after leaving the natal parks board, he set up southern africa's largest private crocodile farm, crocworld, near scottburgh on the south coast of kwazulu-natal, which combined commercial farming with education. thereafter he worked as a wildlife consultant and lectured at the mangosuthu technikon. as a consultant, pooley worked with numerous film crews from the us, uk, france, germany, south africa and elsewhere, including the bbc natural history unit and the discovery channel. these programmes and films included special features on crocodiles, a film on the interaction of humans and vervet monkeys, and documentaries on conservation issues. his last film for the bbc was "missing - presumed eaten", documenting his successful defence of the reputation of the nile crocodile against a life-insurance scam. he also made and published records of wildlife sounds, and an album of thonga music.