Gerald Durrell - A Zoo in My Luggage

So we flew to Jersey. As the plane came in to land the island seemed like a toy continent, a patchwork of tiny fields, set in a vivid blue sea. A pleasantly carunculated rocky coastline was broken here and there with smooth stretches of beach, along which the sea creamed in ribbons. As we stepped out on to the tarmac the air seemed warmer, and the sun a little more brilliant. I felt my spirits rising.

In the car park Hugh Fraser awaited us. He was a tall, slim man, wearing a narrow-brimmed trilby tilted so far forward that the brim almost rested on his aquiline nose. His blue eyes twinkled humorously as he shepherded us into his car and drove us away from the airport. We drove through St Helier, the capital of the island, which reminded me of a sizeable English market town; it was something of a surprise to find, at a cross-roads, a policeman in a white coat and white helmet, directing the traffic. It suddenly gave the place a faintly tropical atmosphere. We drove through the town and then out along narrow roads with steep banks, where the trees leaned over and entwined branches, turning it into a green tunnel. The landscape, with its red earth and rich green grass, reminded me very much of Devon, but the landscape was a miniature one, with tiny fields, narrow valleys stuffed with trees, and small farmhouses built of the beautiful Jersey granite, which contains a million autumn tints in its surface where the sun touches it. Then we turned off the road, drove down a long drive and suddenly, before us, was Hugh’s home, Les Augres Manor.

The Manor was built like an E without the centre bar; the main building was in the upright of the E, while the two cross pieces were wings of the house, ending in two massive stone arches which allowed access to the courtyard. These beautiful arches were built in about 1660 and, like the rest of the building, were of the lovely local granite. Hugh showed us round his home with obvious pride, the old granite cider-press and cowsheds, the huge walled garden, the small lake with its tattered fringe of bulrushes, the sunken water-meadows with the tiny streams trickling through them. At last we walked slowly back under the beautiful archways and into the courtyard, flooded with sunshine.

‘You know, Hugh, you’ve got a wonderful place here,’ I said.

‘Yes, it is lovely … I think one of the loveliest Manors on the island,’ said Hugh.

I turned to Jacquie. ‘Wouldn’t it make a wonderful place for our zoo?’ I remarked.

‘Yes, it would,’ agreed Jacquie.

Hugh eyed me for a moment. ‘Are you serious?’ he inquired.

‘Well, I was joking, but it would make a wonderful site for a zoo. Why?’ I asked.

‘Well,’ said Hugh thoughtfully, ‘I’m finding the upkeep too much for my resources, and I want to move to the mainland. Would you be interested in renting the place?’

‘Would I?’ I said. ‘Just give me the chance.’

‘Come inside, dear boy, and we’ll discuss it,’ said Hugh, leading the way across the courtyard.

So, after a frustrating year of struggling with councils and other local authorities, I had gone to Jersey, and within an hour of landing at the airport I had found my zoo.

My zoo in Jersey has now been open to the public for nearly a year. We are probably the newest zoo in Europe and, I like to think, one of the nicest. We are small, of course (at the moment we have only about six hundred and fifty mammals, birds and reptiles), but we will continue to expand. Already we have on show a number of creatures which no other zoo possesses and we hope in the future when funds permit to concentrate on those species which are threatened with extinction.

Many of the animals on show are ones I collected myself. This is, as I said before, the best part of having one’s own zoo; one can bring the animals back for it, watch their progress, watch them breed, go out and visit them at any hour of the day or night. This is the selfish pleasure of one’s own zoo. But also I hope that, in a small way, I am interesting people in animal life and in its conservation. If I accomplish this I will consider that I have achieved something worthwhile. And if I can, later on, help even slightly towards preventing an animal from becoming extinct, I will be more than content.

Britain

All the members of the expedition are very grateful to the following manufacturers who supported them in a most generous way:

Adhesive Tapes Ltd: Sellotape

S. Allcock & Co. Ltd: Fishing lines

Ashton Brothers & Co. Ltd: Bedding

Black & Decker Ltd: Drill

Bovril Ltd: Food

Brand & Co. Ltd: Food

British Bata Shoe Co.: Baseball boots

British Berkefeld Filters Ltd: Filters

British Nylon Spinners Ltd: Clothing

Cerebos Ltd: Food

Coleman Quick Lite Co. Ltd: Lighting and heating

Joseph Cookson Ltd: Rope

Cussons Sons & Co.: Toilet goods

W. M. Delf (L’pool) Ltd: Disinfectant

Electrical Equipment Co.: Generator

Ever-Ready Co. (GB) Ltd: Batteries

Joseph Farrow & Co. Ltd: Food

Granta Works: Folding canoe

Horlicks Ltd: Food

Hugon & Co. Ltd: Food

Jeyes-Ibco Sales Ltd: Disinfectant

Percy Jones (Twinlock) Ltd.: Files

G. B. Kalee Ltd: Ciné equipment

Kimberly-Clark Ltd: Tissues

Latex Upholstery Ltd: Foam rubber

Linen Thread Company Ltd: Special line

Lustraphone Ltd: Microphone

Marmite Ltd: Food

William Marples & Sons Ltd: Tools

Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. Ltd: Tapes

Don S. Momand Ltd: Alka-Seltzer

The Nestlé Company Ltd: Food

Olympia Ltd: Typewriter

Oxo Ltd: Food

Pifco Ltd: Lighting

Polarisers (UK) Ltd: Sun-glasses

Prestige Group Ltd: Cooking equipment

Rael-Brook Ltd: Clothing

Reckitt & Colman Ltd: Medical supplies

Revlon: Toilet goods

Ross Ensign Ltd: Binoculars

Geo. Salter & Co. Ltd: Scales

Scott & Turner: Vitamin food

Selfset Ltd: Traps

The Sheffield Twist Drill & Steel Co. Ltd: Drills

Smith & Nephew Ltd: Medical supplies

Smiths Clocks and Watches Ltd: Watches

Spear & Jackson Ltd: Spades

Spong & Co. Ltd: Mincers

Stanley Works (GB) Ltd: Tools

Tate & Lyle Ltd: Food

Templeton Patents Ltd: Dried foods

Joseph Tetley & Co. Ltd: Tea

Tilley Lamp Co. Ltd: Lamps and heaters

United Yeast Co. Ltd: Yeast

Venesta Ltd: Plymax board

Venner Accumulators Ltd: Batteries for recorder

Vitamins Ltd: Bemax

Windolite Ltd: Windolite

Yeo Bros. Paul Ltd: Tent

S. Young & Sons (Misterton) Ltd: Animal equipment

Manufacturers whose products were of tremendous value and without which the expedition would have been seriously hampered were:

Allen & Hanburys: Entavet

Barnards Ltd: Wire netting

B.D.H.: Medical supplies

British Nylon Spinners Ltd, Pontypool: Tarpaulins, etc.

Dexion Ltd: Dexion

Glaxo Labs Ltd: Animal food

Greengate & Irwell Rubber Co. Ltd: Nylon tarpaulins

Joseph Gundry & Co. Ltd: Special nets

Halex Ltd: Plastic goods

Kenneth G. Hayes Ltd: Finch nest baskets

Hounsfield Ltd: Camp-beds

Imperial Chemical (Pharmaceuticals) Ltd: Medical supplies

The Oppenheimer Casing Co. (UK) Ltd: Polythene bags

Parke-Davis & Co. Ltd: Medical supplies

William Smith (Poplar) Ltd: Tarpaulins, tent, etc.

Thomas’s Ltd: Cages and special equipment

J. H. Thompson (Cutlery) Ltd: Cutlery

Transatlantic Plastics Ltd: Polythene bags