Despite the Trust’s specialised focus on the conservation of endangered species, it would of course be impossible to maintain an air of scientific detachment, even if we wanted to. The place is still fun, and is still full of characters, both human and non-human. Part of the daily lot of a keeper is to be scratched, urinated and defecated on by a wide variety of creatures, the latter honour usually being bestowed with suspicious accuracy and often from a great height. In most professions this only happens metaphorically.
Gerald Durrell’s books are imbued with a humour and a passion that I, for one, find quite infectious. The tendency to anthropomorphise animals has been considered somewhat of a heresy in some circles in recent years – circles in which the chapter ‘Love and Marriage’, for example, might find itself re-titled ‘The Race for Genetic Representation and Mate Selection’. But now I’m missing the point. Gerald Durrell was a born naturalist whose attitude to animals was actually anything but anthropomorphic. He realised, though, that the best way to interest, inspire and motivate the world about the wildlife he loved so much was to translate his scientific understanding of the animals into recognisable human qualities that others could identify with. This, indeed, must have been one of his greatest gifts, and I can think of at least one 12-year-old boy who was steered towards a career in wildlife conservation as a result.
Since this book was written, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust has evolved into a self-critical organisation with far-reaching influence. Many pioneering methods, improved and refined over the years through our work in Jersey and at our in situ field centres around the world, have been essential tools in rescuing threatened species and their habitats. Projects such as our incentivebased community conservation work at Lake Alaotra in Madagascar has become a blueprint for others to follow, and our conservation focus on targeted areas of threat (especially in areas of exceptional biological endemism, such as islands) has led us to develop a number of areas of expertise.
Learning and training pervades Durrell at every level. As well as running in-country training courses, the Trust’s formal International Training Centre in Jersey has seen well over 1,400 trainees from all over the world pass through its doors. After an intensive series of lectures and seminars on the theories of conservation processes and their practical application, the trainees spend time working in some of the animal or veterinary departments on site. Learning, of course, is a two-way process, so whilst trying to impart some of what I know to our trainees, I might also learn, for example, about the difficulties of enforcing environmental policies in politically unstable countries, about local attitudes to wildlife across the world, or, occasionally, about how many goats to offer for a plump and fecund wife.
We all have a great deal to learn from each other, and conservation organisations can make a significant impact through close collaboration. It is all too easy to be pessimistic about the future of our planet, bombarded as we are on a daily basis by forecasts of doom and prophecies of disaster. But if we have learnt anything over the years, it is that there is hope, and that we can make a difference. It would be easy to write off the black lion tamarins, for example, as a species whose habitat has been too badly fragmented to allow its continued survival. But our work (with our partners) in Brazil has raised the profile of these little monkeys, such that a body of concern has been created, and this body is taking action. One of the leading conservationists in Brazil, inspired by his time training at Durrell, has set the wheels in motion. Without dedicated supporters like this, the black lion tamarin and its unique habitat would have faced a bleak future indeed. Their future is still uncertain – let’s be honest – but now amidst the bleakness there is hope. Species like the Mauritius kestrel (once down to four known adults), the Mauritius pink pigeon (down to ten known wild birds) and the echo parakeet (less than a dozen known birds, with only three females) have been brought back from the brink by the work of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, and these populations are now comparatively healthy on Mauritius. Durrell has played an active role in more bird conservation success stories than any other conservation organisation in the world. We are also focusing on endangered bat species around the globe as well as on the terrifying problems decimating the earth’s amphibian populations.
Durrell is entering a new and exciting era. We are poised to take the years of experience we have gained and apply our expertise to additional areas of the world where some very special endangered creatures and their habitats are in desperate need of our assistance. When we put our minds and our energies into it, when we address the root of the problems, empower local communities to help us tackle them and to benefit from the solutions, we can work miracles. We can still change the world for the better and we need to believe it. Gerald Durrell’s recognition of this is a testament to his vision, and his legacy – the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust – continues to fulfil his dream.
A MESSAGE FROM THE
DURRELL WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION TRUST
The end of this book isn’t the end of Gerald Durrell’s story. The various experiences you have just read about gave impetus and inspiration to his lifetime crusade to preserve the rich diversity of animal life on this planet.
Although he died in 1995, the words of Gerald Durrell in this and his other books will continue to inspire people everywhere with love and respect for what he called ‘this magical world’. His work goes on through the untiring efforts of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Over the years many readers of Gerald Durrell’s books have been so motivated by his experiences and vision that they have wanted to continue the story for themselves by supporting the work of his Trust. We hope that you will feel the same way today because through his books and life, Gerald Durrell set us all a challenge. ‘Animals are the great voteless and voiceless majority,’ he wrote, ‘who can only survive with our help.’
Please don’t let your interest in conservation end when you turn this page. Write to us now and we’ll tell you how you can be part of our crusade to save animals from extinction. For further information, or to send a donation, write to:
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Les Augrès Manor
Jersey,
Channel Islands,
JE3 5BP
via UK
Or visit the website:
www.durrell.org
www.summersdale.com
Menagerie Manor Page 15
