In the late 1970s only about ten pink pigeons were left in the wild on Mauritius — and Jersey Zoo took on the task of saving the species. These birds appear on Jersey’s 1987 two pounds, issued for the 25th anniversary of the World Wildlife Fund.

The pink pigeon lives only on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean. Gerald Durrell, founder of the zoo on Jersey, together with Mauritian partners launched the first captive-breeding programme for the bird and brought some of the pigeons to Jersey as insurance against extinction. The zoo has kept the species for about forty years and now returns Jersey-bred birds to Mauritius to strengthen the genetic diversity of the wild population. Today the wild population numbers in the hundreds, and in 2018 the species was moved from Endangered to Vulnerable.

The reverse shows the pigeons with «WORLD WILDLIFE FUND 25th ANNIVERSARY», «BAILIWICK OF JERSEY» and the value «TWO POUNDS». The obverse carries Raphael Maklouf’s portrait of Elizabeth II. The coin belongs to the international programme of 1986–1988 in which various countries issued coins for the fund’s anniversary; the Jersey cupronickel version had a mintage of 23,000.

The coin covers several themes at once: birds, conservation and the WWF anniversary programme. Grade UNC: the coin has never circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre.

If you collect coins by country or by theme, take a look at the VPcoins catalogue: it is a convenient place to find the neighbouring pieces of a series.