Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Jersey Zoo/Durrell 2025

It’s a great addition for Jersey. Have they added a pond/ to the moat - I can’t quite picture it?
Not overly sure if they have added a new pond to one of the enclosures. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I remember the moats being fairly deep in both of the enclosures.
 
Durrell have announced that the controversial pay to hunt deer on the Dalnacardoch estate will now end at the end of October, not ,spring 2016.Durrel leased the site in 2023 to start a rewilding project.
 
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The zoo saw a loss of £4-8 million in 2024.
Visitors numbers had dropped 209,474 in 2023 to 175,940 in 2024. Whilst most income sources tracked in line with previous years there was a marked decline in donation income coupled with an increase in expenditure, largely due to economic validity,high inflation rates and statutory rises in minimum and living wages. It is currently a critical time for the organisation. The zoo also said that it managed to spend less than its budget despite investing in new facilities including the new Gorillas complex.This news item is from the BBC.
 
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The zoo saw a loss of £4-8 million in 2024.
Visitors numbers had dropped 209,474 in 2023 to 175,940 in 2024. Whilst most income sources tracked in line with previous years there was a marked decline in donation income coupled with an increase in expenditure, largely due to economic validity,high inflation rates and statutory rises in minimum and living wages. It is currently a critical time for the organisation. The zoo also said that it managed to spend less than its budget despite investing in new facilities including the new Gorillas complex.This news item is from the BBC.

https://www.itv.com/news/channel/20...-zoo-drop-by-1-million-in-year-of-controversy
 
Thanks for the posts @Strathmorezoo and @Clouded Leopard and this was shocking news to me. All of the allegations and news reports have obviously hit the zoo hard and this is a place that struggles for visitor numbers at the best of times due to its geographical location. As someone who idolized Gerald Durrell as a kid, and I still love his books now as an adult, I'm really hoping that Jersey Zoo can make some positive strides in the near future.
 
The thing I don't understand, is why there was a marked decline in donations. As a person who donates to several charities, if one of them started to have financial difficulties, the last thing that I would do, is to stop donating.
According to a new ITV news report, the drop in donations was over £1 million, plus the resignation of ex employees, cost a further £121,000. It's no wonder they have problems, which I for one, hope that they can overcome!!
 
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Surely the problem is entrapment on a island,coupled with a general fading of Gerald Durrell`s name? Im lucky enough to know Lee Durrell reasonably well and have argued in the past that they should have a presence on the mainland (indeed it has been tentatively offered in the past)...but they seem set against it. I am not suggesting the Trust leave Jersey incidentally.
 
Surely the problem is entrapment on an island,coupled with a general fading of Gerald Durrell`s name? Im lucky enough to know Lee Durrell reasonably well and have argued in the past that they should have a presence on the mainland (indeed it has been tentatively offered in the past)...but they seem set against it. I am not suggesting the Trust leave Jersey incidentally.

Wasn’t Bournemouth investigated as a possible location before Jersey?
 
Wasn’t Bournemouth investigated as a possible location before Jersey?
Yes, but the local authority insisted on expensive repairs to the existing buildings, which would have left no money to build a zoo. Massive long term loss to the area
 
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