Island Life Magazine Ltd February / March 2016 | Page 17

INTERVIEW
priorities in running the operation.
The zoo hosts regular school visits
and informal educational tours, and
funds conservation projects in India and
Madagascar, as well as supporting local
conservation initiatives like that of the
Island’s Reddish Buff Moth – just to show
it’s not all about jungle creatures.
With her global view of conservation,
Charlotte has visited Sumatra with Fauna
and Flora International (FFI) and the Tiger
Protection Conservation Unit (TPCU)
which operates in the Kerinci Seblat
National Park.
There, she joined a team trekking
through the rainforest, removing vicious
snares set up to catch tigers and their prey.
This year (Zia allowing!) she plans to
do other trips with Chris to Sri Lanka,
the Gambia, and Papua New Guinea all supporting animals in their natural
habitats.

Like father like daughter
Her late father, she says, had a ‘more
simplistic’ view of what animals need,
and she admits that in some of their
views, they found themselves at odds.
“I have so much respect for him
and always will – but it was probably
borderline insane the way he went about
aspects of his work! He never saw the
problems, he was just always very cando”.
After Jack suffered a number of strokes
and it became clear that Charlotte would
have to take over the zoo, she says there
was a difficult period of re-adjustment.
“We met on many levels but were polar
opposites on some. I was taking over,
and it was all very tricky for a while. I had
periods of wanting to break away, but
I’d ask myself if I could ever leave Zia
and Zena and the answer was no, so I
stuck with it. Those animals have always
anchored me”.
She says the main similarity between
herself and her father has been their
desire to connect people to the animals.
“Our approach nowadays is a bit more
sophisticated, with more formalise