Edinburgh Zoo boss knocked off his perch

Published on Saturday 14 May 2011 13:00

THE chairman of Edinburgh Zoo has quit amid bitter infighting just days after refusing to step down despite a vote of no-confidence.

Beleaguered Donald Emslie, above, said he had discussed the situation with fellow board members and was resigning so they could rebuild the confidence of members. Vice-chair Manus Fullerton has been named as acting chairman and the zoo has named its new interim chief executive as Hugh Roberts, who will take up the role from Wednesday.

Mr Emslie's departure comes just months after securing the multi-million-pound transfer of two Chinese pandas for the zoo.

There has been no official chief executive since the retirement of David Windmill last November.

The zoo was today unable to provide details of Mr Roberts' CV, nor the extent of his influence as new "interim" chief executive.

Around 500 members of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) squeezed into a conference room in Murrayfield for a special emergency meeting last week and voted, almost unanimously, that they had no confidence in Mr Emslie's ability to continue in the top job.

After the vote Mr Emslie had said he was "disappointed that it had come to this".

Leaked board meeting minutes suggested the zoo could be leased to a Spanish theme park operator.

Within the last two months, chief operating officer Gary Wilson and director of animals, conservation and education Iain Valentine have been suspended while inquiries into anonymous allegations against the two men were carried out by the board.

It was later found "there was no disciplinary case to answer" for the claims against Mr Wilson, who is expected to return to work by the end of the month.

A third senior member of staff, director of development Anthony McReavy, was sacked and honorary treasurer Max Gaunt resigned.

In a statement, Mr Emslie said: "The correct course of action was for me to discuss with my board what the next step should be, taking into consideration the interests of the RZSS, the views of the members and of OSCR - the charities regulator in Scotland. I was able to do this at a board meeting on Friday, during which I informed my fellow trustees that I would resign as chair and allow the board to rebuild the confidence of the members.

"This has been an incredibly difficult time. As a board we have been dealing with a malicious and untrue attack on both the society and a member of the senior management team.

"What we found during our investigations has had further serious ramifications for the society and my wish is that the board is allowed to complete the remaining investigation process and reach a conclusion."

New acting chairman Mr Fullerton said: "I will be working closely with my fellow trustees to respond to the issues raised at the EGM on May 12.

"I am pleased to announce that Hugh Roberts will take up the post of interim chief executive on May 18. Hugh has significant and relevant experience of membership organisations, charities, forming strong teams at the top of an organisation, embedding strategy and delivering business plans."

The zoo was unable to give any details about Mr Roberts.