The Ark's Anniversary by Gerald Durrell

Author:Gerald Durrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK
Published: 2011-11-30T05:00:00+00:00

The Jigsaw Strategy

Over the years, Jeremy has always referred to the Trust’s multifaceted approach to captive breeding for conservation and, although we tend to pull his leg over this oft repeated and somewhat ponderous statement, it is perfectly true that this phrase sums up our work and the reason for our success. The Trust’s multifaceted approach is really made up of three stages, each different but each, as it were, interlocking with the other two bits of a jigsaw.

Stage one is the choosing of the species which you think will benefit most from your help, setting up breeding colonies in Jersey and then, when there are sufficient numbers, forming ‘satellite’ colonies in other zoological collections of good repute, usually in Europe or America. At this point you can say with some degree of truth that, leaving aside disasters, you have saved the species in captivity. Stage two is the establishment of colonies in the species’ country of origin, for that after all is where endangered species should be bred. The climate is right and the appropriate foods are available and, most importantly, the people can see their own animal treasures and learn to appreciate them. The third stage is the arduous task of releasing into the wild animals bred in Jersey or our satellite colonies or indeed in their home country. This final stage is a story in itself and is the subject of Chapter Five.

It became apparent early on that there was no point in even stage one of our activities unless we had the involvement of the government of the country where the animals come from. Over the years, I have become distressingly aware of how little is known about conservation and the necessity for it by those people in the position of power to make decisions: the politicians. I have a little black book in which I write down the more inane statements made by world leaders so that, when I complain about governments and people think I am exaggerating, I can quote them chapter and verse.

Top of my list, of course, is ex-President Reagan. His grasp of ecological problems and his grave concern for the environment are, I think, nicely encapsulated in these two statements: first, that trees cause pollution and, second, that it did not matter if the redwood forests were hacked to pieces for, as the president sagely remarked, when you’ve seen one redwood you have seen them all. My next prize for the oafish or mentally retarded statement must surely go to the Indian minister who, when faced with conservation opposition to the building of a dam which would flood a very important piece of forest and its wildlife, said angrily that ‘we cannot afford these ecological luxuries’. When ecology becomes a luxury then we are all dead.

The Minister for Mines in Queensland, Australia won my heart with his remarks to the Press when there was controversy over the proposal to drill for oil on the Great Barrier Reef. First of all, he said, there was no such thing as an oil slick.

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