solitairesolitairesolitaire Issue 20 (2009) In this issue: Tackling human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka Breeding hoolock gibbons Peruvian poison dart frogs Developing the graduate network Rescuing a snow leopard Memories of Durrell Conservation of Indian amphibians Durrell at 50 Ecotourism in the Sunderban Newsletter of the International Training Centre A year of celebrations! 50 Gerald Durrell opened his zoo in Jersey in 1959. Our 50th anniversary year was filled with celebrations, from an open day that attracted over 14,000 people, to a concert that saw Colm Farrington the premiere of the Durrell suite by Derek Lawrence, celebrating some of the species Durrell has worked with. As we reach the end of the year, a new exhibit has just opened in the Walled Former director Jeremy Mallinson buries a time Garden. It will be home to a variety of capsule in the new Kirindy Forest exhibit to mark Madagascar’s wildlife, and especially 50 years of saving species from extinction. species from the island’s dry forests. The Trust welcomed its first trainee in 30 1979, finally breathing life into Gerald Durrell’s dream of a ‘mini-university’ that would help transfer all the knowledge and skills that the Trust’s staff were building up to those on the front line of conservation. More than 1800 conservation professionals have now attended ITC courses both in Jersey and overseas, and we are continuing to expand the topics we offer as well as find new ways to support graduates Durrell staff and Primate Conservation Husbandry once they return home. course participants relaxing at Les Noyers. 25 The first few trainees were housed off the site, but the Trust soon bought the neighbouring property of Les Noyers, Initially just a residence, over the next few years the buildings were transformed into a teaching centre and in 1984 the International Training Centre was formally opened. 2 Education joins the ITC! The ITC grew in 2009 as it took on the teaching activities of the former Education Department. Conservation Education Officer Naomi Webster describes how the two teams have been integrated into one. Jill Key There have always been The move has allowed the training and overlapping areas between training education staff to work more closely and education (or Visitor Services and together and give each other advice, Education to use its full title) at Durrell, support and assistance. It is also an and last autumn the Trust’s senior exciting opportunity to review the management team took the education activities offered now and opportunity to review how the two develop new ideas for the future. departments operated and decided to split Visitor Services and Education into One such activity is the brand new its two constituent parts. Visitor Services Conservation Science School, a three- took on responsibility for the animal talks day course for 15-18 year olds, which programme on site and other visitor- ran for the first time this summer. The related activities, while the education course was thoroughly enjoyed by all staff joined the training centre to the participants and we hope to run create one department capable of the course twice in 2010, in February teaching anyone from 3 to 103! and August. Meet the new staff... Jo Wardd, the groups, running workshops, writing and Conservation producing newsletters for Dodo Club Education members and working on the signage Manager, has and interpretation in the grounds. She is been working at currently writing and directing her third Durrell since 1999. Durrell pantomime! She has a diploma in child development and a masters degree in education. Jo is responsible for the schools programme Mark Powell at Durrell and also organises activities for the Dodo Club, Durrell’s club for junior members. Conservation Education Officer Naomi Webster attended the ITC’s summer school in 2004, and then volunteered with Durrell’s education department before being offered a job. Naomi’s Naomi takes a bow at a performance of the first responsibilities include teaching school Durrell pantomime, ‘A Parrot’s Tale’. 3 ... and a reminder of the rest of us! The ITC’s staff has undergone several changes over the past few years and many of you won’t have met all of the current team. 2009 has been a busy year for us, with new courses being added to our roster and more in development for next year. So here’s an introduction to us all. Jamie Copsey first worked at the ITC Catherine Burrows has as Programme Development Manager been the ITC’s and has been Head of the department Coordinator since 2006. since 2008. He has conservation field Catherine is responsible work experience in Mauritius, for the advertising, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and administration and Madagascar and recently obtained a logistics of the training masters degree in anthropology. He has programme and the ITC’s worked in biodiversity conservation for facilties, and organises Durrell’s work more than 15 years and is a qualified experience programme. Catherine has teacher, trainer and facilitator. a degree in English and history. She spent three years teaching English in Japan and is a keen traveller. Mark Powell As the ITC’s Hostel Manager, Joshua Kogi runs Les Noyers, creating a home from home for our course participants and ensuring their stay is as Jamie (centre) as we rarely see him - in a starring comfortable as role in Durrell pantomime ‘A Parrot’s Tale’. possible. Originally from Kenya, Josh has lived in Jersey for seven years and has always worked in the catering industry. Dr Jill Key, our Training and Network Development Dr Eluned Price is the Manager, joined the ITC’s Research ITC at the end of 2008. Resource Coordinator. As well as developing She runs the library, and delivering ITC produces Solitaire, and courses, Jill is helps Jill with the DCLN. responsible for After a PhD on tamarins coordinating the and field work on Durrell Conservation Learning Network primates in Brazil, Eluned worked for (DCLN). She is a specialist in invasive Durrell as a researcher and mammal species ecology and has worked in keeper before joining the ITC. She also many places around the world. writes the Trust newsletter On The Edge. 4 New courses for 2009 Invasive Species Management This ia a five-day course teaching the tools required to plan effective management of invasive plants, vertebrates and invertebrates in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems around the world, and the planning and implementation of cost-effective invasive species management strategies. Participants on the first Invasive Species Management course. Primate Conservation Husbandry A week-long course on the skills necessary to successfully manage primates, particularly callitrichids and lemurs, in captivity, and how these techniques can support in-country conservation programmes. Durrell has decades of experience in the captive management and in-situ conservation of these species and this course is a tremendous opportunity to pass our accumulated knowledge on. Getting stuck into enclosure design for callitrichids and lemurs! And coming up in 2010... An Introduction to GIS for will address the broad range of Conservation A five-day course diseases suffered by reptiles, their designed to provide participants with symptoms and practical methods of an understanding of Geographic treatment. Information Systems and how they can support conservation action. Captive Breeding and Conservation Husbandry of Birds A five-day course Integrated Pest Management for to help participants develop their skills in Wildlife Parks A three-day course on practical bird husbandry and their practical, cost-effective solutions to understanding of how such work can common pest control problems in zoos help in-situ conservation. and wildlife parks. For details of any of these courses, Reptile Veterinary Care and Health please contact the ITC. Management A two-day course that [email protected] 5 Help a community – help elephants! A story from Sri Lanka Udawalawa National Park (UNP) in southern Sri Lanka supports a substantial population of the globally endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). More than 600 elephants are attracted to this protected area of 80,821 hectares by the reservoir inside Jayantha Deepani and the availability of grasslands; the park supplies food and water to animals throughout the year. UNP’s boundary is demarcated by an electric fence, but this is not continuous Working bull at Pinnawala elephant orphanage. at sections along the northern and eastern borders. These gaps are maintained as corridors connecting the park to other protected areas including practised around the UNP to address sanctuaries. Free movement of human–elephant conflict, with the Born elephants is seen along the corridors Free Foundation (BF), UK, we took a and in the sanctuaries, which also different approach. contain human settlements. During such movements loner elephants usually Rathambalagama’s villagers live in come into conflict with nearby villages, harmony with wild elephants despite a particularly in the dry lot of crop and season. Cereals, property damage. It is vegetables, banana and ‘The children know not uncommon to see paddy are the primary they have benefited villagers stop at a crops in the area. water hole to watch and learn to appreciate elephants bathing Rathambalagama, a and conserve wildlife.’ under the hot sun, remote village at the even when hurrying northeastern border of the park, has about their daily activities. We been affected by the elephants for understood and appreciated this many years. No farmland has escaped friendly interface. With the aim of from pachyderm crop raiders! compensating the farmers for their loss, BF suggested a community project to Friendly relations Although several help the village school with its basic other mitigatory measures are being needs. The expected long-term outcome is to help save the elephants, along with the other wildlife and biodiversity in the area.