Page 16 of A Zoo in My Luggage


  So, after a frustrating year of struggling with councils and other local authorities, I had gone to Jersey, and within an hour of landing at the airport I had found my zoo.

  The Last Word

  My zoo in Jersey has now been open to the public for nearly a year. We are probably the newest zoo in Europe and, I like to think, one of the nicest. We are small, of course (at the moment we have only about six hundred and fifty mammals, birds and reptiles), but we will continue to expand. Already we have on show a number of creatures which no other zoo possesses and we hope in the future when funds permit to concentrate on those species which are threatened with extinction.

  Many of the animals on show are ones I collected myself. This is, as I said before, the best part of having one’s own zoo; one can bring the animals back for it, watch their progress, watch them breed, go out and visit them at any hour of the day or night. This is the selfish pleasure of one’s own zoo. But also I hope that, in a small way, I am interesting people in animal life and in its conservation. If I accomplish this I will consider that I have achieved something worthwhile. And if I can, later on, help even slightly towards preventing an animal from becoming extinct, I will be more than content.

  Acknowledgements

  Britain

  All the members of the expedition are very grateful to the following manufacturers who supported them in a most generous way:

  Adhesive Tapes Ltd Sellotape

  S. Allcock & Co. Ltd Fishing lines

  Ashton Brothers & Co. Ltd Bedding

  Black & Decker Ltd Drill

  Bovril Ltd Food

  Brand & Co. Ltd Food

  British Bata Shoe Co. Baseball boots

  British Berkefeld Filters Ltd Filters

  British Nylon Spinners Ltd Clothing

  Cerebos Ltd Food

  Coleman Quick Lite Co. Ltd Lighting and heating

  Joseph Cookson Ltd Rope

  Cussons Sons & Co. Toilet goods

  W. M. Delf (L’pool) Ltd Disinfectant

  Electrical Equipment Co. Generator

  Ever-Ready Co. (GB) Ltd Batteries

  Joseph Farrow & Co. Ltd Food

  Granta Works Folding canoe

  Horlicks Ltd Food

  Hugon & Co. Ltd Food

  Jeyes-Ibco Sales Ltd Disinfectant

  Percy Jones (Twinlock) Ltd. Files

  G. B. Kalee Ltd Ciné equipment

  Kimberly-Clark Ltd Tissues

  Latex Upholstery Ltd Foam rubber

  Linen Thread Company Ltd Special line

  Lustraphone Ltd Microphone

  Marmite Ltd Food

  William Marples & Sons Ltd Tools

  Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. Ltd Tapes

  Don S. Momand Ltd Alka-Seltzer

  The Nestlé Company Ltd Food

  Olympia Ltd Typewriter

  Oxo Ltd Food

  Pifco Ltd Lighting

  Polarisers (UK) Ltd Sun-glasses

  Prestige Group Ltd Cooking equipment

  Rael-Brook Ltd Clothing

  Reckitt & Colman Ltd Medical supplies

  Revlon Toilet goods

  Ross Ensign Ltd Binoculars

  Geo. Salter & Co. Ltd Scales

  Scott & Turner Vitamin food

  Selfset Ltd Traps

  The Sheffield Twist Drill & Steel Co. Ltd Drills

  Smith & Nephew Ltd Medical supplies

  Smiths Clocks and Watches Ltd Watches

  Spear & Jackson Ltd Spades

  Spong & Co. Ltd Mincers

  Stanley Works (GB) Ltd Tools

  Tate & Lyle Ltd Food

  Templeton Patents Ltd Dried foods

  Joseph Tetley & Co. Ltd Tea

  Tilley Lamp Co. Ltd Lamps and heaters

  United Yeast Co. Ltd Yeast

  Venesta Ltd Plymax board

  Venner Accumulators Ltd Batteries for recorder

  Vitamins Ltd Bemax

  Windolite Ltd Windolite

  Yeo Bros. Paul Ltd Tent

  S. Young & Sons (Misterton) Ltd Animal equipment

  Manufacturers whose products were of tremendous value and without which the expedition would have been seriously hampered were:

  Allen & Hanburys Entavet

  Barnards Ltd Wire netting

  B.D.H. Medical supplies

  British Nylon Spinners Ltd, Pontypool Tarpaulins, etc.

  Dexion Ltd Dexion

  Glaxo Labs Ltd Animal food

  Greengate & Irwell Rubber Co. Ltd Nylon tarpaulins

  Joseph Gundry & Co. Ltd Special nets

  Halex Ltd Plastic goods

  Kenneth G. Hayes Ltd Finch nest baskets

  Hounsfield Ltd Camp-beds

  Imperial Chemical (Pharmaceuticals) Ltd Medical supplies

  The Oppenheimer Casing Co. (UK) Ltd Polythene bags

  Parke-Davis & Co. Ltd Medical supplies

  William Smith (Poplar) Ltd Tarpaulins, tent, etc.

  Thomas’s Ltd Cages and special equipment

  J. H. Thompson (Cutlery) Ltd Cutlery

  Transatlantic Plastics Ltd Polythene bags

  Varley Dry Accumulators Ltd for ciné camera

  Wire-Bands Ltd Banding machine

  LONDON: Mr Miles, of Grindlay’s Bank Shipping Department, without whose efforts no members of the expedition would ever have arrived in the Cameroons.

  Cameroons

  VICTORIA: Mr Eric Saward, Acting Manager, U.A.C., and his wife, Sheila, who generously welcomed us to the Cameroons.

  Mr MacCarney, Manager, U.A.C., who went out of his way to help us.

  Mr Walker, of Elders and Fyffes Ltd, who saw that all food supplies for the animals were safely put upon the ship.

  Mr Dudding, Assistant Commissioner, for all his help in arranging all our permits to catch animals.

  Mr Austin, of the Agricultural Co-operative, who most kindly sent a large truck all the way up from the coast to Bafut to ensure that both we and our animals caught the ship on time.

  KUMBA: Dr William Crewe, who so lavishly entertained both us and our animal cargo on our way down to the coast.

  Mr Gordon, Manager, U.A.C., who supplied us with a four-wheel-drive Bedford truck to take our animals down to the coast.

  MAMFE: Mr John Henderson, Manager, U.A.C., for whom our gratitude knows no bounds.

  Mr John Topham, who invited both us and our animals to invade his house at the dead of night and did everything he could to assist us. He also provided a truck to take the animals down to the coast.

  Mr John Thrupp, District Officer of the Mamfe Division, who bore our complaints and protests with fortitude.

  Mr Martin Davis, Forestry Officer, who helped us in every way and brought us Tavy, our second black-footed mongoose.

  BEMENDA: Dr Paul Gebauer, of the Cameroons Baptist Mission, who, as on previous expeditions, suffered much at our hands yet always welcomed us.

  Mr Brandt, Manager, U.A.C., and his wife Rona, who did everything they could to make our stay in Bemenda enjoyable.

  Mr Shadock, A.D.O., who helped us in many ways to smooth our departure.

  Mr Macfarlane, Veterinary Officer of the Cameroons, who gave us invaluable assistance with our animal charges.

  Mr Stan Marriot, of the Agricultural Department, who recharged our camera batteries and repaired our Land-Rover on countless occasions.

  Mr Dennison, Manager, U.A.C., who helped us in any way he could.

  TIKO: Mr Bowerman, of C.D.C., who made all arrangements for us to stay in the Rest House prior to our sailing.

  Our thanks also to the Captain, officers and men of the M.V. Nicoya, and in particular to Mr Terrance Huxtable, the Chief Steward, who bore with us and our animals with great fortitude and understanding.

  Last of all we would like to thank our good friend, the Fon of Bafut, for giving us ‘a happy time’.

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  First published in Great Britain by Rupert Hart-Davis 1960

  First published in the United States of America by The Viking Press 1960

  Published in Penguin Books 1964

  Reissued in this edition 2012

  Copyright © Gerald Durrell, 1960

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  ISBN: 978-0-14-193165-4

 


 

  Gerald Durrell, A Zoo in My Luggage

 


 

 
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