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Jersey Zoo has applied to make changes to its current plan for a new gorilla enclosure for "welfare" reasons, and is also seeking to rectify a lack of planning permission for its capybara and goat enclosures.
The applications were part of a flurry of five submitted this week – two related to the new gorilla enclosure, while three were retrospective applications.
Each of the applications was listed as having been submitted by Operations Director Graeme Dick, whose departure "by mutual consent" with the charity on 28 March was confirmed this week amid growing calls from a campaign group for an EGM to discuss the charity's management.
Express asked Jersey Zoo on Wednesday for more details on the changes to the gorilla enclosure, and why permission to build an associated air-con unit was not obtained earlier. It is yet to receive a response.
Funded in part by the Go Wild Gorillas trail, construction began to create a larger and more modern gorilla enclosure two years ago.
The revised application involves making certain parts of the enclosure larger. Documents submitted as part of the planning application say that the changes have "been fundamentally led by Gorilla welfare and keeper / gorilla management requirements and they do not impact on either the main enclosure areas or the visitor areas".
Separately to this, Jersey Zoo is also seeking to build a new fenced enclosure with an air-conditioning unit to feed the gorilla building, as well as an underground service building.
Jersey Zoo first broke ground on the start of the new gorilla house and a Visayan warty pig enclosure in 2022, and completed the first stage of the former in the same year.
The building is to replace the current 40-year-old indoor enclosure, installing up-to-date technology to control the environment, as well as creating space for breeding.
The Go Wild Gorillas sculpture trail raised more than £1m to be put towards the primate project.
However, preparatory works were funded by the Government, which gave a £980,000 grant from the Fiscal Stimulus Fund - a pot of money set aside to help stimulate the economy in the wake of the pandemic.
The charity’s annual report and accounts said that “a total of £4.4m was restricted towards the new gorilla house” at year-end. Its 2023 accounts are yet to be published. Express has asked if the revisions to the scheme have changed the estimated cost of the project and is awaiting a reply.
A refurbishment of the Visitor Centre was also undertaken and a new home for the sloths was built, and the build for a new Aldabra tortoise enclosure began in that same year. The charity said in its 2022 accounts that 2022 also saw some “unexpected capital spend” in the form of a new Flamingo tunnel, created to guard against avian influenza risk.
“Much of our capital project spend was funded by our generous donors,” Durrell said in the report.
Durrell has also had to put in retrospective applications for the capybara and Guernsey goat enclosures, as well as for a new service building to the north of the site.
Express has asked the Zoo why they had not obtained permission before building the enclosures. A response is yet to be received.
Pictured: The Guernsey goats featured in the planning application, showing off their sleeping pods
The goat enclosure includes a sleeping den for the goats and a hut for visitors to the Zoo to view the animals from.
The goats arrived at the Zoo in 2022.
The capybara enclosure, which Durrell is now seeking permission for, has hosted the animals since September 2023 - although one of the two half-sisters who had taken up residence in Jersey died unexpectedly a month after her arrival.
Pictured: Durrell included a picture of a capybara in their planning application.
Connected to the outdoor enclosure by a walkway, the building is split into three areas for the rodents, whose species became TikTok famous in 2023, to live in.
Some of the individuals campaigning for an EGM had claimed they had animal welfare concerns – with the goats and capybaras having previously been highlighted. Durrell has always maintained that animal welfare is a key priority.
It was also claimed that the charity had lost its way from the path set by Gerald Durrell OBE by including animals in its collection which were not endangered, but rather 'crowd-pleasers'. However, the charity has always stressed the need for "balance" in its collection.
Amid the calls for an extraordinary general meeting, Lee Durrell MBE, Gerald Durrell's widow, spoke out for the first time, saying that, while she welcomed constructive criticism, that the current campaign risked destabilising the charity's work.
This week, Unite the Union revealed that it had seen a rise in members coming from Durrell.
“In the last 12 to 14 months we have had an influx of members coming from Durrell,” representative James Turner said, though he was not at liberty to share numbers.
“We see that there are issues in the workplace, then we have established contact with the members asking what the issues are.”
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