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Ornithologist Christopher Bell, who was sacked by London Zoo last year |
Sacked bird expert calls zoo ‘shambles’
Ornithologist tells employment tribunal his bosses attempted to court media with ‘gimmicks’
A BIRD expert has accused the world’s oldest scientific zoo of “shambolic” practices and “gimmicky” conservation projects.
Dr Christopher Bell, of Prowse Place, Camden Town, told an employment tribunal last week that managers at London Zoo had repeatedly sidelined important field- work in favour of “weird-looking” animals that generated more media interest.
The ornithologist was sacked from his administration post at the zoo in Regent’s Park last year after allegedly criticising bosses in a series of emails.
Dr Bell, a bird migration specialist who described himself at the tribunal hearing at Victory House in Holborn as a “frustrated academic”, said he had worked long hours with little recognition.
“The place was a shambles. It was impossible to work in. I went in and sorted it out,” he said.
His bosses had taken the decision to “get him out”, Dr Bell claimed, after he had expressed his lack of faith in the zoo’s Edge Project, which focuses on saving unusual and endangered animals such as pygmy hippos and the Hispaniolan solenodon (a small venomous rodent-like mammal) from extinction.
But Ian Scott, counsel for the Zoological Society for London (ZSL), said Dr Bell had been dismissed because of his “very rude and patronising emails”, disrespectful treatment of other members of staff and failure to follow the chain of command.
He told Dr Bell: “You took the option to broaden matters out into a personal attack against your managers.”
He alleged Dr Bell had told his line manager, Dr Jonathan Baillie, that “the problem with you is that you just want to be big boss man”, and that in an email he had described the professional opinion of Simon Rayner, the Zoo’s senior PR manager, as: “Any old rubbish as long as it gets in the papers is a good idea.”
Dr Bell, representing himself at the hearing, insisted the email had been intended as a joke, and that his comment to Dr Baillie was a response to his boss’s “aggressive manner that clearly stems from inexperience and a lack of confidence”.
The ornithologist, who worked as the zoo’s administrator for conservation programmes for four years, is claiming the maximum £25,000 pay-out for unfair dismissal in February 2008.
The tribunal panel heard that Dr Bell had already received a formal warning for his conduct in 2007 and had promised to follow reasonable guidelines and “abstain from offensive language”. But fresh problems emerged when Dr Baillie became his manager later that year.
Dr Bell, who believed his position did not reflect the managerial-level work he was doing, allegedly refused to accept his new supervisor.
Dr Baillie told the hearing: “[His] accounts are always couched in this language of sarcasm.”
“Do you think that lacking tact is misconduct?” Dr Bell asked him.
Dr Baillie said: “You were on a final written warning and had promised to follow supervisors.”
A judgment on the hearing is expected in June.
A ZSL spokeswoman said: “The Zoological Society of London has already denied Dr Bell’s groundless allegations during the course of presenting its evidence to the tribunal.” |
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