Preface: 
Mexico. Fall 2006. I was working at a hotel, the incredibly relaxing Hotel Paraiso del Oso, in the Copper Canyon area. In rural Mexico (three hours from the closest paved road), good books are hard to come by. Let alone books in the native tongue of English. On our small yet adequate shared book shelf, there was this book that kept piquing my interest. It just looked too fat at the moment. But after a stretch of reading some entertaining but pointless mysteries, I decided I needed something a little more stimulating. And I ended up grabbing "The Authorized Biography of Gerald Durrell" and dove in. Twenty pages and I was hooked. And it quickly became the "best book I've ever scored at a book exchange while traveling." (Might not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you, when you are traveling, good books are hard to come by).

Gerald Durrell, Environmental Legend

 
Naturalist, Conservationist, Animal Enthusiast
Image from www.durrell.org<br />

So, who is this Gerald Durrell character? Well, older people might have heard the name because Mr. Durrell authored several books as an "amateur naturalist" based in his native Channel Islands off the coast of France. I had not heard of him until I read the aforementioned book, a summary of his entire life. This book gave a great overview of what Durrell had accomplished during his lifetime. Gerald had been into animals since his childhood. And despite having no formal education after his high school years, Gerald went on to undeniably change the world for the better.

The Beginnings
Simply put, Mr. Durrell's dedication and caring for all species here on this precious planet was amazing. Starting in the 1950s, Gerald had gone on trips to exotic locations such as Africa and South America to search for animals for local British zoos. The animals that were collected were carefully selected, abundant, non-threatened species and Gerald took great pride in treating the collected animals well. To fund these endeavors, Durrell utilized his zest for writing to author numerous entertaining books about his collecting expeditions. But Gerald, being a devout conservationist, came to the grim realization that the world was losing entire species at an alarming rate. Something had to be done.

A Life's Work
With the threat of extinction looming, Gerald recognized that the only remaining alternative was something called "captive breeding." Captive breeding was a very new concept at the time and Durrell, although entirely saddened by the circumstances that had caused this necessity, became a pioneer in the field, eventually creating a Wildlife Trust in his native Jersey Island. Reintroduction of species to native habitats was the ultimate goal. Also, Durrell was a visionary in his thoughts on the roles that zoos should play in soceity, insisting that their primary focus should be species survival and not entertainment. Quite simply, he could not stand by and watch as humans plodded on with little regard for those fantastic creatures we share this beautiful planet with and he made their individual survivals his sole focus. Furthermore, he admirably centered his efforts on the survival of smaller, lesser-known animals such as rodents and marsupials as "there are already enough people out there saving the pandas."

One quote that I particularly enjoy,
"I'm big and ugly so I have a lot of sympathy for those [animals] that are small and ugly."

Mr. Durrell was not without faults and his biography presents a very honest picture of Gerald's severe struggles with alcohol. But everyone fights their own demons and Durrell's contributions to the conservation of the planet were monumental. After reading his authorized biography, I cannot believe that I had not heard of this sincere and inspirational Environmental Legend earlier.

The Legacy
Mr. Durrell's legacy lives on and hopefully his dream will one day be a reality. His dream is that one day his Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust will cease to exist. Why? That will mean that there are no endangered or threatened species and that we have been successful in treating the animals and their native habitats with the care and respect they are entitled to. And most importantly, we will have proven we can co-exist in harmony with all of the delightful creatures of the World.

We hope that there will be fireflies and glow-worms at night to guide you and butterflies in hedges and forests to greet you.

We hope that your dawns will have an orchestra of bird song and that the sound of their wings and the opalescence of their colouring will dazzle you.

We hope that there will still be the extraordinary varieties of creatures sharing the land of the planet with you to enchant you and enrich your lives as they have done for us.

We hope that you will be grateful for having been born into such a magical world.

Beautiful, Gerald. Beautiful.


(Although a bit long, Durrell's book is a nice read. Chock full of entertaining stories and priceless wisdom, one will come to realize how visionary and impactful Mr. Durrell's actions were.)