Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust | Home Our work... About Durrell 'Durrell' is an international charity dedicated to 'Saving Species From Extinction'. Founded by author and naturalist Gerald Durrell, we've been saving some of the world's most endangered animals for over half a century. Through our Wildlife Park in Jersey, conservation academies in Mauritius and Jersey, and 45 field projects worldwide, our unique approach tackles conservation from all angles. Durrell animal adoptions feed directly into our vital conservation work, so in supporting your favourite animal, you also know that you are joining us in our mission of saving species from extinction. Thank you! Close Our site uses cookies to give you the best experience.

If you continue browsing, we'll assume that's ok Accept Read More Durrell (Jersey) Welcome to The Good Zoo Guide Online (goodzoos.com), the essential guide to the best zoos, wildlife parks and animal collections on the planet Now more than 200 Pages of Zoo Reviews and discussion - and growing with the help of Internet Zoo Critics from all around the world And while you're here - check out our world famous 'Zoo Noticeboard' Can you help zoos and animal lovers from around the world with their zoo enquiries? Durrell (Jersey) Five miles north of St Helier, well signposted Open: This critique last updated: Nov 2010 Visitor Reviews Review by David Lomas: October 2010 The Durrell Wildlife Park is easily accessible by Jersey’s bus services, and as a consequence features on the itinerary of many visitors to the island. Named after its founder, author, naturalist and conservationist Gerald Durrell; this zoo has a heritage that’s distinctive from most others. Initially, Jersey Zoo had a collection much like any other, but after five years it declared that it would concentrate on the conservation of endangered species.

Today the wildlife Park is simply called “Durrell”. On entry to the grounds you meet a naturalistic enclosure for Andean Bears who share their space with Howler Monkeys, Coatis and according to the signage (I didn’t see them) Asian Short Clawed Otters - and if Durrell can be zoo-geographically inconsistent, it surely permissible for other zoos to be so too. The ‘Jewels of the Forest’ is a densely planted walk-through aviary with bird song acting as direction finders for the colourful birds within. I particularly liked the Reptile House with its large floor to ceiling vivaria that’s viewed in daylight. One of the stand-out experiences are the family of Lowland Gorillas who have a large and varied outdoor enclosure where they can observe you observing them. These gentle giants are truly magnificent and convey a conservation message in themselves. A little bit further on are the endangered Sumatran Orangutans and White Handed Gibbons look down on you from on high as they hang on ropes and clamber on tall poles. In keeping with Durrell’s mission, there are a significant number of birds and smaller primates and mammals contributing to conservation programmes.

Aye-Ayes and Giant Cane Rats are accommodated in buildings close to the Les Augres Manor. These nocturnal animals were very active, living as they do in their day/night reversal habitats. The ‘Desert Discovery’ enclosures holding Slender Tailed Meerkats, Yellow Mongooses and Crested Porcupines is a more varied and interesting environment for visitors and probably Meerkats that you’ll find in a UK zoo. Today, the Durrell collection is less distinctive than it once was due to its conservation remit being widely adopted and imitated by other zoos. That said, the Durrell continues to innovate and develop its collection and their presentation but mostly its conservation message that they continue to pursue with vigour. GoodZoos.com Reviews No other zoo has a reputation quite like Jersey Zoo. In the zoo world it stands almost alone. Visitors from all around the world, who might never think to visit Alderney or Skye or the Isle of Wight, make a special pilgrimage to this little Channel Island just to drive from one corner to the other and visit a modest manor estate whose name has almost become a synonym for the conservation in zoos: 'The Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust'.

No other zoo devotes such a high proportion of its resources towards conservation projects overseas; no other zoo in the world (it would seem a fair guess) attracts such a high proportion of its visitors from other countries; and no other zoo has a character quite so eminent as Gerald Durrell as director. It might so easily have been 'Bournemouth Zoo' or 'Poole Zoo'. Those were the first two places that Gerald Durrell tried when he decided that the time had come, in 1956, to start his own zoological collection. Durrell was himself a former zookeeper. He worked as a student at Whipsnade with a wide variety of animals, and in 1947 he set off for the British Cameroons, on a privately financed six month trip to collect animals for British zoos — angwantibos for London, guenons for Chester, mongooses and drills for Paignton, and a treasure hoard of other creatures for Manchester and Bristol. The journey, the first of many, was a turning point in Durrell’s life. For a start it embarked him upon a literary career — his book.

‘The Overloaded Ark’, chronicled the trials and tribulations the of trip; but more importantly, some would say, the journey to the Cameroons began what he would later describe as ‘an ever growing sense of disquiet’. He began to grow unhappy about the attitude of zoos towards their animals — as essentially disposable and replaceable commodities. He grew impatient with what he saw as hopeless ignorance of wildlife among zoo owners and directors, and he began to develop a concern for what he described as ‘the low ebb species’, animals that mankind had a duty to sustain as a precaution against their disappearance in the wild. The only resolution to the unease was to start his own zoo; but it would be a different zoo. In 1956 it was difficult, almost impossible, to get anyone to believe that a zoo could have a serious purpose beyond mere entertainment. Durrell believed that it was possible. Bournemouth and Poole resisted his approaches, but their loss was Jersey’s gain.

Armed with a £25,000 loan from his publishers, Durrell flew to Jersey in 1959, and rented the fifteenth century Les Augres Manor and its surrounding twenty acres with an option to buy if his venture succeeded. The early days were a hand-to-mouth existence. Durrell wrote furiously to maintain a steady income from his books to support the fledgling collection; and then at last, what began as a fairly traditional resort zoo began to take on a unique new identity. Jersey’s conservation work had begun. At the entrance to the zoo stands a pottery model of a dodo. It has become Jersey Zoo’s symbol, and its stark warning of extinction is an everyday concern within the park.

The list of the zoo’s occupants reads like a roll call of creatures whose futures hang literally in the balance: animals like the parma wallaby which was thought for many years to be extinct until a small group was found on the Island of Kawau; the Rodrigues fruit bat which may number fewer than a hundred wild individuals; the bald (or ‘waldrapp’) ibis now restricted to only two perilous breeding sites: Edward’s pheasant and white-eared pheasant whose wild populations are quite unknown. These and many other creatures, familiar and unfamiliar, may owe their very existence to the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust; and what the trust does (if only every other zoo would copy them) is to seek to provide holistic support for every species that it cares for. So it is that Jersey has managed or been involved with such a list of projects that it would take a booklet to cover them all. They have cooperated in releasing golden lion tamarins back into the wild in Brazil, have repatriated literally dozens of hutias to Jamaica, have reared and released nearly extinct native kestrels and pink pigeons in Mauritius. and thick billed parrots into Arizona, where they had been considered extinct for fifty years.

They have cooperated with the Indonesian government in an attempt to save the white Bali starling, with the Philippines government to save the Palawan pheasant, with the government of St Lucia to save the St Lucia parrot, with the government of Madagascar to provide lemur breeding facilities at Parc Tsimbazaza, and with the United States National Zoo in Washington to breed Goeldi’s monkeys (over sixty have been born here). The US National Wildlife Service decided the black-footed ferret was extinct, but when one turned up alive the trust became involved and a few wild ferrets were found with financial help from the Trust, and bought into captivity in Wyoming where they are now breeding. Recent projects involve the volcano rabbit (a creature found only on the slopes of four Mexican volcanos), and the hog-like tusked babirusa from Sulawesi and Tonga. And one highly imaginative project involves the little Mauritian island, Round Island, whose native fauna and flora was practically eradicated by introduced rabbits and goats. Durrell and his team have helped to manage a showcase rescue of the island. The offending mammals have been removed, the vegetation is regenerating, and three Round Island reptiles, a skink.

a gecko, and a boa (probably the rarest snake in the world) are breeding well at Jersey Zoo. Most zoos offer up the palliative that their animals are being bred for reintroduction into the wild. Jersey Zoo has proved that with dedication it can be done. It is not a large zoo. At only twenty-two acres it is one of the smallest zoos in this guide. Space has never been one of Durrell’s primary concerns; indeed in ‘The Stationary Ark’ he roundly refutes the zoogoer’s demands for more space for animals, which he claims they do not need. The outcome is an unusual collection of some of the world’s rarest animals, with many in rather unnoteworthy enclosures. The impression at Jersey is of tidy, park-like grounds, with grassy open spaces, neat pathways, well tended shrubberies, and a swampy valley that snakes into the park and provides a home for the splendid colonies of water fowl and rare cranes. The manor house is a beautiful example of French-style Jersey architecture. Its oldest parts date back to the fourteenth century, and the rough granite outbuildings and kitchen gardens are now an integral part of the new zoo.

Probably Jersey’s most celebrated residents are the gorillas. Gorillas have a long association with the zoo, and the new ‘gorilla breeding centre’, opened in 1981, is astounding. It consists of glass-fronted indoor dens with plenty of space, leading outside to a rolling grassy field. The field is landscaped with a shallow pool, sand pit, climbing trees, nets and ropes. Much of the grass is left to grow long and provides an excellent foraging area. The whole enclosure is surrounded by a high wall overlooked by visitors. The dominant male of this group is a huge silver-backed gorilla named Jambo, himself captive born and parent reared, and he is now the father of numerous young gorillas, and has proved to be an excellent parent. There are nine gorillas at the time of writing, but the zoo has been unselfish in sending its gorilla offspring far afield where they are needed. Seven of the twelve gorillas reared at Jersey are away on breeding loans. Alongside this enclosure is a gorilla walk’ that mirrors the climbing facilities within, allowing children to exercise in true ape fashion while being quizzically observed by a family group of Western lowland gorillas.

Such is the dedication towards species conservation at Jersey, that the zoo thinks nothing of filling an entire house or a whole row of aviaries with a single species. In many other zoos this idea would be unthinkable, but far from being boring, this specialisation can encourage you to look more closely. The sole species within the nocturnal house are little Jamaican hutias (a primitive ground living rodent), and the volcano rabbits. They are hardly the sort of animals that will be familiar to any but the regular zoo-visitor, and yet the experience of visiting this one house is unique. On a slightly elevated site by the gorillas a double row of cages contains endangered black lion tamarins, the only ones outside Brazil. There may be less than fifty of these lovely creatures left in the wild. Even rarer is the rotund and delightful Mauritius pink pigeon which was rescued from the very brink of extinction when perhaps only ten birds remained in the wild and six in captivity. (Don’t miss the rarest bird in the zoo’ reads the sign). Most visitors should enjoy the twin marmoset houses with their heavily planted outdoor pens where several species of little marmosets and tamarins are kept.

Infant silvery marmosets might be seen here, playing next door to a family of beautiful golden lion tamarins. The cages are perhaps a little small, but no zoo has been so successful in breeding tamarins as Jersey. More than thirty golden lion tamarins have been born here. Most of Jersey’s birds are extremely rare in the wild. One of the best known successes has been the white-eared pheasant, a native of China. When Jersey received its first two pairs the species was down to fewer than twenty known birds. Several hundred have since been bred at the zoo, and a great many have been sent to other conservation zoos and bird gardens. The reptile house (actually called the Gaherty Reptile Breeding Centre) holds several rare or endangered lizards, snakes and tortoises. Outside are little corrals for more terrapins and tortoises. Most zoo reptile houses do not take the idea of breeding particularly seriously: but here there are more off-show breeding units than there are vivaria on display, and signs give an indication of the very high level of breeding success.

Over a hundred red-footed tortoise have been bred here, and a trust programme is underway to repeat this success in Madagascar with ploughshare tortoise, one of the rarest animals in the world. Despite its deserved reputation as the world’s first conservation zoo, Jersey Zoo does not entirely escape criticism. Durrell makes a point of inviting it; and there are areas of the zoo which do not fairly represent the mood of the collection. The Bornean orangutans are disappointingly housed in grim bunkers. The Sumatran orangs fare little better in a hard concrete den with more reasonable, but nonetheless uninspiring facilities for climbing. Disaffection with these enclosures has led the Trust to reconsider their keeping of orangs. A substantial new enclosure is on the drawing-board for the Sumatran orangs, which will borrow ideas from the gorilla compound, and the zoo will relinquish their Bornean orangs to another zoo in 1992. Some primate enclosures look designed primarily for ease of cleaning, and the monkey and lemur accommodation around the manor is boring and unattractive.

The spectacled bears have a pit with a difference; it has a tangle of fallen trees, a grassy mound, and a pool, and bears have twice bred here; but it is small. It may seem niggardly to pick upon points like this, but expectations of this zoo run so high, that it might be a shame to have them spoilt for the sake of a handful of disappointing exhibits. Still the zoo is continuing to develop. One new addition is an innovative landscaped field for the growing colony of Celebes macaques, where they are contained by a simple electric fence. There are over twenty of these delightful jet black monkeys in this enclosure now, and the enclosure won a zoo award in 1991. It is easy to see why. The fence is astonishingly low so that the impression for the visitor is virtually of unconfined monkeys on a sort of playground-lawn. The monkeys apparently like it too, and the group is fascinating to watch. The lemur wood which holds three groups of lemurs around the banks of a little lake, contained only by a shallow polythene overhang on the fence, is superb.

The Rodrigues fruit bats (the rarest bat in the world) are magnificent in two separate colonies: and there are snow leopards, parrots, serval, and some beautiful Chilean flamingos. A short run of cages displays several rare lemurs. a pair of cheetah occupy an impressively planted compound, and there are dozens of aviaries with Congo peacocks, Rothschild’s mynah, various parrots, and some extremely rare ducks. In 1991 Jersey Zoo announced another sensational coup which will undoubtedly help to reinforce its international reputation. Drawing on their long association with the government of Madagascar, they negotiated permission to import six aye-ayes. The aye-aye has long been considered one of the rarest primates on earth. A curious relative of the lemurs, it occupies a zoological family all of its own. It has wild black fur, a slightly pinched face, large rolling eyes, and an absurdly long middle finger which is used to extract termites from holes in the trees. Sightings of aye-ayes in the wild are rare, and they have been virtually unrepresented in zoos (although London Zoo had one earlier this century).

For almost a decade it was assumed that the only viable population was a protected group on the offshore island of Nosy Mangabe, at the north eastern corner of Madagascar. Then reports began to come in of other aye-ayes, and it became clear that there were still active groups of aye-ayes scattered around Madagascar. The status of these, however, looked perilous. In places the aye-aye may have been protected by local superstition, but farmers are increasingly driven to kill them as potential pests, and the six animals at Jersey come from an area where, according to John Hartley of the Trust, they could not have survived for long. The six animals (two adult males, two adult females, and two infant males) will be kept off show until the spring of 1992, awaiting the completion of a new nocturnal enclosure alongside the manor. To date the animals are thriving. They are fed on imported green coconuts, sugar cane, and fruit (although their sugar cane has now been rationed on the advice of a dentist). If any zoo can succeed in breeding aye-ayes, Jersey can.

And if they do, then these six animals (and those now also in America and France) may become the progenitors of a whole zoo population for our grandchildren to visit and appreciate and wonder at the bizarre design concept of this unlikely little primate. Madagascar has also provided two other species which will go on show for the first time anywhere in the world, in Jersey in 1992. The Alaotran hapalemur (or gentle lemur) comes from a very small area of reedbeds around Lake Alaotra in Western Madagascar. It is a highly endangered subspecies, and will be the first of the gentle lemurs to be brought into captive management. Jersey have complemented their capture of ten of these delicate lemurs with an effective poster campaign in the area of Lake Alaotra, drawing the attention of local people to the plight of the hapalemurs, and of the gravely endangered Madagascar Pochard, which has not been seen for a number of years. The other Malagasy newcomers are five giant jumping rats, looking like chunky jerboas (or even small wallabies). They come from a very small area of West Coast forest and their status is extremely uncertain.

But of the group at the zoo, all three females have already bred, and there is optimism that they could rapidly become the nucleus of a self- sustaining captive population. Jersey has complemented its remarkable conservation work with record keeping of the highest standards, and well documented research work that has paralleled every project. There are comprehensive education facilities, and the information displays alongside every enclosure are excellent. One scheme which illustrates the commitment of the trust towards conservation is an overseas training scheme for keepers who will eventually manage captive breeding units for endangered species in their own countries. Students from over fifty countries have completed the residential course here. This is not the sort of endeavour that is visible to the average zoo visitor, but it is indicative of the responsible attitude taken at Jersey towards the whole issue of wildlife conservation, and of the seriousness with which the role of the zoo is seen. ‘Of the 500 or so zoological collections in the world,’ wrote Durrell in ‘The Stationary Ark’, ‘a few are excellent, some are inferior, and the rest are appalling.’ Here on this unlikely holiday island, Durrell and his team have tried to redefine the concepts of the modern zoo, and have thrown down the gauntlet to those inferior and appalling zoos.

The Jersey Wildlife preservation Trust now has sister organisations in the United States and Canada, and has probably done more than any other zoo in the world to draw attention to the urgent plight of the disappearing animals of our planet. The world is a big place, and the problems that its wildlife faces are too extensive for any one organisation, or any one zoo. But through its example, Jersey Zoo has started a movement that may one day draw upon the support of hundreds of zoos. The history books of the 21st century or beyond will tell if they have succeeded; and if they have, they will surely keep a place for Jersey Zoo. Gerald Durrell was my hero … I married him for his zoo | Life and style | The Guardian Family Gerald Durrell was my hero … I married him for his zoo When the writer and naturalist Gerald Durrell visited an American university in 1977, one student was thrilled to meet her hero.

Later on, he invited Lee to Jersey to work with him – but that was a ploy Lee Durrell … ‘Once I was there it became quite obvious we were going to be together.’ Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Ruth Huntman Saturday 26 March 2016 02.29 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 20 September 2016 05.38 EDT Share on Messenger Close As a brilliant zoology student in the 1970s, Lee Wilson was more interested in the mating calls of the exotic primates she was studying than any romantic endeavour of her own. That is, until an encounter with a guest lecturer called Gerry mapped out her destiny in ways she could never have foreseen. Gerry was the prolific and flamboyant author and naturalist Gerald Durrell, founder of Jersey zoo (now the Durrell Wildlife Park ) and the man behind My Family and Other Animals . This enchanting autobiographical account of his idyllic Corfu childhood and early fascination with the animal kingdom was the Harry Potter of its day – on the school curriculum and a bible for adults and children alike. It was also the book that had ignited Lee’s own passion for conservation.

So when Durrell visited Duke University, in North Carolina, in 1977, she was excited. Enlisted by Durrell to drive him to a university dinner at a local restaurant, they got so distracted talking about wildlife that they arrived hours after everyone else. She was hooked. At 52, he was 24 years older than she was. “They say you should never meet your heroes,” says Lee. “But I went one better and married mine. He’d been my hero ever since I’d got his books out of the mission library in Madagascar where I was doing my PhD research. After he visited my university a few years later to see the lemur breeding programme, he telephoned and asked me to come to Jersey and set up a sound-recording laboratory (I was studying animal communication). “I was really quite naive and didn’t realise at the time that it was just a ploy to get me to Jersey. Once I was there, it became quite obvious we were going to be together. Throughout our marriage he relished telling people that he was the only man in the world who’d been married for his zoo.” Is there any truth in that? “Oh yes, probably partly,” she laughs.

After Durrell divorced his first wife (she left him after 25 years) in 1979, he and Lee married months later. Together, she and Gerry made a formidable team. They co-authored books, presented seminal wildlife television programmes and set up the Durrell Academy to educate the young conservationists of the future. Then there were the missions to save entire species – such as the tiny Mauritius kestrel – from extinction. “It was a magical time with Gerry. I got to travel the world and do the thing I loved most. I’ll never forget being in Russia in the 1980s [they were the first westerners to film wildlife there] and watching people queue in the street to get a copy of My Family … It was surreal and thrilling.” Cemented by a shared passion for every single creature in the animal kingdom – he gave her four tarantulas for their 10th wedding anniversary – theirs was no ordinary love affair. After his death in 1995 , Lee devoted herself to continuing his legacy and preserving Gerry’s beloved zoo.

As director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust she not only oversees the running of the wildlife park, but also its training academy as well as running breeding and recovery programmes worldwide. As we speak she’s on a mission to save the Madagascan Ploughshare tortoise from extinction at the hands of illegal poaching. Pinterest Gerald and Lee Durrell, with a barn owl in 1987. Photograph: Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock Driven by his desire to see zoos as a form of entertainment become extinct, Durrell set up Jersey zoo in 1959 to house rare species. It’s now home to 120 species of mammals, birds and reptiles, more than half of which are endangered in the wild. “Other people in the zoo establishment thought he was nuts to have a zoo that was there solely to save endangered species. But a lot of other zoos caught up with his thinking.

I think Gerry would be proud that he led the way and that 60 years on we’re still going.” Her enduring love for the man and what he stood for and determination to keep his beloved wildlife park open was behind her decision to act as consultant for The Durrells, a new ITV six-part dramatisation of My Family and Other Animals. “I’m delighted with it and I’m hoping it will leave people wanting to know more about what Gerry did when he grew up and get interested in conservation. I’m really concerned that people aren’t reading his books today. You go into schools and some children have never even heard of him, let alone read My Family … Yet his legacy is so important to the future of the world and I’m on a mission to make new generations understand that.” Pinterest Gerald Durrell holding his pet chimpanzee and talking with his brother, novelist Lawrence Durrell, left, at his home on Jersey in 1961.

Photograph: Loomis Dean/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images Shockingly, Lee – an eminent zoologist and author, who was awarded an MBE in 2011, reveals that projects like this are crucial to keeping the wildlife park going (it costs £8m a year to run the trust). “A few years after Gerry passed away, we started to have big financial problems. One of the reasons he set the zoo up in Jersey was that there was a great tourist industry. So for a good 25 years we had constant revenue and were able to build our training and overseas programme. “But towards the end of the 90s, mass travel oversees hit our tourism hard. Coupled with the recession it was a huge blow and we had to get a lot smarter to guarantee our survival. Now we have two restaurants and glamping, which are hugely popular. It’s scary and yes, I thought we could lose the park. We’re still not out of the woods but I’d like to think people would never let that happen and it’s something I can’t even conceive of. ‘One great lesson Gerry taught me is that you should just follow your dream, and never take no for answer.

I’d like to think he’d be proud of the work the trust has done to adapt and keep the park going and to know that he’d entrusted it to safe hands in me. Strangely, even though he knew he was a pretty good writer, he always said he only did the writing for money to pay for his conservation work. For him it was a means to an end – saving the animal kingdom.” Although Durrell couldn’t have foreseen the struggles ahead for the park after his death, he was strangely prophetic when it came to Lee’s role in its future. “Gerry always used to tell me that he needed to marry a good widow,” she smiles. “It was on his mind that he would die before me, although we never talked about that. It was too hard to talk about. I always promised him that I’d look after the zoo and carry on his work, and it’s what I wanted to do anyway.” • The Durrells starts on ITV at 8pm, 3 April. More information about the work of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, durrell.org/wildlife .

Gerald Durrell Memorial Jersey Zoo THE RENEGADE WHO WAS RIGHT SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH How do you sum up the contribution to conservation of someone like Gerald Durrell? I can only try to capture some of the extraordinary, original, thought that, to a generation of zoo directors, made him, to quote a director of the London Zoo, "a beacon to us all" - that earned him, or his Zoo, nine international awards for leadership and conservation; that awarded someone who barely went to school, three honorary degrees and his name given to an ecology institute. The extraordinary thing - which is perhaps the mark of genius - was that everything he said, and, then, typically, did, seems now so obvious, so logical, and so much a part of everyday conservation language, that we easily forget how radical, revolutionary, and downright opinionated these statements seemed at the time. He was truly a man before his time, when the time was already upon us. Brushed off by the "experts" as, at best, an idealist, at worst, an opportunist, Gerry was also blessed with a generous dose of self-confidence.

He pursued his ideal against the tide of opinion that claimed that the world was much the same as it always had been, and that extinctions were, after all, just part of the evolutionary process. As a young collector of animals for zoos he soon became dissatisfied with the way zoos were managed, and he determined to have a zoo of his own, and in 1959, as we have heard, he opened the Jersey Zoological Park. Very shortly after that he began to express publicly what had been incubating in his mind for some time, that zoos could and should contribute to the preservation of wildlife. Not one to follow his pronouncements without action, in 1963, he gave his Zoo into the hands of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. He, and his staff, concentrated their efforts on breeding the animals in their collection, and the Zoological Federation of Great Britain and Ireland started issuing to Jersey Certificates for long lists of first breedings.

Just listen, the very names are a romantic poetic evocation of the diversity of nature - the Black and White Colobus Monkey, the White Eared Pheasant (that was his first endangered species), the Congo Peacock, Shallows Touracous and the Thick Billed Parrot, the Palawan Peacock-Pheasant the Red Crested Touracous, Spectacled Bear, Waldrapp Ibis, Mellers Duck, Jamaican Hutia, Goeldis Monkey, Rodrigues Fruit Bat and the Red Handed Tamarin. As the collection changed, to meet his vision, a tour of Jersey Zoo conveyed to the visitor a new and different Zoo experience. Animals come first, their keepers second and the public are privileged paying guests. No elephants or giraffes here, instead a row of aviaries all with brown ducks below and white starlings above. Conservation breeding programmes on exhibit rather than exhibits with barely justified conservation labels. Increasingly endangered species arrived to breed for the first time, the St.

Lucia Parrot, the Volcano Rabbit, Black Lion Tamarins, Livingstones Fruit Bat, Rodrigues Fodey, Round Island Boa, Flat Tailed Tortoise, Giant Jumping Rat, and, perhaps the most extraordinary, the nocturnal Aye-Aye from Madagascar, marking, in 1992, their ultimate achievement so far. "How do you do it?" asked a chat-show hostess, "I read them the Kama Sutra every morning" he replied. He irritated, possibly enraged, some of his peers by lambasting the zoo fraternity for the abrogation of their conservation responsibilities, and he wrote it, in The Stationary Ark in 1976, saving his sharpest vitriol for the unfortunate zoo architect. As a one man pressure group he was years ahead of anti-zoo propagandists and the international zoo community alike. In one of his last television interviews he was asked if he was pleased that more zoos were putting conservation first on the agenda, "I think its marvellous, wonderful", he said, paused, and then, sadly, "But why did it take so bloody long?".

Gerry's deep commitment to zoos and world conservation could hardly be played out on a small island in the English Channel, and certainly not exclusively between zoos. In 1972 his Trust formed the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society to hold the first world conference on breeding endangered species in Jersey, and, in 1983, he was the match that re-kindled the World Conservation Unions Captive Breeding Specialist Group. Gerry had learnt the importance of carefully recording observations at Theodores' knee and he insisted that research overseas as well as in the Zoo, and its dissemination to the Conservation community, was critical to all captive breeding efforts. He had complained vehemently for years that academic science did little, or nothing, to empower conservation with any useful information. He almost wept when, in 1989, he was asked to give his name to the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent. At long last, he said, this Institute represents a marriage between ecology and conservation - the science that tells you how the world works, and the science of how to keep it working.

In 1984 he signed an Accord with the Government of Mauritius to begin a breeding programme for a number of critically endangered species, including the Pink Pigeon, a distant relative of the Dodo, the symbol of extinction and his Trust. This bird marked his first successful reintroduction, and has multiplied in the hands of his staff, from 15 to 150 in the wild. These government Accords had always been important to Gerry. He had enormous charm and he used it to good effect. To him it was natural, and plain good manners, to treat people everywhere, not just as equals, but as very special members of his species, who should be afforded the respect and personal attention their identity deserved. His ability to form real relationships with people he co-operated with to save their animals, is a hallmark of the Jersey Trust wherever it goes. Mauritian Ministers to save Round Island from the ravages of alien species. Madagascan Ministers to breed the Ploughshare Tortoise for reintroduction to Madagascar. Brazilian Committees to re-introduce and manage Lion Tamarins in the wild. A Caribbean Prime Minister to secure the future of his countries endemic parrot and unique ground lizard.

The entire Indian Cabinet to allow one last desperate attempt to save the worlds smallest pig, in its natural habitat, and, everywhere, Gerry's brand of friendship and trust is the lasting common denominator. "Why don't we have a sort of mini-university?" he said, and sure enough, in 1978 the first of 350 trainees, from over 70 countries, not counting 400 summer school students attended the International Training Centre officially opened by Her Royal Highness, in 1984, in the converted Jersey farmhouse next door. A small army of zoo keepers and directors, wildlife wardens and forestry officers, veterinarian and zoo educators, and even a zoo architect have all taken the Durrell message and mission home. Gerry Durrell was, to use the modern idiom, Magic. You imbibe it in his books, you feel it in his Zoo, you see it in the eyes of his trainees, and you hear it in even the most restrained tones of zoo directors, who may command budgets ten times the size that he ever did.

Magic people, as all well read children know, are especially susceptible to mortal dangers and Gerry was no exception, but, before it finally ran out, he sprinkled his Magic in such vast quantities, that much of it has germinated, and hundreds of good gardeners are feeding the new growth as if their lives, and the lives of other animals depend upon it - and indeed they do. Gerald Durrell has left the propagation of his dream in the hands of Lee, and of his Trust, in Jersey, in the United Kingdom, in the United States and in Canada. I wish them, I wish you all, Good Gardening, and, please, don't ever forget the Magic of Gerald Durrell. -0- Always be a little wary, of spiders large and hairy, they build large webs that can be snary. And if they catch you in the loo , with eight long legs they'll tickle you. First you giggle, and then you laugh, and then you fall into the bath. And this of course, you didn't oughta, for you cannot laugh, beneath the water. -0- MARGARET ("MARGO") DURRELL BOURNEMOUTH c.

1950 In Bournemouth, in 1950, I had hoped to run a sedate money-making guesthouse as advised by my most respectable Aunt, a spinster by design, and very fussy. As you can imagine this was a hard task with my eccentric families unscheduled visitations. Today mother is visiting, ever watchful. I am bemoaning my fate. "The children are breeding mice in the outside lavatory - isn't it ghastly?" I moaned. Silence followed. "Breeding mice", mother gasped as though at last comprehending, and behaving as though I had told her an epidemic of smallpox raged through the Avenue. "It's a most unhygienic occupation, and they do smell dreadfully dear." There was a far away look in her eyes. "Carriers of the plague too, I believe". "That's rats, not mice Mother", I reasoned. Mother was going too far. "I well remember the occasion when I, very stupidly, allowed your brother Gerald, as a young boy, to keep mice.

I regretted it bitterly - had to put my foot down in the end." "Yes I said, decidedly, but I do try to forget the more sordid memories." The picture of mother putting her dainty foot down amused me. I had no doubt at all that Gerry bred mice to the bitter end. Into our midst, well before schedule, came my brother, Gerald, and his arrival eclipsed all else for the next twenty-four hours. Mother's expression, unlike mine, cheered delightedly at the sight of her youngest son. I groaned aloud, as a familiar boyish face grinned at the youngest members of my household racing to the gate to greet him. Gerry stepped from the car, tall, fair, debonair and typically English, holding a sack carefully in one hand, as if carrying a rare gift, but I knew better than that. He greeted his fans jovially, eyes twinkling. There was an involved gesticulated discussion which seemed to involve both the house, the garage and the large wooden cage that was resting on the boot of the taxi: he appeared to regard my house as his own, for a matter of a few minutes an unusual entourage made its way to the empty garage.

I knew the meaning of that move. I glanced at Mother, a look of dismay had now crossed her face, as no doubt she remembered other times when the presence of a sack or box had meant eventual trouble. "If he puts one foot over my threshold," I said in a voice of doom, "I'm done for, ruined." "Too late, dear," said Mother in a queer voice, as many hands lifted the crate tipped at a crazy angle - the party under the loud instructions from my brother had already crossed my boundaries. Followed by Mother, I went to face the inevitable. "Just a few monkeys," Gerald called out airily, seeing Mother and me for the first time." "I hope there is nothing dangerous in that sack, dear?" Mother enquired, kissing her youngest tenderly. "Its a six-foot python, but harmless," Gerald replied carelessly. "It feeds on mice so no one need worry" "My God!" We can't have it in this house, Gerald!" Mother said, in her attempted firm voice that meant that he could. "You'll have to keep it hidden from your lodgers," she whispered aside to me, sweetly, compromising, trying to pacify my obvious scowling displeasure.

Gerald was delighted that mice were breeding like Communist China in the back lavatory. Confident that he was a sobering influence, he watched over the entire household, tenderly, rather as though he was privileged to witness the birth of some rare mammal. Advising me on the best ways of handling humanity, he taught the household the rudiments of biology, natural history and charming snakes. He wrote "My Family and Other Animals" amongst other epics. He played the women with light unconcern, ate garlic, drank wine or champagne as money would allow and ignored neighbours complaints. As a young chimpanzee swung from curtain to curtain joyfully, reptiles snoozed comfortably guarding the front porch and outdid everybody elses smells. Africa had arrived in style. An invasion of the natural world had become the norm in a suburban Bournemouth house and garden. However my brother had a dream. The dream became Jersey Zoo. Margaret ("Margo") Durrell FROM A TIME CAPSULE 1988 BY HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, THE PRINCESS ROYAL Patron of Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust Tonight has been a unique occasion, for a unique man, in a rather unique place.

And tonight has been a reflection, and a celebration, of a delightful, concerned, knowledgeable and humorous individual to whom all of us owe our own personal debt of gratitude for his inspiration. I was one of those people who find it difficult not to laugh in public places - the train being one of the most awkward. I was honoured, and very excited, to be asked to become Patron of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust in 1972 and each of my visits, and each opportunity to talk with Gerald has been a pleasure, and a huge increase of knowledge - they have always been valuable. On one of those visits, on the occasion of the Trusts Anniversary, I also had the pleasure of giving to him a present from the Staff, and from the Members - a reminder of that story you heard earlier - about the scorpion - a little silver matchbox with a little silver scorpion in it. They very kindly gave me a silver matchbox but it does not contain any scorpions. On another such visit, when I opened the new Conservation and Education Pavilion, I sank a Time Capsule that contained a number of items but, most particularly, it contained a letter from Gerald Durrell.

Now, I could not possibly equal the eloquence of Sir David Attenborough, in his remembrances of Gerry, but it is my privilege to read Gerrys' own words: - Animal House December 12, 1999 Animal House Gerald Durrell was a celebrated author, but he always said his priority in life was his zoo. Related Link Illustrated. 644 pp. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. $29.95. arly on in this biography, Douglas Botting describes his experience reading a love letter written by Gerald Durrell. The letter, from a portly, battered 53-year-old to the young American who would become his second wife, is worthy of Cyrano: ''I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opals round a tree of scarlet blooms. I have seen whales, black as tar, cushioned on a cornflower-blue sea. I have lain in water warm as milk, soft as silk, while around me played a host of dolphins. . . . All this I did without you.

This was my loss.'' As he reads, Botting notices ''with some degree of unease'' that after two years immersed in Durrell's life, his relationship with his subject has crossed into a territory beyond empathy: ''There was no doubt,'' he writes. The inner voice reading this letter was no longer his own; it was Durrell's. ''Not only had I got the measure of Gerald Durrell; Gerald Durrell, it seemed, had got the measure of me.'' This is an ambitious way to raise a reader's expectations, but risky. As David Attenborough put it in a 1995 memorial service, ''Gerald Durrell was magic.'' Unblemished by formal education, undaunted by profound alcoholism, Durrell wrote 37 books, among them ''My Family and Other Animals,'' the classic memoir of his childhood years on Corfu. He reached millions of television viewers with his unlikely blend of wicked humor and passionate belief in conservation. He founded a zoo on Jersey in the Channel Islands, now widely regarded as one of the world's best. He championed the captive breeding of endangered species, when most zoos regarded the idea as anathema.

And he saved whole species from extinction. Durrell did all this, moreover, with panache and self-deprecation. Awarded the Order of the British Empire, he modestly averred that the O.B.E. stood for ''Other Buggers' Efforts.'' And on the brink of death, at the age of 70, he summed up his own contribution this way: ''Life is like a superlative meal and the world is the matre d'htel. What I'm doing is the equivalent of leaving a reasonable tip.'' Part of Durrell's charm as a writer was his seamless mingling of human and animal worlds. He had a knack for anthropomorphizing animals and picking out their individual personalities. On buying a chimp named Chumley (short for Cholmondeley St.

John) from a hunter in Cameroon, he wrote: ''When the bargain had been struck and the filthy lucre had changed hands, this simian aristocrat took my hand condescendingly and walked into our living room, peering about him with an ill-concealed disgust, like a duke visiting the kitchen of a sick retainer, determined to be democratic however unsavory the task.'' But Durrell was equally fearless about animalizing his anthropoids, including humans of all ranks. Once, taking Princess Anne on a tour of the Jersey Zoo, he confronted a male mandrill in full sexual display, its bottom like ''a newly painted and violently patriotic lavatory seat,'' all blue on the outer rim, and ''virulent sunset scarlet'' within. ''Wonderful animal, ma'am,'' Durrell said to the Princess, and then added, ''Wouldn't you like to have a behind like that?'' Such was Durrell's magic that he didn't merely get away with it, but got Princess Anne to become a patron of the zoo.

Remarkably, given the intense, almost profligate lyricism with which he sometimes wrote, Durrell claimed to consider himself no more than ''a hack journalist.'' He wrote to make money for his zoo, a truly audacious enterprise. The collection of animals from his trips to Africa and South America was so poor, in the beginning, that the staff used to sweep up peanuts dropped in front of the monkey cages and resell them. Durrell's mother managed the pay toilets in the ladies' loo, a major source of revenue. Durrell himself had only the briefest professional background as a zookeeper, and his criticisms of the jail-like character of most other zoos managed to antagonize potential allies. George Cansdale, head of the London Zoo, did not merely undermine Durrell's plans and pan his first book. When Chumley, the aristocratic chimp, escaped from the London Zoo, Cansdale had him shot. There is rich material for a biography in all this, and as Durrell's authorized biographer, Douglas Botting, the author of a book about the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, seems to have had access to his subject's most private papers.

Unfortunately, the many quotations from Durrell himself serve mainly to remind us how far Botting falls short of Durrell's voice as a storyteller. We never learn the background of Cansdale's feud with Durrell, for instance, and the account of the fierce opposition to captive breeding by a later head of the London Zoo is also garbled. When one of Durrell's own trainees ultimately becomes director of the London Zoo, what ought to be a moment of triumph and vindication turns up instead as a footnote. Botting also bungles the poignant story of Durrell's second marriage, to an American field biologist named Lee McGeorge, a doctoral candidate in a profession where employment prospects are notoriously slim.

In response to Durrell's torrent of besotted love letters, her letters are painfully pragmatic: Durrell's marriage proposal forces her to choose between an uncertain future with her current boyfriend, whom she loves, and a promising career ''with you, the man I adore, but do not love.'' They seal the bargain on those unbalanced terms, and Durrell gleefully boasts that he is ''the only man in history who has been married for his zoo.'' But the marriage works, and McGeorge, who has ''for so long refused to use the 'L' word,'' finally falls in love with her husband on his deathbed. Instead of shaping this story, Botting merely quotes what seems to be the entire correspondence. Throughout, he tends to rely on quoted chunks of testimonial, a sort of biography by blurb, compounded at times with biography by datebook. The real frustration of this biography, however, is that Botting seems not to understand or care much about Durrell's work with animals. We learn that the Durrells had Casa Pupo rugs in their flat at the Jersey Zoo, when we want to know what the gorillas had in theirs.

We get the complete menu of a lunch at Windsor Castle on April 2, 1982, when we should be hearing about the quirky dietary needs of rare animals in captivity. We get two pages on Durrell's efforts to enlist the support of Princess Grace, and literally one line reporting that the Jersey Zoo has achieved the world's first captive breeding of more than a dozen species. Durrell himself was characteristically frank about the hazards, as well as the promise, of captive breeding. But Botting glosses over the issues. He tells us that Durrell was ''a leading campaigner and evangelist for a cause that was urgent and all-demanding -- a cause whose principal tenet was that all life was sacrosanct.'' But this is nonsense. In fact, Durrell merely believed that all species were sacrosanct, and when an introduced animal like the rabbit threatened the survival of a reptile species on Round Island in Mauritius, he was pragmatic about the need to exterminate the rabbits. So what ultimately happened on Round Island? Perhaps out of political correctness, Botting merely tells us, in an eerie and evasive passive voice, that by 1990 ''the problems of introduced pests . . .

had been solved.'' Near the end of this book, there is a lovely scene in which Durrell goes back to Mauritius. Here, in the 1970's, he had rescued some of the last kestrels and pink pigeons still living in the wild and taken them to Jersey for captive breeding. The breeding programs have succeeded, and Durrell's disciples have begun reintroducing both species to the wild. ''As we were sitting around chatting,'' Durrell wrote, ''something delectable happened. There was a sudden rustle of wings and a pink pigeon flew into the tree 20 feet above us. Moreover, to our astonishment it was one of the birds we had bred in Jersey and sent out as part of the reintroduction scheme, as we could tell by its ring.'' Later, with ''the faintest angel's-wing breath of disturbed air'' and ''the gentlest touch of talons on my fingers,'' a reintroduced kestrel plucks a dead mouse from Durrell's hand. But how did Durrell save a species like the kestrel, from a total surviving population of just four individuals?

How did he rescue the pink pigeon, a bird he once described fondly as being so stupid ''it could without hesitation be put up for the House of Lords''? Botting does not give us the details, which is a pity. It is the one thing Gerald Durrell would surely want us to know. Richard Conniff is the author of ''Every Creeping Thing: True Tales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife.'' 9780140020847: A Zoo in My Luggage - AbeBooks - Durrell, Gerald: 0140020845 A Zoo in My Luggage ISBN 10: 0140020845 ISBN 13: 9780140020847 Publisher: Penguin Books, 1976 About this title This is the true and hilarious story of how Gerald Durrell and his wife set up their own zoo.

Journeying to the Cameroons, he and his wife, helped by the renowned Fon of Bafut, managed to collect 'plenty beef.' Their difficulties began when they found themselves back at home, with Cholmondely the chimpanzee, Bug-Eye the bush-baby, and other founder members...and nowhere to put them. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. About the Author: Gerald Durrell was born in 1925 at Jamshedpur, India. In 1928 his family returned to England and then went to live on the Continent. They settled on the island of Corfu, and during this time he made a special study of zoology and kept a large number of local wild animals as pets. In 1945 he joined the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper and in 1947 he financed, organized and led his first animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons. He undertook numerous further expeditions, visiting Paraguay, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Mauritius, Assam and Madagascar.

His first television programme, 'Two in the Bush', was made in 1962 when he and his first wife travelled to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya. He went on to make seventy programmes out of his trips around the world. In 1959 he founded the Jersey Zoological Park, of which he was Director, and in 1964 he founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. He was awarded the OBE in 1982. As a self-described 'champion of small uglies', Durrell dedicated his life to the preservation of wildlife, and it is through his efforts that creatures such as the Mauritius pink pigeon and the Rodrigues fruit bat have avoided extinction. Encouraged to write about his life's work by his novelist brother Lawrence, Durrell published his first book, The Overloaded Ark, in 1953.

It soon became a bestseller and he went on to write thirty-six other titles, including My Family and Other Animals, The Bafut Beagles, Encounters with Animals, The Drunken Forest, A Zoo in My Luggage, The Whispering Land, Menagerie Manor, The Amateur Naturalist, The Aye-Aye and I and, with Lee Durrell, Durrell in Russia. Gerald Durrell died in 1995. Speaking about him to the Times Charles Secrett, Director of Friends of the Earth, said 'He was one of the first people to wake the world up to what was happening to the environment. His books and programmes helped a whole new generation of environmentalists come into being.' "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title. Gerald Durrell - IMDb IMDb Writer | Director Gerald Durrell was born on January 7, 1925 in Jamshedpur, India as Gerald Malcolm Durrell. He was a writer and director, known for My Family and Other Animals (2005), Tarka the Otter (1979) and The Talking Parcel (1978).

He was married to Lee Durrell and Jacqueline Sonia Rasen. He died on January 30, 1995 in Jersey, Channel Islands, UK. See full bio » Born: Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Gerald Durrell's work have you seen? User Polls 2016 The Durrells in Corfu (TV Series) (based on "The Corfu Trilogy" by - 6 episodes) - Episode #1.6 (2016) ... (based on "The Corfu Trilogy" by) - Episode #1.5 (2016) ... (based on "The Corfu Trilogy" by) - Episode #1.4 (2016) ... (based on "The Corfu Trilogy" by) - Episode #1.3 (2016) ... (based on "The Corfu Trilogy" by) - Episode #1.2 (2016) ... (based on "The Corfu Trilogy" by) 1978 The Talking Parcel (TV Movie) (novel) Hide 1987 Going Live!

(TV Series) Himself 1987 Adventure (TV Series documentary) Himself - Narrator 1985 National Geographic Explorer (TV Series documentary) Himself 1984 The Saturday Show (TV Series) Himself 1983 This Is Your Life (TV Series documentary) Himself 1968 The World About Us (TV Series documentary) Himself 1968 Catch Me a Colobus (TV Series documentary) Himself - Narrator 1963 Two in the Bush (TV Series documentary) Himself - Narrator 1962 Animal Magic (TV Series) Himself 1958 Studio E (TV Series) Himself 2010-2013 Timeshift (TV Series documentary) Himself - Founder, Jersey Zoo / Himself - Wildlife Author Book: "The Fantastic Flying Journey" See more » Publicity Listings: 1 Biographical Movie | 1 Print Biography | See more » Height: Did You Know? Personal Quote: [in 1979, on writing books] I try to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Larry [his brother, Lawrence Durrell ] writes for posterity, but I write for money--it provides me with the wherewithal to do the things I really like doing, which is rushing off to Mexico to catch volcano rabbits. Trivia: Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust in 1963 to operate a model captive-breeding zoo, a thirty-five-acre site on the Channel Island of Jersey. He had visited the Cameroons, Patagonia and other parts of Argentina to gather animals, and continued to travel in search of more when the zoo was operating smoothly. See more » Star Sign: Gerald Durrell - About - Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Explore Gerry's story through the books that defined his life Open My Family and Other Animals The untimely death of his father saw the remainder of his family reluctantly relocating to a rather less inviting climate and settling, albeit temporarily, in England. Tiring of the British weather, the family soon made the move to the enchanting Greek island of Corfu. Here Gerald explored his passion for the animal kingdom with his inspirational tutor, Dr Theodore Stephanides.

The backdrop was sunshine, happiness and the love and laughter of a doting, slightly eccentric family, celebrated by Gerald twenty years later in his most famous book, "My Family and Other Animals". The Overloaded Ark The outbreak of World War II a few years later saw the Durrell family returning to England. The young Gerald’s interest in animals was not to be dampened by the climate, and he soon followed a career path that saw him move from Pet Shop Assistant to ‘Odd Beast Boy’ at Whipsnade Zoo. Aged 21, a small inheritance allowed him to embark upon the life he had dreamed of - a heady mix of travel, adventure and zoology. As well as being rich in subject matter for his blossoming writing career, this period was to provide Gerald’s most startling revelation – that species everywhere were on the decline. He resolved to create “a new kind of zoo”. Menagerie Manor His vision that zoos could be a sanctuary, and work to provide a “reservoir for endangered species” was somewhat controversial in its time, and two years of frustrating searches for a location in England followed. In the meantime, his sister’s garden became an unlikely, if not unsuitable place for a zoo!

A suggestion from his first wife Jacquie directed his search towards the Channel Islands. Within an hour of landing in Jersey, the beautiful Les Augres Manor had been secured for the purpose, its grounds providing the perfect venue. Gerald tirelessly sought support for his new zoo, and his enthusiasm was infectious. By July 1963, he had personally paid off the debts and established the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust! Two in the Bush During the 1960’s Gerald travelled widely collecting both material for his books and television films, as well as animals for Jersey Zoo. The Trust survived a few early financial crisis thanks to the generosity of its Jersey supporters, and found its place on the world map as a centre for animal conservation, as well as a great place to spend a day out! The Trust began to gain a reputation for the best enclosures, animal health, natural behaviour and breeding. Gerald and Jaquie visited many continents, and discovered many animal species they had never seen before.

Amongst the many animals that Gerald chose to bring back to Jersey was the ‘volcano rabbit’ or teporingo - hardly a show stopper, but critically endangered, and highlighting how Gerald saw equal value in all life on earth - even what he termed “little brown jobs”! The Stationary Ark The 1970’s was a great time for Gerald and the Trust! As well as gaining both a permanent home (Les Augres Manor was purchased by the Trust) and an awe-inspiring silverback gorilla; ‘Jambo’, Gerald gave a personal tour to HRH Princess Anne, who was to become both a Royal Patron and a dedicated supporter for many decades... and remains so to this day! Jersey Zoo hosted the first international conference on breeding endangered species, attracting many world leaders in the field. Additionally, many of Gerald's famous friends helped lend weight to his fundraising efforts. This allowed him to make a pilgrimage to Mauritius the land of the dodo, where he began to work with another apparently ‘lost cause’, the Mauritius Kestrel. This rarest of raptors went from a population of four, to numbering in the hundreds, thanks to Gerald’s determination.

Ark on the Move In 1979, Gerald married a young American zoologist named Lee McGeorge, and the 1980’s saw the pair working together to spread their shared passion for conservation far and wide.1984 saw the Trust celebrating its 21st year, along with the 25th anniversary of Jersey Zoo. Gerald began to see his dreams come true - releasing wild animals bred in Jersey back to the wild, and establishing what would become Durrell Conservation Academy. He received many honours and awards, and his zoo and conservation biology work continued to break new ground. The 1990’s began with an expedition to Madagascar, an Island nation who's animals and people Gerald had described as being “in the greatest peril”. There he collected animals for captive breeding programmes, as well as material for what was to be his last book. Despite his declining health, his determination to celebrate his 70th birthday with his many friends that helped him achieve his life’s goals was characteristically strong... and on January 7th 1995, he achieved this too!

His legacy Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust stands as the direct continuation of the Trust he created in 1963 and its mission; saving species from extinction Open Gerald Durrell died on the 30th of January 1995. Today, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust stands as the direct continuation of the Trust he created in 1963 and its mission; saving species from extinction. The name was changed from ‘The Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust’ in 1999, in our founder’s honour. We continue to make a difference through pioneering work and sheer determination, and share his conviction that our work is absolutely vital to the wellbeing of the planet. That the Trust enjoys an internationally respected, influential position today is thanks to the foresight, passion and drive of our founder. Our ‘three pillar’ strategy that combines Durrell Field Programmes, Durrell Conservation Academy and of course Durrell Wildlife Park to all work in harmony for biodiversity, just as Gerald had envisioned they would. We’d like to think that Gerald would be enormously proud of his legacy, and that the achievements we continue to make - often against the odds - are done under the proud banner of his name.

Inspired by Gerry Read tributes from those who have been moved by Gerald Durrell's life... Open “ It was his books that made me evaluate my thoughts on the natural world and conservation, truly a great man and long may his legacy continue. Thanks to all who carry out his dream. by Bev Bal ” “ I think he'd be amused to know that as a teenager I was introduced to his books by a nun in a French convent! Just goes to show how far his influence spreads, bless him. by Miki Berge ” “ He was my inspiration to get into working with wildlife, especially callitrichids and he will always hold a special place for me. One day I hope to be lucky enough to travel to Jersey to visit. Happy birthday Gerald! by Maxine Jenkins ” “ Happy birthday to one of the pioneers instilling the importance love and value of our beautiful wildlife. I watched his tv series as a young girl with inspiriation.. great man.... by Denise Long ” “ Happy birthday to a great man, I am sure you must miss him! I am living in Madagascar now and the impact of his work can still be seen.

by Joanna Lyn Davey ” “ Great Man- He would be very pleased to see how the new Durrell Charity Sale Shop is doing- After two days the feedback is amazing. by Carole-Anne Robins ” “ I read my family & other animals on the beach in Cyprus in 1966 at the age of 12 and went on to read all his books with Bafut Beagles one I remember - I wanted to visit his zoo then & now I live in Normandy where we can see Jersey from here I will get the boat over this summer & come to see for myself! by Tansy Forster ” “ He was the man who shaped who I am. my joyous outlook at nature, my love of friends and family is thanks to him. He lived life to the fullest, despite everything and so do I. Thank you, sir. by James Elliott ” “ His books were and still are my constant companions! He is a role model, very inspiring man! A great conservationist and an amazing writer! by Vihra lordanova Jersey Zoo Gerald Durrell On The Edge Quotes 7 January 1925 - 30 January 1995 .

Gerald Durrell died on the day this issue went to press. Publication was delayed to include the following tributes which appeared in the British press on January 31st 1995. THE GUARDIAN He has been a beacon to us all I dont think you could over-estimate the contribution he has made to the way in which zoos have redefined their role in the last 20 years. It was his influence that showed us the way when we reorganised ourselves three years ago. We have a personal debt to him. (Jo Gipps, Director London Zoo) His most important contribution to zoology was in the field of animal conservation and what became known as Durrells Army - the people he trained from around the world to go back to their own countries and save animals for themselves. (Desmond Morris) He was responsible for changing peoples attitudes to zoology and changing their agenda. He showed them that small animals could be as interesting as apes and elephants. His work with endangered species was incredible in that he could persuade them to breed in captivity. He then returned them to the wild.

He was a pioneer with a marvellous sense of humour (Sir David Attenborough) Dont you think the little devil writes well? His style is like fresh crisp lettuce. (Lawrence Durrell) Look at it this way. Anyone who has got any pleasure at all from living should try to put something back. Life is like a superlative meal and the world is the maitre dhotel. What Im doing is the equivalent of leaving a reasonable tip. Durrell never had much time for the modern environmentalists, far too serious and theoretical were their modern notions of sustainable development and community - Start with the animals and everything else falls into place - was his philosophical maxim. He shared with todays thinkers a deep sense of the onrushing destruction of the physical world. It depressed him deeply but he turned his sadness into absolute delight in persuading anyone who he met that life was really full of the most extraordinarily beautiful creatures. THE INDEPENDENT The zoo which Durrell founded on Jersey has been one of the very few that has successfully mixed displaying animals to the public in a sensible and humane way with effective involvement in field conservation.

Many members of the zoo world originally saw him as a renegade. But he was a renegade who was right. (David Jones, Ex Director of London Zoo) A first rate raconteur, he was able to hold a capacity audience at Cambridge University for two hours with nothing more than sheets of paper and felt pen. Durrell had little time for people who professed to be conservationists, but spent all their time flying from meeting to meeting. - Decide what needs doing and do it - could have been his motto. (John Burton, Ex Director, Fauna & Flora Preservation Society) DAILY TELEGRAPH Durrell was never a travel snob. The wonders of the earth, he considered, might be appreciated as much in a garden or a window box as in the remotest jungle. A sparrow can be as interesting as a bird of paradise, the behaviour of a mouse as interesting as that of a tiger. Our planet is beautifully intricate, brimming over with enigmas to be solved and riddles to be unravelled. TODAY My childhood in Cortu shaped my life.

If I had the craft of Merlin, I would give every child the gift of my childhood. At the moment the human race is in the position of a man sawing off the tree branch he is sitting on. DAILY MAIL People often tell me that they wish theyd lived a life like mine. I say: Why dont you?. All you have to do is get on with it. They then look rather abashed and mutter about how they had a mortgage and were saving up to buy a bigger house. The truth is they never had the confidence to risk it. Asked why he preferred animals to people, he replied: They are so much more straightforward and honest. They have no sort of pretensions. They dont pretend they are God. They dont pretend they are intelligent, they dont invent nerve gas and above all they dont hold cocktail parties. Many people think that conservation is just about saving fluffy animals - what they dont realise is that its a war out there and were trying to prevent the human race from committing suicide.

People dont open their eyes to the world around them, they just crawl through it like toads crawling through cotton wool. To those around him, Geralds temper was as big an event as the uproarious laughter which always surrounded his dinner table. When he couldnt achieve his goals he would become furious with impatience. Perhaps his legacy is that he showed us all how to achieve goals. He set up a zoo, he set up a training centre to teach his philosophy of conservation, he combined academic study of ecology with practical conservation at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent and, best of all, he introduced millions of people to the amazing world right under their noses. (Edward Whitley, Journalist & Trustee) DAILY EXPRESS His early efforts were denounced by zoologists, but now his work is universally acknowledged as an important weapon in the fight to save animals from extinction. Im glad to be giving something back to this earth because Ive been so extraordinarily lucky and had such great pleasure from it. If you want to know my ambition, its to close the Trust and the zoo down because they wont be necessary any more.

It would be marvellous to think that one day that could happen. JERSEY EVENING POST I think the urge to say that I have had enough is always present in a lazy man. But I believe so much in what I am doing that I cannot let up, at least for the moment. His first priority was the animals within the zoo, the second, the people who looked after them and third, the paying public. What we are doing is nibbling away in small areas which could get totally neglected. I think the art of life is to know how much to bite off!!" Gerald Durrell took a generous mouthful of life and enjoyed it to the full. THE TIMES He was one of the first people to wake the world up to what was happening to the environment.

It was his books and programmes that helped a whole new generation of environmentalists come into being. (Charles Secrett, Director, Friends of the Earth) Snakes in the bath and huge flocks of albatrosses flapping about in the house, making noises like defective plumbing. (Lawrence Durrell) A flamboyant figure with a bushy beard and white hair, Gerald Durrell had an ebullient personality that enabled him to inspire many people with an enthusiasm for nature. He was a warm-hearted, if not always very subtle, writer who gave genuine pleasure as well as information to countless readers of all sorts. His clutch of books for children were particularly effective. A popular - but never self-righteous - figure in the vanguard of ecology, he was appointed OBE in 1982. . © "On The Edge" Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust The Trustees of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust have established a special fund to continue the international conservation efforts instigated and inspired by Gerald Durrell -The Gerald Durrell Memorial Fund. Trust Members and others may send donations now or await further details. . jerseyzoo@durrell.org .

Permission to quote from the literary works of Gerald Durrell has been granted by Curtis Brown Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of Gerald Durrell. All rights are reserved and no reproduction from this site for whatever purpose is permitted without permission. Permission to reproduce photographs and sketches from the Estate of Gerald Durrell is granted by Lee Durrell on behalf of the Estate. All rights are reserved and no reproduction from this site for whatever purpose is permitted without permission. Permission to quote from the literary works of Lawrence Durrell has been granted by Curtis Brown Ltd, London on behalf of his Estate All rights are reserved and no reproduction from this site for whatever purpose is permitted without permission. .

Question: Gerald Durrell was a director of which zoo?
Answer: Jersey