Thursday, March 29, 2012

Rare Dodo Takes Centre Stage at de Gruchy Department Store in Jersey (UK)

An extremely rare Dodo skeleton that usually resides at Durrell Wildlife Park will take centre stage in de Gruchy’s shop window from Tuesday 27th March, to highlight the launch of the store’s £10,000 2012 charity challenge.

The skeleton, one of only a handful left in the world, will be carefully lifted into place, to kick-start a year’s programme of fundraising, staff and customer engagement by the store to the benefit of Durrell. The Dodo will remain on display until 16th April. It is 350 years since the last recorded sighting of the Dodo; so securing this rare, original skeleton (believed to be one of only four left in the world) is extremely exciting.

“Each year, de Gruchy sets a challenge to raise £10,000 funds to support a local charity and for 2012, Durrell has been selected by our staff,” explains Store Manager John Marquis. “However, we are planning a lot more than just fundraising to benefit this exceptional organisation. We have already started a programme of staff talks and engagement, communication about the work of Durrell to our loyal customers and have put in place plans to help raise awareness through our shop floor. From Friday 30th March, we will be launching a dedicated area of the store to sell Durrell merchandise, entry tickets and adoption packs, in a bid to raise awareness of the Trust to the thousands of customers that visit de Gruchy each week.”

In the coming months, de Gruchy will also be working with the Durrell team, passing on commercial and retail expertise and advice in order for the Trust to maximise its retail capabilities at the Trinity site.

“At Durrell we won’t compromise on our conservation projects, which put us under continued financial pressure. It is with the support of organisations like de Gruchy and the broader community that we continue to undertake our fieldwork and maintain our wildlife park and training centre in Trinity. Giving our charity prime position on the high street, using the Dodo to represent the challenges we face daily, is a huge boost to Durrell. We can’t thank de Gruchy enough for this opportunity,” says Durrell’s Honorary Director, Dr Lee Durrell.

Image and text from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust 

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