IF THERE was sage advice on offer at his previous place of work, Donald Emslie clearly paid no attention. For the TV actors' mantra "never work with children or animals" was obviously not on the radar of the former Scottish Media Group (SMG) director when he took up his latest role as chairman of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS).
Now Emslie, who worked at Virgin Radio and STV franchise-owner SMG – in its various incarnations – for more than 20 years, presides over Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park (HWP) at Kincraig, near Kingussie, where the combined 1,000-strong
animal workforce ranges from the only group of koalas living in the UK to a team of 11 chimps.
But while his concerns do now include some animal-based grassroots issues – such as the successful relocation of one of the zoo's polar bears to a new purpose-built enclosure at the HWP, as well as working to bring a pair of Chinese pandas to Edinburgh – Emslie says his focus is still very much business-orientated.
Having taken over as chairman in July, last year's visitor numbers are already up – by as much as 8 per cent to 650,000, zoo officials estimate – and the HWP also reported a record number of tourists passing through its gates this year, following the arrival of a pair of amur tigers.
But Emslie insists that commercial progress must continue to be made at Edinburgh Zoo if RZSS is to meet its aims.
Emslie – who was one of the few directors to stay on at SMG after a boardroom coup three months before his departure, which saw virtually the whole board resign after a shareholder rebellion over the company's strategy – says that boosting visitor numbers and the zoo's commercial activities would help it to fulfil its conservation, research and education objectives.
But further development at the zoo could stall if the City of Edinburgh Council does not give the go-ahead for the society to sell land on the west of its Corstorphine site, freeing up cash to invest in new exhibits for the animals.
The development is part of a "master plan" to create biomes, with animals grouped together according to the habitats in which they would be naturally found. Emslie explains: "I think we have arrived at a tipping point and conservation of animals and their habitats is now important to people.
"Also the zoo and the society faces some challenges – the development of the zoo in Edinburgh and the delivery of the master plan, depending on the income of the development land. I decided it was something I wanted to become involved in."
Brought up in the Highlands and having visited the HWP, Emslie took on the senior post at the society in addition to his existing roles as chairman of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre and as a board member of both the Scottish Rugby Union and Scottish Water.
Emslie, who also has a personal investment in a technology start-up, says he does not find the new role too much of a contrast to his work at SMG.
He says: "Having chaired the Lyceum and worked with the Scottish Arts Council, I'm very comfortable chairing a board of trustees of a charity.
"It's slightly different from being on a commercial board, but the same issues arise: budgets; corporate governance and all the committee structures."
Emslie also speaks with enthusiasm about the RZSS's leading role in the trial reintroduction of European beavers to a Forestry Commission site in Knapdale, in Mid-Argyll.
Working in partnership with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, several families of beavers are expected to be released at the trial site in May, with their progress monitored over five years before a decision is taken regarding a wider reintroduction.
In business terms, Emslie thinks that the beavers could have a similar draw in terms of visitor spending as the ospreys at Loch Garten or the white-tailed sea eagles on Mull.
He said: "The beavers in Knapdale will become an economic driver in their own right because people will want to visit them.
"It's not just conservation for the sake of it in a location where people can't see it – it's about allowing people to engage with conservation and education.
"That is going to be an increasingly important part of what we do."
David Windmill, chief executive of the RZSS, puts the society's recent success down to investment in new attractions, including Rainbow Landings – in which visitors can feed rainbow lorikeets from small tubs of nectar – and Budongo, the zoo's new chimpanzee house, which is linked with conservation efforts in Uganda.
He says: "We get a very wide-range of socio-economic visitors to the zoo and because we get 650,000 of them each year, that's a fantastic platform for communicating science and conservation.
"But you have to do it cleverly because people come here for a good day out – they don't want to be lectured at or force fed."
But he says more needs to be done to generate extra income – which is where Emslie's business expertise comes in – plus the fact that he is "very well-connected in Edinburgh".
Windmill adds: "One of the things the society has to do is to raise its profile, not just in the Edinburgh community but also in the Scottish community. We felt Donald would be very helpful in doing that."
But while Emslie's decision to join RZSS was met with some puzzled faces among his friends and colleagues, he does not regret his decision.
He recalls: "When I left the media group, I wanted to do some non- executive work, but only work that interested me and was challenging.
"When I joined, lots of my friends asked 'Why do you want to do that? Zoos are bad.'
"The perception of zoos is very old-fashioned – if you come to Edinburgh Zoo or other quality zoos, then the primary drivers are conservation and education.
"We have to do that in a sensitive way to keep the visitor numbers coming through in order to finance that.
"Clearly there's demand out there for people to come and see the animals and learn about them."
And the new role has also made life a little less tiring for Emslie. He adds: "Having lived for the past few years in Edinburgh and having had to get up early to travel to Aberdeen, Glasgow or London, I now get on the bus or walk to work."
Some of the zoo's animal employees get on-site accommodation – perhaps if Emslie had a word, he could make his commute even shorter.
IN NUMBERS650,000
the number of visitors to Edinburgh Zoo
80,000
the number of visitors to the Highland Wildlife Park
8%
the increase in overall visitor numbers in 2008 on 2007
22,000
the number of members of the Royal Zoological Society
365
the number of days each year that Edinburgh Zoo is open to visitors
£11.9m
the RZSS's total income in 2007
£1.7m
the RZSS's surplus in 2007
6
hosting six children's parties allows the zoo to buy one tonne of fish for the zoo's penguins
12
Selling 12 cups of coffee allows the zoo to heat the koala bear house for one day
The full article contains 1226 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
