Candidate questions election process for Jersey Zoo's Board of Trustees

By the end of the year, Durrell Conservation Trust will have new members on its board which will make key decisions and set the future agenda for Jersey Zoo.

There are currently eight positions available on the Board of Trustees - members of the charity will vote for the candidates before the AGM in December.

An external HR company was brought in to "conduct an independent review of all applicants and a first round of interviews".

From this shortlist, a list of recommended candidates was finalised.

However, several former employees at the zoo applied and did not even receive an interview for the roles.

They include the zoo's former Director of Conservation Management, Quentin Bloxam, who worked there for 45 years.

This meant he had to nominate himself instead.

Quentin says: "All the very highly qualified people that applied never even got far - same as me. They didn't get anywhere.

"And yet, they were so well-qualified with a tremendous history of Durrell - both in direct animal management, field research, finance, and governance."

The Chair of Durrell's trust, Matthew Hatchwell, made the preferred list but did not have to do an interview as he says he went through a similar process when he was elected to the board three years ago.

He tells ITV News: "All I can tell you is we provided the role descriptions to the HR company that carried out the interviews.

"They looked at the applications that were submitted and they interviewed about half of the candidates and that choice was entirely theirs.

"We've got a tremendous challenge to try and achieve as a charity and I'm optimistic about our ability to fulfil that mission.

Members of Durrell will get more information this week on how they can vote ahead of the AGM in December.

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