Zoo appoints conservation chief despite cruelty row

A ZOO manager at the centre of an animal cruelty row has been appointed to a top post at Scotland’s biggest zoo.

Iain Valentine will become head of animals and conservation at Edinburgh Zoo next week.

The scientist’s appointment last night provoked a row, with animal welfare campaigners labelling it "bizarre".

Valentine, currently manager of Blackpool Zoo, was involved in controversy after that zoo admitted electric prods had been used to train elephants there.

The use of the devices on animals is prohibited under European guidelines and deplored by animal welfare organisations.

But elephant trainers disagree about the equipment, called "hotshots", with some regarding it as a useful safety tool.

Valentine defended the use of the prods, describing them as an "integral part" of the zoo’s elephant management programme.

The admission brought demands for him to be sacked. But Blackpool Borough Council, which owns the zoo, disagreed and he stayed in post.

Video evidence allegedly showing the use of the prods was gathered by the Captive Animals Protection Society (Caps) which infiltrated an elephant handlers’ course at Blackpool Zoo in 1999.

The course was held by controversial American elephant trainer Scott Riddle. Undercover activists’ film appeared to show a metal hook and a metre-long electric "hotshot" being used to control two female Asian elephants, Katie and Crumple. The video also apparently showed elephants calling out and urinating when Riddle came near them.

At Edinburgh Zoo - which does not house elephants - Valentine will be in charge of developing and managing the animal collection and presenting it to visitors. He will also play a key role in directing the zoo’s conservation and research activities.

Last night Ross Minett, campaigns director for Advocates for Animals, said: "We have major concerns about this appointment because Iain Valentine is obviously a controversial character within the zoo world. He has been outspoken about what we would describe as dubious training techniques.

"He supports the training of animals to perform, which is very controversial. He has been outspoken about his support for animal circuses which we campaign against.

"Edinburgh Zoo’s appointment of this man has got to raise issues about the ethics of the Zoo when they are employing a controversial character such as this."

Valentine, who has a degree in biological sciences from Dundee University and has worked in South America and Scotland as a conservation officer, is currently on honeymoon and unavailable for comment.

But Edinburgh Zoo chief executive, David Windmill, said Valentine had been appointed following "a robust and thorough recruitment process".

He added: "We received excellent references from the people to whom he reported at Blackpool Borough Council, and he is highly regarded by senior professionals throughout the zoo community. Iain has spent nearly 20 years working in animal conservation and is a member of a number of professional institutions.

"Edinburgh Zoo operates the highest standards of animal welfare and we believe Iain shares those same values and ethics."

Valentine has also been involved with conservation projects involving elephants in India, including implanting micro-transmitters in the animals to check smuggling and poaching.

Project Elephant, an Indian government conservation programme, is a collaboration with Blackpool Zoo.

Blackpool Zoo has also had links with Edinburgh Zoo for some time, and had been due to take on Edinburgh’s famous lioness Jody before she succumbed to cancer.

Edinburgh Zoo was targeted by Caps this spring as part of a day of protest at zoos across the country.

The organisation claims zoos exist solely for public entertainment, since several still exhibit performing animals.

Windmill said at the time that such protests reflected what zoos were in the past rather than now.