We are sorry to hear that,your visit to Durrell did not meet your expectations but we do appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback.
We are very surprised that you felt the park wasn't well maintained as we receive many compliments on how nice the park is, as other Tripadvisor reviews have commented. , while on.oOur maintenance and landscape team work incredibly hard to make the park look inviting. We are currently building a new walk-through lemur enclosure so perhaps this construction made the site look untidy. We do not take your feedback lightly but we are very proud of our wildlife park, which in the last year has received two awards, including Gold accreditation from the Green Tourism Business Scheme and recognition from the British Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA).
With regard to the gorilla enclosure, I am unsure which rusted metal gates you refer to as they are housed in a large outdoor area with an indoor space fronted by windows. There is a vast array of signage inside there and having looked today we would say it's is all very clear and legible.
Finally, there are very few empty enclosures, though many have dense foliage which can require guests to spend more time to see the animals. Our enclosures are kept this way to maintain the highest levels of animal welfare and contribute to our record for being the first institution to breed many rare species. Durrell is famous the world over for its high level of animal husbandry and our founder, Gerald Durrell, worked tirelessly to set a standard that many zoos and parks aspire to. Unfortunately, this means that we cannot guarantee that all animals will be on view all of the time, astheir behaviour can vary with the time of day, time of year, weather conditions and the breeding season. For their welfare we encourage natural behaviour which mirrors how they would be in the wild, rather than displaying them for entertainment purposes. We realise that this can occasionally lead to disappointment for visitors but the welfare of the animals is always our priority.