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Durrell’s competition to engage Jersey students with conservationists out in the field received a commendation in the category for Best Education Project at this year’s BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) awards.
Durrell’s competition to engage Jersey students with conservationists out in the field received a commendation in the category for Best Education Project at this year’s BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) awards.
Four Durrell conservationists working in Madagascar, Montserrat, the Galapagos Islands and Jersey battled it out in the ‘I’m a Conservationist, get me out of here!’ contest to win over Grainville School students back in the classroom and win £500 for their individual projects.
Thanks to support from NatWest, a special blog was set up so that the Year 8 pupils could get in touch with the Durrell team. For a two-week period in March they were able to find out more about Liz Corry’s plans to re-introduce the red-billed chough to Jersey after an absence of 100 years; Lance Woolaver’s work with Madagascar’s unique but very rare ploughshare tortoise; Lloyd Martin’s project to protect Montserrat’s Critically Endangered mountain chicken frog; and Francesca Cunninghame’s endeavours to help the mangrove finch, one of Charles Darwin’s famous birds of which less than 100 are thought to remain in the wild.
Lance and the plight of the ploughshare tortoise proved to be the most engaging project and the team in Madagascar were delighted to win the £500 to purchase radio tags to continue the vital work of monitoring the tortoises in the wild.
Naomi Webster Durrell’s Education and Interpretation Manager said: “The competition directly engaged students in a dialogue about science and how Durrell’s staff are applying science to help save species from extinction. The direct access to the people actually doing the work brought the whole topic alive for the students.”
The BIAZA award ceremony is known in the industry as the Zoo “Oscars”. The annual event is held to celebrate some of the incredible contributions to animal welfare, wildlife conservation, public understanding and horticulture.
Dr Kirsten Pullen, CEO of BIAZA, said: “The BIAZA awards highlight the crucial work carried out in zoos and aquariums. All of this year’s award-winning projects show the exceptional contributions our members are making to animal husbandry and welfare, wildlife conservation and public understanding for species both in the UK and overseas.”
Jerry Whitsey, Chairman of the Corporate Sustainability Board, at NatWest said: “We are delighted that Durrell’s education programme, offering Year 8 students from Grainville School the unique opportunity to participate in the first “I’m a Conservationist, Get me out of Here”, competition has been recognised with a commendation for Best Education Project at this year’s BIAZA Awards. This was an excellent programme for the students to engage directly with the four Conservationists and made possible by our sponsorship. Through our commitment to undertake business in a responsible way, conservation is an important pillar of our community work.”
