Jimmy Lee's Reviews > Beasts in My Belfry

Gerald Durrell is one of those authors I always pick up. He was funny; he could turn an amazing phrase; he never took himself too seriously; he wrote about animals; and he wanted to make the world a better place by minimizing extinction. I have never viewed a book of his as a wasted investment.

In "Beasts in My Belfry" (published in America as "A Bevy of Beasts") Durrell writes about his time working at the Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire. Post WWII, when jobs were at a premium, amateur naturalist Durrell wrote to a number of zoos in England looking for a position. He interviewed, and was able to find work and lodging as a sort of junior keeper at this earliest English "natural setting" (moats instead of bars) zoo. And being a junior keeper, he was able to rotate from the care of one animal to another and learn a bit about the traditional care of each.

The book was published in 1973, long after Durrell actually worked at Whipsnade, but his memory of the leading resources available on animals at the time - Lydekker, Dr. Guillemard, and General Kinloch, to name a few - remained strong, and are quoted in the book for Durrell's validation or refutation. He also noted the keeper processes, some ingrained by time rather than rationale.

We are fortunate that Durrell chose writing as a way to raise money for animal activities; his books are unfailingly entertaining. The only downside is I always put one down a bit sad, wishing I had known him personally - even with the warts his editor might have made him hide - or wishing perhaps my family had been just a wee bit like his.