Jeremy Mallinson - The Touch of Durrell

About the Author

Jeremy Mallinson OBE, DSc (Hon), FRSB, FRGS

During the mid-1950s he saw service in the regular army of the Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland (RNSC). On his return to his home in Jersey, and after having read Gerald Durrells classic My Family and Other Animals, he joined the staff of Durrells newly established Jersey Zoological Park in May 1959.

During his forty-two year career in zoos and conservation he studied animals in Africa, Asia and South America. He served as Gerald Durrells Deputy, and then Zoological Director, of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. After his mentors death in 1995, he was appointed Director of the renamed Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

He has written more than two hundred papers and articles, addressed conferences in over twenty different countries, and is the author of nine books. He has received many awards for his services to animal conservation worldwide, including the World Zoo Organisations Heini Hediger Award; the Zoological Society of San Diegos Gold Medal Award for Conservation; and the IUCN/SSC/Conservation Planning Specialist Groups Ulysses S. Seal Innovation in Conservation Award.

Jeremy Mallinson lives in Jersey.

By the same author

Okavango Adventure

Earning Your Living with Animals

Modern Classic Animal Stories (Editor)

The Shadow of Extinction

The Facts about a Zoo

Travels in Search of Endangered Species

Durrelliania An Illustrated Checklist

The Counts Cats

Les Minquiers Jerseys Southern Outpost

Someone Wishes To Speak To You

THE TOUCH OF DURRELL

A Passion for Animals

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Jeremy Mallinson

First published in Great Britain in 2009

Paperback edition published in Great Britain in 2018 by

The Book Guild Ltd

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Copyright 2018 Jeremy Mallinson

The right of Jeremy Mallinson to be identified as the author of this

work has been asserted by him in accordance with the

Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means,

without permission in writing from the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in

any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without

a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

ISBN 9781912575664

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

For Gerald Durrell who provided me with a career which was

More Fun than Fun

And for Odette,

our children and grand-children

Julian and Sophie

Jay & Zac and Claudia & Melanie

With thanks to

Club Jules Gonin

This limited paperback-edition of The Touch of Durrell

is published with the support of Club Jules Gonin.

Contents

Illustrations

Front Cover: The author with lowland gorilla, G-Anne, at Jersey Zoo, 1985. Robert Rattner

a. Gerald Durrell, Founder and Honorary Director (19631995) of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, 1983. Durrell Archives

b. Dr Lee Durrell, Honorary Director of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Durrell Archives

c. The author shaking hands with his mentor, at Gerald Durrells wedding to Lee McGeorge in Memphis, Tennessee, 24 May 1979. Durrell Arichives

d. Taken after the authors retirement lunch, in the presence of The Princess Royal at Les Augrs Manor, June 2001, (left to right) Miles Mallinson, Sophie Dixon (ne Mallinson), Advocate Keith Dixon, Julian Mallinson, Peter Olney, Air Chief Marshall Sir John Cheshire, Dr Lee Durrell, The Princess Royal, Jeremy and Odette Mallinson, Dr Michael Brambell, Robin Rumboll, Dr John Knowles, Professor Roger Wheater. Stuart McAlister

The author, during the mid-1950s, serving in the regular army of Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland (RNSC), Jay Duncan

The author under the discerning eye of his mentor, Gerald Durrell, Jersey Zoo, 1961. Rosemary Gilliat

Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and film director with juvenile lowland gorilla, NPongo, at Jersey Zoo, 1959. Durrell archives.

The author with Dingo puppies, born Jersey Zoo, 1960. Michael Armstrong

Durrell family reunion, Les Augrs Manor, Jersey, Christmas 1960. Gerald Durrell with mother, Louisa, sister, Margo, brother, Lawrence with wife Claude. Durrell Archives

The author with European red fox vixen, Pufrelli, on board the Warwick Castle, Gulf of Aden, Oct. 1961. Union Castle Lines

The author and June Kay, with Roger holding a snared Marabou stork (later released), Okavango swamps, Bechuanaland Protectorate (Botswana), Easter 1962. Robert Kay

Clio, the authors pet female Chacma baboon. E.D.H. Johnson

The author with Robert and June Kays hand-reared 3 year-old lioness, Chinky, at Jersey Zoo, May 1962. Jersey Evening Post

Female cheetah, Paula, taking the author for a morning run at Jersey Zoo, 1969. DWCT Archives

The author introducing the female cheetah Paula to his Basset hound, Scobie, at Jersey Zoo, 1969. Peter Le Breton

The author with NPongo at Jersey Zoo, 1970. Phillip Coffey

Pygmy hog family group at the Basistha Centre, near Guawahati, Assam, India. Three Breeding Pens named after Gerald Durrell, Richard Magor and Jeremy Mallinson. Michael Hammett

Infant male lowland gorilla, Assumbo, born Jersey Zoo, 1973. Phillip Coffey

Infant male lowland gorilla, Tatu born Jersey Zoo. Phillip Coffey

The author on the Zaire River Expedition, Nov. 1974. Peter Picot

Conservateur Adrian Deschryver, communicating with silverback eastern lowland gorilla Kasimir, in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Kivu, Zaire, October 1974. Jeremy Mallinson

Golden lion tamarin twins at Jersey Zoo. Phillip Coffey

Golden-headed lion tamarins at Jersey Zoo. DWCT archives

The wedding of Gerald Durrell and Lee McGeorge in Memphis, Tennessee. With their best man, the author, and pianist, Mose, 24 May 1979. Durrell Archives

Gerald and Lee Durrell at their 10 th Wedding Anniversary in Jersey. Durrell Archives

Mutual Admiration- The author with two year-old Bornean orang-utan, Gigit, Jersey Zoo, 1980 Jersey Evening Post

Princess Royal, Patron of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust) with Gerald Durrell and the author, with HRH placing of a Time Capsule in the foundations of The Princess Royal Pavilion, Dec. 1988. Jersey Evening Post

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, with Lou Ann Dietz (left) & Cristina Alvs, (right), on the occasion of his official presentation of a 673 ha Forest Corridor to the Brazilian Governments Nature Protection Division, IBDF, linking parts of the Una Biological Reserve, Bahia. Funded mainly by WWF-US, Conservation International, and the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, 1991. Jim Dietz

The Forest Corridor partly funded by JWPT, through a grant from the Domaine Des Vaux Opera (Jersey). L. A. Dietz

The author erecting a Conservation Protection (no shooting) notice, with two members of the Reserves staff wearing J & B Care for the Rare T-shirts. J & B, through JWPT, funded a three-year Landowners Education Programmein Bahia, Brazil. Ilmar Santos