A new gorilla house at Jersey Zoo is now open, but keepers are taking the move slowly for the troop settling into it.
The enclosure was opened by Princess Anne last week in her role as patron of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which runs the zoo. It will house gorillas Badongo, Bahasha, Hlala Kahilli and Amari.
Gorilla keeper Aoife O’Mahony said the trust “wanted to be gorilla-led and behaviour-led” when moving the gorillas into their new home, without a strict schedule.
“When we’re seeing these pre-set positive behaviours from them then we’ll move onto the next step,” she said to the BBC.
O’Mahony, who has worked at the zoo for about four-and-a-half years and with the gorilla troop throughout that time, said staff did not want to hurry the process.
“We don’t want to rush them into this nice new house if they’re not ready for it, there’s no point building one of the best gorilla houses in the world if we’re not going to have some of the best welfare in the world, so that was always our aim.
“Gorillas first.”
The new enclosure replaces the previous gorilla house, which first opened in 1981, and gives the zoo more space for growing numbers.
Curator of Mammals Ben Matthews said: “It’s testament to Durrell’s commitment to the species, and not just the commitment to these gorillas here but the commitment to the whole European breeding programme.”
He added: “The building is designed to be future-proofed so we can continue to breed gorillas here and continue to build on the legacy Durrell has with gorillas.
“because our commitment is all the way from the beginning, when Mr Durrell first brought the gorillas here, to the various places we’ve housed gorillas over the years”.
“And now we’re finally here in this wonderful state-of-the-art facility, which is something to be so proud of.”
The new enclosure includes two large indoor areas, eight bedrooms, and a training and weighing space designed to help keepers care for the gorillas safely.
Jersey Zoo, which has looked after gorillas for more than 60 years, launched an island-wide public art trail of brightly painted sculptures in 2019 to raise money for the new enclosure.
For the next few weeks, the gorilla areas will have restricted opening times to help make the animals’ transition as smooth as possible. Volunteers have also been helping manage the flow of visitors so the new area is not overrun.
Volunteer Peter McGuire said: “The feedback has been amazing, people are so over-awed with how big and how generous the facilities are for the gorillas.”
Visitor Lucy, who came from New Zealand, said the enclosure was “absolutely amazing”.
More regular visitor Margret said it was great “compared to what the old one was, it’s so nice now”.
Volunteer Fiona Cassels-Brown said: “Badongo has been quietly in the corner in his nest, just flat-out, fast asleep, very relaxed, and that’s what we’re monitoring.
“At one point we had quite a few people in there, or the troop came in, and Badongo placed himself with his back to the window, absolutely natural protective behaviour towards his troop and that is so lovely to see.”
Read more from BBC News.
