Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Captive readers

2006; Elsevier BV; Volume: 16; Issue: 18 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.cub.2006.08.063

1879-0445

Nigel Williams,

Conservation, Ecology, Wildlife Education

Nigel Williams notes the fiftieth anniversary of an influential conservationist's book. Nigel Williams notes the fiftieth anniversary of an influential conservationist's book. Fifty years after it was first published, Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals is being released in a special edition by Puffin for children and as part of a trilogy of books by the author on his life as a boy in Corfu by Penguin. Called by the zoologist and broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough, as a “one-man pressure group”, Durrell is increasingly seen as one of the pioneers of conservation biology. Although Durrell died 11 years ago, his widow, Lee Durrell, also a zoologist, hopes the new editions will introduce a new generation to his writings and the conservation work he began on Jersey in 1959, where he turned his concerns into a lifelong mission. Well before the world at large had woken up to the dangers of environmental degradation and the impact on the planet's diversity, Durrell, a self-taught zoologist, championed the conservation message. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust with the aim of preserving species at risk of extinction in the wild. It now has 100 staff at its base in Jersey and 30 more in 50 projects across 18 countries, in programmes spending £5 million a year. He set up on the back of his royalties, borrowing the money to start his own project in Jersey, including a major breeding programme. Its work included saving the Mauritius kestrel, which was down to only four birds before the trust's efforts boosted the number to 1,000. On Madagascar, there are about 10 endangered species that are being bred in captivity both on the island and back in Jersey as a survival insurance policy. And the government of Monserrat called in the Durrell Wildlife Trust for support after the volcano devastated large parts of the island and threatened the Monserrat oriole bird and the mountain chicken, which is, in fact, a frog. They are being bred in Jersey as a safety net in case the native population fails to recover. Durrell was concerned that conventional zoos at that time were doing little towards the conservation of species. His Jersey zoo has now abandoned the name zoo because of the negative connotations, and preserves species by breeding them in captivity and reintroducing them into their original habitat when conditions become favourable. It has also provided professional training for many zoologists and conservationists. The extraordinary thing, said Attenborough at a memorial service for Durrell, 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 a beacon to a generation of zoo directors who were to be inspired by his belief that their institutions could contribute to the preservation of wildlife, Attenborough said. And many conservationists believe Durrell's influence can be traced back to My Family and Other Animals. “That book and his subsequent books bred a whole generation of zoologists,” says Lee Durrell. And although captive breeding has its critics, there is no doubt for some species it has been crucial. A report last month from BirdLife International described the existence of 31 bird species in conservation efforts, including captive breeding. Californian condors now number more than 100 through such a programme and the Bali starling was reduced to an estimated six in the wild, but is now breeding successfully in a number of captive programmes, and available for release when conditions permit. The need for captive breeding programmes is greater than it has ever been, says Lee Durrell. “The situation is probably more alarming than when he started.” On Jersey, an initiative between Ottakar's bookshop and Penguin is encouraging every teenager and adult on the island to read My Family and Other Animals with a donation of £1 to the Durrell Wildlife Trust for each book sold. And the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust continues to be run according to the principles he laid down in the early days. Lee Durrell believes her late husband would be overwhelmed at the new flurry of attention but would hope it has a positive outcome.