From Jamie Barker.
JUDGING by the reaction to my letter (JEP, 21 January) it seems I was incorrect in my suggestion that the Zoo – sorry, the Wildlife Conservation Trust – was an expensive and boring place to visit.

That would explain why it’s doing so well. That was sarcasm. It’s not doing well, because it’s an expensive and boring place to visit, in many people’s eyes at any rate.

As I said, we are all very proud of Durrell and the fantastic work it does, but the fact is, and try as you might, you can’t ‘guilt’ people into going somewhere they don’t want to go.

That’s why the, ‘shame people only visit when it’s free’ spiel won’t work. I mean, that’s the reverse psychology you use on children to get them to eat horrible food.
It’s not about money. It’s about a visitor attraction without enough visitors or attractions, or perhaps they don’t want visitors any more so they can concentrate on conservation?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful that some people, like some angrier readers, seem to love visiting the place as it is, but the fact is there are more who don’t. And it’s all very well burying your head in the sand like one of those big bird things and saying the problem is with the people too mean to pay to visit. How does that help anybody?

You can’t blame people who don’t want to visit your establishment for the lack of visitors. Better, surely, to ask why do we not want to visit the place, even though we’re all rolling in money and at a loss for things to do at the weekend? I’ll give you a clue – we’re not visiting Durrell because it’s so very awesome and wonderful value for money, and it’s not because we want to see animals become extinct.

I love all animals (except for our cat) and, again, we’re proud of what they do, but why can’t we call it a zoo any more? Short for zoological park? Because they rebranded it? We would all love to visit it more, which in turn would help save endangered species and, like it or not, the best way to get us there is with awesome animals such as hippos or chimps, not with those things that are basically just horses.

To end on a positive note, I must just ‘big up’ the meerkats. Those little guys are totally awesome, they’re a step in the right direction. A few more exciting animals like that and I’ll be ripping the gates off the place to get in.