Bid to set ‘caged’ gorillas free

Tuesday 25 February 2020

A local school currently housing a group of ‘wild’ gorillas in a cage is raising money to help set them free.

Jersey College for Girls decorated six mini gorilla sculptures – one for each house – to take part in Durrell’s successful ‘Go Wild’ public art trail over the summer, which helped raise over £1million to fund a new enclosure for the large apes.

When the trail finished, the gorillas returned to the school, which it’s hoped will become their permanent home.

However, in order to make that ambition a reality, the school needs to raise £500 per gorilla. 

Pictured: The 'Go Wild Gorillas' auction, which raised over £1million for a new gorilla enclosure.

The school has since written to parents to ask for their help – either by directly donating or encouraging their daughters to fundraise in a more quirky way.

In an email, they explained: “We would really like to keep [the gorillas], as they are popular with the students, they are proud of them, they enhance our environment and remind us of the importance of our environment and conservation. 

“We have worked out that, if a donation of approximately £4.50 were given for each student in the College, we could achieve this. If some people could offer more, that would help!”

Pictured: JCG wants to keep their set of gorillas, which "enhance" the school environment, while teaching students about conservation. 

The message continued: “We do hope to be able to release the gorillas gradually as we reach each £500 target.

“You may be in a position to simply donate the money or you may wish to encourage your daughter to think of a more creative way to raise the  amount, for example by doing jobs around the house for payment, by being sponsored to do without something for a period of time (mobile phone?) or by donating their pocket money (if they receive any).” 

The school added that updates will be posted on social media as the project progresses and each gorilla is released.