This is a conservation trust, not a petting zoo

Monday 25th January 2010, 2:59PM GMT.

From Luke Small.
I READ Mr Barker’s letter (JEP, 21 January) with absolute abhorrence. In fact I had to read it twice in order to reinforce my disbelief as to what I had just read.

Durrell Wildlife may be ‘boring’ to Mr Barker, but clearly he hasn’t grasped the actual mission for which Durrell exists. Frankly, it’s an insult to the legacy of Gerald Durrell and the organisation today.

Durrell Wildlife is a conservation trust and it is this key fact I think Mr Barker may have omitted from his letter or indeed ‘idea’. The organisation clearly has no agenda which includes the likes of ‘petting farms’ when it is working towards saving animals around the world from extinction.

Mr Barker has also omitted that the true cost of visiting Durrell for a named person and any guest, 364 days a year, is just £5.42 a month. Such a sum requires no budgeting plan nor capital expenses programme.

Fundamentally, Durrell has the admiration of Islanders and people from all corners of the globe, not because of its new feature penguins (I hope Mr Barker is using sarcasm when proposing such an idea) but because it has changed the world we live in and achieved amazing globally pioneering results in its captive breeding programmes.

Perhaps next time Mr Barker will read the information displayed around the park in the course of his visit. He seems to have missed the point so to speak.

Well done to those who are members of Durrell. Luckily that means a lot of animals we see now we’ll still be able to see in the future, as will our children.

1
JULIE

January 25, 2010 at 3:22 pm

Luke Small- I agree with you totally.And I wish I had a pound for every time someone has referred to Durrell as a “zoo” on the comment section for the original story!

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2
Luke

January 25, 2010 at 4:43 pm

Thanks Julie… I’ll second that motion!

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3
Carl

January 25, 2010 at 4:55 pm

It started off as the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust and they objected to being called a zoo.

Then they eventually changed the name to Jersey Zoo!

And then they changed it yet again, to Durrell, but we all know it’s a zoo

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4
Bob

January 25, 2010 at 5:08 pm

It is what it is.

Right now whatever it is it is losing money due to poor management – so like everyone else it needs to change.

Cant it be both – a zoo and a conservation trust? There is money in people visiting proper zoos! Visitors want a zoo, not dozens of acres of seemingly empty cages.

Get some elephants, lions and zebras, reduce entry fees, give the locals something to come back for!

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5
Luke

January 25, 2010 at 7:57 pm

Bob,

I get the sense perhaps you haven’t read my letter at all?

Luke

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6
Tony B

January 25, 2010 at 8:32 pm

Back in the days when schools used quill pens. Gerald Durrell’s books were part of the set book curriculum, and enchanting I found them. I forget which one exacataly. but Durrell always made clear that the London Zoo at the time was an anthama to him. His zoo would put the animals first. Jeremy Mallison, for many years a director at the zoo said to me once, after allowing me the great privilige of going in with the Prezwalski horses ‘Any animal will survive at the will of man’. It was a sobering thought to a young man fresh from Agricultural College.

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7
Gabriel Grub

January 26, 2010 at 1:42 pm

I agree entirely Luke – thanks for your response.

I’ve been a member of Durrell most of the time for the last 30 years and I’ve never been bored with a visit yet – it saddens me that some people need the animals to be ‘doing something’ in order to appreciate them.

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8
JULIE

January 26, 2010 at 6:44 pm

Bob (comment 4)Is your last sentence serious?Some time ago I was lucky enough to visit Africa and see a herd of elephants walk past us within a few feet of our jeep.In spite of their size they were silent and the matriarch glanced sideways at us as if to let us know she was the boss as she led them all past.It was a stunning sight and one of my best memories.The thought of an elephant in an enclosure in Jersey is ridiculous and cruel.

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9
Hf

January 28, 2010 at 4:42 pm

It’s nice to see that freedom of speech lives. So what if this guy thinks the zoo {or whatever it calls itself these days) is boring? We are all entitled to an opinion and if he found it boring, he found it boring. End of.

I expect I will be heckled now for daring to say this!

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10
Monica Szelremy

January 28, 2010 at 6:20 pm

I always read letters twice as well. It saves me making a mistake. I said it saves me making a mistake. I read Mr Barker’s letter more than twice in fact and found it thoroughly entertaining. I am rather afraid that I could identify with much of what he said as well. We went to “Durrell” a while ago and enjoyed the scenic gardens. It was like visiting a manor house, which is an innocuous and peaceful pursuit. It does seem pricey though and it is hardly surprising really that many people went there on the free open day. Clearly, the place is worth a look but the entry fee must deter most people. One cannot doubt the good works but a balance has to be struck if one is running an attraction with a view to attracting the paying public. One thinks that this organisation has to decide what it really wants to be. Mr Barker’s comments, although effectively shouted down by a vocal minority, do provide a pointer and, like any feedback, should be taken in a positive and constructive light.

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