In the early days Durrell had a strong management team too, Mallinson, Hartley, Hicks etc. Some of the long established keepers featured prominently too. It must be very galling for Lee Durrell to see all this happening now- hopefully it will be resolved. I cannot see that it is all just due to the aquisition of some 'dubious' species though, there must be more.
Question: does the creation, amendment, and side effects of wildlife trade laws play a factor on these declines as well?
Yes, J Cretney is one and the same. I am no fan of his. Lee Durrell is, if "honorary" to all intents and purposes a presence in name only. Time has moved on, and the "name" staff mentioned in Gerald Durrell's days are few and far between. Obviously the new generation who have come through have their own ideas, as is only right, but when the results see a noticeable decline, they should be moved on quickly by the board, not given even more rope to hang themselves with, as seems to have happened in a few instances. I don't generally agree with keeper's personal disputes being aired in public as there are always two sides to a story. The animal people may not be right on a decision taken from a non animal person. There is always a balance to maintain. Zoos are as much about people as they are animals.
OK don't want to derail the thread as this is a Marwell issue, but I feel the then board treated John Knowles extremely poorly. I also feel there was a long period of malaise and shrinkage of the collection and some questionable decisions regarding animal exhibits. This is all IMO of course. It does seem to have been echoed by recent developments at Jersey, unfortunately.
Everything's kicking off now: Durrell urges members to vote against rebels as EGM confirmed Unfortunately We Love The Zoo's press release does not seem to be publicly available, but Durrell's response to it, quoting large sections of it, is: Durrell response | Durrell
After reading the responses, I feel that both sides are digging in for a fight that one or both could end up losing, reputations are definitely on the line here. I would like to be at the EGM though. The staff have still got to work on regardless.
Big piece of investigative reporting just came out of ITV: https://www.itv.com/news/channel/20...allege-animal-welfare-concerns-at-popular-zoo
Horrific images. My heart goes out to those poor animals. I enjoyed an encounter with the aardvarks at Longleat two years ago and I believe the female is one I met back then. Absolutely disgusting.
Animals being injured in introductions does happen but that one will get more cover and reaction than the husbandry problems I imagine. The sloth area seems really odd and not how you’d expect sloths to be kept in any zoo in the region. The conditions highlighted seem very poor indeed. Do the sloths there really have no resting spaces, climbing areas, enrichment or bedding? I am always a little sceptical of agenda lead media coverage but I can’t think of anywhere exhibiting their sloths in that way if that is how the enclosure is as a whole. And the Aardvark behaviour looks wrong even to a visitor eye. I suppose timing of the coverage is to match the meeting etc. It appears to be lots of agendas on all sides and the poor animals in the middle.
Here is a good video of the sloth enclosure on Durrell's facebook when they arrived: Meet our new sloths | Introducing our new residents, super slow-moving Linne’s two-toed sloths, Terry and Rio! Rio is from recently closed Bristol Zoo. Terry joins us... | By Jersey ZooFacebook The pictures in the ITV article are of the sloths below their intended area, on the public walkways.
What a mess, what a shame. Jersey Zoo is one of my favourite zoos in the UK and Durrell do such fantastic field work to boot. I really hope for sake of the zoo and the Trust this is resolved quickly. I can’t help think that none of this arguing is actually helping the welfare of the keepers or the animals. As for the aardvarks, if all zoos got £1 for every injured animal in introductions no zoo would have financial troubles. It’s the risk that is ran when mixing new individuals, no matter the species. The Knowsley programme recently covered the death of their tigress when introduced to their male a year or so back. I personally think the group using the aardvark as an example of poor welfare in their fight against the board is pretty bottom of the barrel stuff. I’m almost certain it wouldn’t have been the first animal to be injured in an introduction at Jersey Zoo.
Introduction of animals can be a very fraught experience for both the animals and staff and superficial wounds can occur in the blink of an eye. I am not condoning what has been happening because I don't have all of the facts but as I have said in a previous post, reputations are definitely on the line here. I would like to be a musca domestica on the wall for the E M G.
Only a matter of time I suspect before Lee, as the last surviving prominent Durrell, gets dragged into this publicly. Also, I couldn’t help myself and clicked on the link within the article to an interview with Damian Aspinall. Raises nothing new although, to be fair, he does make a valid point on individual zoos being upfront and honest about their conservation work.
Thanks, looks like they just need to stop them wandering down there then. It's a bit unfair not to show the main sloth area, it's good to know they aren't living on the stairs!
Aardvark having little covering will show skin injuries more than hairier mammals would. Unfair example. Goats are/were a bad fit and should be at a Rare Breeds Farm. The sloths however are a genuine concern and should be removed immediately whether that is a new cage at Jersey or somewhere else. I cannot think of any animal that works suit that appalling excuse for an enclosure. A lot of "he said, she said" going on. Glad to see Quentin Bloxham is still around!
Looking at the video posted above by jersey insider of the actual sloth enclosure it looks comparable to others I can think of a few such as Longleat that look very similar and have the same sloth to visitor proximity. Obviously if they climb down into the walkway that should be corrected as needed as sloths on the floor is poor. But it’s not their enclosure it seems yet it is said to be one in the interview. And it works - I certainly have the same reaction to the pictures. It does appear to be some pictures used of what isn’t actually the enclosure however which I think is a bit strange in itself.
Oh dear-do you mean the journalist was misleading? I fell for it! However, it does sound that the enclosure is far from ideal for a sensitive species and offers little natural to engage the animals.
