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Around 40 staff from Standard Bank took a day away from the office to go and help local charity Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust last week.
Around 40 staff from Standard Bank took a day away from the office to go and help local charity Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust last week.
Durrell approached Standard Bank with a request for help to do some maintenance on the aerial runway and play area in the Orangutan enclosure. It meant several staff had to undertake harness safety training to be able to climb up and paint metalwork on the poles. This was long term maintenance because it had been 12 years since the poles and aerial walkway system had been put in place and the metal work had begun to rust.
Gordon Hunt who is Deputy Head of Mammals and looks after the Orangutans said the whole Durrell team wanted to say a big thank you, ‘We would have had to spend a lot of money replacing the metal work if it wasn’t painted, but now it is good for another ten years. Standard Bank gave us at least ten people each day which in the man hours and free labour alone is amazing, we simply wouldn’t have been able to do it ourselves and would have had to hire a contractor in at a big cost.’
Claire Reid, Head of Marketing and Communications said the staff had thoroughly enjoyed helping, ‘It was great to see so many of our staff joining in including our CEO, Mark Hucker. Everyone got stuck in with making sure they helped a local charity and a highly endangered species.’
In addition to the practical help Standard Bank also paid for the materials used and made a donation to Durrell.
As for the Orangutans themselves Gordon added, ‘The big male Dagu was a bit apprehensive with a lot of new faces in his territory, but he soon settled and was interested in what they were doing. He was a bit like the foreman checking up on their work.’
