Title: Gerald Durrelll

Gerald Durrelll saved animal (anim.) & turning Zoo into safe places for endangered
species (from amusement park>Centre of conservation and education)

Gerald Durrells Early Life

o Born in India 1925
o Lived in both England (ENG) and Greece (GRE) as a young child
o In GRE learned to love anim.
o As a child collected many wild creatures & kept them for a long time>
to observe their behavior
o Had many variety of traditional pets (e.g. cats & dogs)
o Family fled to England at the beginning of WW2 & by the end of the
war, became zookeeper at London zoo
o W/in a few year, taking part in experiment of collecting anim.s for zoo
o Began to supervise his own collectng trip
o On the expedition, we can see the difference of Durell from other zoo
pro.
Zoo Pros before Durrell
o At that time zoo collectng anim. from the wild, anim. died soon after
capture
o Why:
Didnt know how to capture anim. w/out harming
Most didnt know caring anim. after capture
o Collector collectng, knowing anim. will die right away
o Anim. reach Eng., perish in month upon arrival
o Zoo didnt care about anim. welfare > order more anim. to replace
those who died
Durrells Approach
o Durell captured anim. humanely
o Paid more money to the hunters, to make sure anim. uninjured & got
the best care
o Durell rarely went to forest, use his time caring for anim. he captured
o Train his specimen to eat artificial diet in zoo, important adjustment to
save anim. life
Durells Special Quality
o Keen observer of wildlife
o Good scientist
o Excellent collector
Knew how to locate captured anim. and especially good at
catching rare species

To know how to treat captured species need to know its biology

Many anim. captured never been observed alive> no one know about their diet,
habitat preference, & behavior

Durell could overcome this problem

Durrells Dream
o Having his own zoo, but he was penniless
o His brother Lawrence, a successful writer & novelist, encouraged Durell
to write about his experiences of being anim. collectors
o Durell wrote Overloaded Ark about his experience collectngng anim.
in Cameroon, West Africa, become a huge commercial success for
being very entertaining & funny

Durell use profit to get out o debt & use advances from future novel to secure loan
for his own zoo
He want his zoo to be different

Problems of Traditional Zoo

o Large collection of wide variety of anim.
o Status and success based collection size
o Smaller zoo had amusement ride & shows incl. trained anim. in
costume
o Anim. were fed in cage poorly
o Breeding by accident than by design
o No attempt to provide public education

Durrells Concern

Durells concern of extinction>many plants and anim. no longer existed due

to humans activity>increasing number of species becoming rare
Durell experienced it 1st hand>in his trip to Africa, anim. that used to be
common become impossible to find> forest habitat destroyed for planting
crops & hunters kill them
Many species rapidly approaching extinction>
How Zoo Prevent Extinction
zoo can prevent it by providing safe haven for anim.>maintain & population
increase by captive breeding
Overhunting could be controlled> anim. could be release into wild when he
condition is safe

Durrells Principles
He develop his zoo through 4 principles:

Zoo should set up breeding groups based on their country of origin>breeding

groups o anim. become rare> offspring of this breeding group could be
release into the wild once the condition were better for survival
Durell believe that conservation is worldwide effort, not

Zoo should promote studies about anim. both in captivity and wild>to
prevent extinction
Zoo should promote conservation edu. for visitors>to better understand
problem of extinction
Durrels Plan for His Zoo
Modern zoo has fewer species but better displayed>natural family group in
replicated natural habitat> to allowed them to engage natural behavior
Diet nutritionally balanced and as close as possible to food in the wild
Anim. care ocus on long term survival>effort made to facilitate breeding
Edu specialist teach visitor about anim.
Conservationist from where endangered species come brought to zoo to
receive training>each country could have trained personal who could
conserve locally (made outside) the develop country

Durrells Effort

Durell discuss this idea w/ other zoo directors who said his idea will never
work, visitors would never attend this type of zoo, & the project will leave him
bankrupt.
Durell refuse to listen>convert a land in the Southern East of England into
zoo
The Jerseys zoological Park opened in 1959, & renamed into the Jersey
wildlife preservation trust in 1963
The 1st year was difficult, Durell often doesnt have enough money to pay his
staff.
Taking out new loan to pay existing loan
Beg wealthy individual to make unprofitable collecting experience to gather
materials for books.
His books grew in popularity and, his writing keep the trust alive til its more
financially secured
Durell also enlist the assistence of many famous actors and even the british
royal family
The trust become self-sustained
Durell join the Jersey w/ other organization to form international conservation
group
To the surprise o everyone except Durell, the facility attracted visitors, the
zoo became one of the most popular visitors attraction on the island
Only after years of work Durell able to turn his attention to his primary goal>
re-establishment of endangered anim.s in their natural habitat
Durrells Legacy
Died in 1995 after long battle w/ complication from liver transplant
He left behind an extremely successful zoo
His idea about the roles of zoo spread around the world>Nowadays every zoo
follows his principles

Zoo has become center of conservation and edu

Visitor expect and demand this approach
The new focuses have positive effects on attendance
Nearly all zoo participate in captive breeding & conservation programs
Nearly all zoo has a conservation dept.
Zoo become a focal point in conservation, brought anim. back from the brink
of extinction
Durells vision was achieved not only for zone zoo but also for nearly every
zoo in the world