Governance

The Board of Trustees are elected during Durrell’s Annual General Meetings. There are currently nine Trustees.   

• Matthew Hatchwell – Chair (since October 2023)  
• Gary Clark –  Honorary Treasurer  
• Gerald Voisin – Honorary Secretary  
• Sarah Cook   
• Dr Jonas Muller   
• Dr James Cretney   
• Richard Daggett 
• Gillian Arthur   
• Niall Husbands   

The Board of Trustees has a dynamic range of experience and skills, including:   

Experience working in animal management, international wildlife conservation, professional governance, finance, law, retail, human resources and communications.   

Working for organisations such as the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Marwell Wildlife, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Natural History Museum, Eden Project and UNICEF.  

Roles they have undertaken include Chief Executive of Marwell Wildlife, Director of Conservation at ZSL, CEO of WCS Europe, chairing WAZA’s animal welfare and finance committees, Group Head of Brand & Content Strategy at Legal & General, being part of the statutory body overseeing the environmental and social actions and policies of a UK government department and Founder and Director of Paisaia European Landscape Foundation.  

Most Durrell trustees have served on the boards of other charities so bring a wealth of governance experience to their role. 

All board positions are voluntary, which means they do not get paid for their role as Trustees. On occasion, they may receive other compensation such as reimbursements for travel to and from Durrell commitments. These are disclosed each year in the published annual report.   

The Senior Management Team comprises the CEO, Director of Zoo Operations, Director of Field Programmes, Director of Communications and Fundraising, Director of People and Values, Director of Finance, Director of Conservation Knowledge and Director of Commercial.  

They are ultimately responsible for the day-to-day running of the Trust. This includes the running of Jersey Zoo, as well as the field programmes Durrell manages across the world.  

Examples of activities the Senior Management Team oversee and are responsible for:  

• Developing and delivering field programme work and conservation research projects  
• Measuring our conservation impact  
• Developing and delivering our conservation training programmes  
• Managing the zoo site both as a visitor attraction as well as for education, training, research and other conservation purposes.   
• The day-to-day care of the animals that we look after in Jersey and at our field programme sites around the world  
• Undertaking fundraising activities and identifying opportunities for the Trust  
• Managing the Trust’s financial resources   
• Recruitment, policies and people management  
• Commercial operations such as running our cafés, shops and accommodation 

If a majority FOR vote, signalling no confidence in the Board of Trustees, is passed at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), they may be required to step down. In this eventuality, the following steps will be taken:   

The current Board of Trustees will begin to transition to a new Board.  At least two Trustees will need to stay on temporarily to support recruitment.   

To ensure the new Board effectively fulfils its oversight and strategic responsibilities, recruitment will start for new Trustees, who will need high levels of expertise in areas such as conservation, governance and finance. Trustees are external professionals who volunteer their time, and it may be difficult to attract high-quality candidates after the EGM.   

New Trustees are approved at Annual General Meetings (AGM), so the appointment process will need to be accelerated to meet this September deadline. This will have a financial impact on the Trust and will move funds away from conservation work. 

Despite the EGM resolution focusing on Jersey Zoo, there may also be a significant impact on how the Trust is run, including our global conservation programmes. This could include:  

• A risk of Durrell failing its legal obligations as a charity.  
• No movement forward with Durrell’s vision, strategy or projects and the inability to develop our new 2026 strategy to follow on from ‘Rewild our World’, which ends in 2025.  
• Delays to Field Programme developments, impacting conservation progress and efforts across the globe. Work to attract new conservation partners may also be hindered.  
• Delays to changes and improvements at Jersey Zoo, including new species, the new gorilla house build, planning of a new reptile and amphibian house, storm repairs, events, fundraising plans and commercial operations.  
• Impacts on staff morale and the possible loss of key employees.  
• The risk of Honorary Director, Lee Durrell, stepping down and moving away from the charity.   
• Damage to partnerships that Durrell relies on to raise funds.   
• The deflection of funds and senior management time from conservation to instead recruit a new Board of Trustees.  

The Board of Trustees recommends you vote AGAINST the EGM resolution. 

The Board of Trustees recommends you vote AGAINST the EGM resolution. If a majority AGAINST vote is passed at the EGM, then Durrell will:  

• Continue with the daily operations of the Trust, which have been hugely impacted over the past few months because of the current campaign regarding the management of Jersey Zoo. 
• Continue professionalising management systems in line with projected growth and to meet the ever-growing challenge of species extinctions around the world.  
• Reinforce internal communications to rebuild confidence within the Trust. 
• Proceed with our annual staff survey. 
• Focus on strategic planning with participation of staff at all levels.  
• Ensure that planning for the Jersey Zoo site is an integral part of the new strategy.  
• Prepare for the celebration of Gerald Durrell’s centenary birthday in 2025. 

Our Board is made up of nine Trustees, of whom six are based in Jersey and three are based in the UK. All Trustees come to the zoo frequently as members as well as for board meetings. The Trustees are actively encouraged to visit Jersey Zoo, as well as to attend staff and supporter events, and engage frequently with Durrell staff and visit Durrell sites outside Jersey. This has always been the case.  

The Trustees have a dynamic range of experience and skills, including in animal management, international wildlife conservation, professional governance, finance, law, retail, human resources and communications.  

All board positions are voluntary, which means they do not get paid for their role.   

Restricting our selection of Trustees to those in Jersey would restrict our ability to attract the talent we require to ensure our Board effectively oversees the Trust.  

Our current Chair, Matthew Hatchwell, has been in place since October 2023. He is an experienced international conservationist who has decades of experience at other zoo based conservation organisations. This experience is vital as we enter the planning phase for our next strategy where we will define the conservation role Durrell will play post-2025. Matthew’s resignation would hugely damage the Trust’s ability to deliver an impactful strategy.  

We are extremely thankful to all our donors and supporters for their generosity and support of Durrell. Our work in Jersey and around the world would not be possible without their continued support and trust.  

We have contacted donors over recent weeks to reassure them that we are willing to discuss any concerns they may have, and we wish to be open and transparent about the matters raised.  

The audited financial statements demonstrate the excellent financial performance that the Trust has sustained, including a diversified income in recent years. This has enabled us to more than double our spend on conservation in the field and science over the past five years.  

Claims that “Normal practice for a project of this size would be to obtain at least 3 quotes.” is factually incorrect.   

Whilst more than one quote is always preferable, there may be certain circumstances where that is not always possible or suitable. Should there be valid reasons, then one quote may be accepted, but this will always be signed off by multiple people in line with our authorisation matrix.   

The project that is referred to is the Tortoise Tunnel, home to four Aldabra giant tortoises.   

The total project spend was spread across 30 different suppliers, many of whom are trusted suppliers and contractors for Jersey Zoo who offer generous discounts in support of Durrell. The spend with the specialist UK company accounted for 40% of the total project cost, with 50% of costs allocated to local suppliers.   

The specialist zoo enclosure design and building company we worked with, although a start-up, was a registered company. The key contact at the company was professionally known by Durrell, as well as several respected colleagues in the zoo industry, from whom references were sought.    

The decision that Senior Management Team members should not attend the AGM in October 2023 was made by the Board of Trustees. If legitimate criticism of Durrell as an organisation goes too far and becomes threatening behaviour targeted at particular individuals, it becomes an issue for the Board of Trustees which has a duty of care towards all employees. That line was crossed several times in the run-up to the AGM.  

Even though the behaviour might not have been intended as threatening, it can have that consequence, whether it is for staff trying to run successful fundraising events to raise money for the Trust’s work around the world, for zookeepers working to ensure the welfare of all the animals in their care, or for senior managers making difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions every day to ensure the continued smooth operation of the Trust’s global programme. 

The building of a new Gorilla House at Jersey Zoo is the biggest capital appeal in the zoo’s history. Funding for this project has been secured from a number of sources, including Go Wild Gorillas in 2019. We have a project manager and quantity surveyor appointed to manage this.  

The grant from the Fiscal Stimulus Fund was used for the preparatory works for this major build, as detailed and approved in our funding application. This work is now complete and has been reported back to the Government of Jersey via our project managers.  

The next phases of building work are planned to commence in the next few months. There was a pause in the project, partially due to significant market volatility for building supplies in recent times with costs now becoming more settled. With an enclosure such as this, there is time required to ensure the detailed specifications meets all stakeholder requirements. The design team have been working closely with the animal teams to ensure the enclosure meets husbandry standards whilst also managing the build costs.   

Donors who have generously supported this appeal have been kept updated. As with all restricted funds this income has been safely ringfenced to ensure it can only be used for this purpose. A unique project code allows us to report on all spend and income for this project in isolation. 

The August 2023 statement by the Trustees was made in response to specific allegations that had been investigated by the Board’s Audit and Risk Committee, which was satisfied with the evidence provided, explanations given and investigations conducted into the specific allegations. It was not a blanket statement about staff and animal welfare at the zoo generally and was certainly never intended to cause any distress to our team. 

The Board’s commitment to the welfare of the animals and people who work at Durrell is unwavering. We continue to listen to any concerns raised by staff, volunteers, and members, and hold the Senior Management Team accountable for investigating and acting on complaints when necessary.  

The costs to the Trust caused by the group of members who have requisitioned the EGM have been extremely high. In particular, the significant number of hours that Trustees and senior staff have spent engaging with this group since July 2023. This time would have been much better spent focussing on fulfilment of the Trust’s mission and working collaboratively with staff on the development of our post 2025 strategy.