offers his pet theory on why humans do not like autocrats.

Naturally, it all goes back to animals.

'A lot of it is based on animal behaviour. Among early man and existing bush tribes, the system in place was consultative, not autocratic.

'Now, we live in an autocratic system. Although we live with it, we don't like being told what to do.'

Just like the man himself who follows his own heart and instinct.