Durrell to launch two appeals
Saturday 23rd January 2010, 2:57PM GMT.
The trust’s chief executive, Paul Masterton
DURRELL are to launch two major appeals this year calling on the public to help them through their current funding crisis.
An emergency request for short-term funding is likely to be made to fund day-to-day costs, and an appeal will be made for help to pay for the building of a new visitor centre and improvements to the gorilla complex. It is hoped that the developments will increase visitor numbers.
This week the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust announced that due to a projected £1 million deficit this year, they have to make up to 14 staff redundant, and reduce their animal collection and the scale of their overseas conservation projects.
The trust’s chief executive, Paul Masterton, said that sadly, over the next week, they were having to make the final decisions about who would lose their jobs. He said that there was almost no likelihood that the wildlife park could close in the near future provided they took the action announced this week.
• Mr Masterton is the subject of the Saturday Interview in today’s Jersey Evening Post
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Who remembers when they talked about moving their management team to the UK and running Durrell as a conservation centre only – watch this space!!!
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Without sounding crass, and being an annual member of Durrell already I can’t help but feel that the lives of those in Haiti right now are more of a priority should anyone have funds burning a hole in their pocket.
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Instead of losing 14 keepers on £10-20,000 a year maybe they could cut the salaries and benefits of the senior management team and retain the front line staff?
It is a charitable trust dedicated to preserving biodiversity across the world so I think it is fair to assume that the senior staff are more dedicated to preserving the trust than saving their living standards!
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There was no suggestion that the 14 jobs would be taken from the keeping staff at this time, the reduction in the collection would have to happen first, otherwise it would compromise the welfare of the animals, something that would never be allowed to happen. It appears the redundancies have been taken from other areas of the trust so far.
Certainly the Trust has been hemorrhaging money for a long time, and the recession isn’t the cause, just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Jersey is too small to generate the footfall to cover the funds alone, and the death of Gerald Durrell meant that they lost their greatest fund raiser and ambassador, without whom, it appears, the Trust struggled to maintain their income. Businessmen at the head of the trust is fine, but it doesn’t replace the passion and dedication required to generate the interest/money to save “Little brown jobs”.
I have no doubt that the Trust will survive in one form or another, but I’ve had the feeling for some years that a zoo and conservation centre in Jersey just isn’t economically viable.
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@No 1 Outsider. The human species is not endangered.
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As the only real “constant” visitor attraction in Jersey should we not support the zoo and stop wasting money on the Battle of flowers.
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