Sanctuary Movements, part 8

Farms vs. Animal Rights

In the U.K., the Government’s Chief scientific advisor, John Beddington, was characterized in Country Life as suggesting that “the amount of land available could only be increased through deforestation, which nobody wants.”28

Together, between the projections of the U.K. and New Zealand, this scenario becomes reminiscent of the good Reverend Thomas Malthus, whose draconian predictions of mass starvation, did, in fact, take place, specifically in China and Ireland during the course of the 19th century. Moreover, in the absence of good population policies… Continue reading

Sanctuary Movements, part 7

The Farm Animal Conundrum

We know that other species will not tolerate such behavior, not for a moment. Countless observations indicate that many animals, plants and insects will go to any length to protect one another. One pellucid example comes from the literature of the military. A gorgeous Labrador named Gunner used as a bomb-sniffer by the U.S. military in Afghanistan at Camp Leatherneck, “refused to associate with the Marines after seeing one serviceman shoot a feral Afghan dog.”23

Sanctuary Movements, part 6

Tigers: Wildlife Threatened

But one of the most iconic mammals in this threat category, the tiger, whose numbers across all eight subspecies in Asia have collapsed from at least 100,000 a century ago, to perhaps no more than 5,000-to-6,000 in the wild today,17 may find an unlikely source of at least partial genetic rejuvenation, namely, the estimated 6,000 captive tigers in China. It is believed that they may be able to produce nearly 1,000 offspring per year, despite there being no more than 50 or 60 in the… Continue reading

Sanctuary Movements, part 5

Sanctuary Needed: Animals under Threat

In England, farmers and ecologists have adopted joint measures, for example, to help birds survive one of the most devastating winters in recent years throughout the U.K., namely, an initiative by farmers to leave up to 4% of their croplands fallow in the same spirit as the above referenced backyard nursery concept. Moreover, the British government has provided a “Farmland Bird Package” to compensate farmers who engage in this Campaign for the Farmed Environment.11 Indeed, Pied Wagtails (Motacilla alba) have been seen venturing… Continue reading

Sanctuary Movements, part 4

Scarce Habitat Areas: Ecological Danger

Some albatross and terns can fly for thousands of miles without stopping (in fact, the Arctic tern has been known to fly 18,600 miles annually, stopping to catch fish along the way, but when they do stop to breed, they are exhausted, as one would expect, and they require safe havens, whether birds, turtles, ungulates or butterflies. To store up to 20% of their body weight as fat, birds become what is known as hyperphagic prior to their migrations, eating as much as possible, whether… Continue reading

Sanctuary Movements, part 3

Endangered Species: Birds Around the World

What is important to realize in drawing such associations is the fact that songbirds (all vocally gymnastic members of the Passeriformes order), comprise some 4000 species, or nearly 40% of all known bird species in the world. To discover such attrition on one small island, is horrendous, but this is the state of the world now: global warming, poaching, utter disarray. Yet hope, which has also been thought of as the most logical conclusion to an illogical world, is our only common tool for… Continue reading

Sanctuary Movements, part 2

Songbird Migrations

Add to this the swirl of compromises, persuasions and guesswork — usually pertaining in some direct or indirect way to economic indicators — and it becomes quickly apparent that we are caught in a maze. Call it an ethical, financial, ecological, or political labyrinth. There is no light at the end of such tunnels other than that vague clamor in our hearts called hope, what poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) referred to as “the thing with feathers . . . “1

Sanctuary Movements, part 1

Jaguar Sanctuaries: an example of dissension

Hope for a country, what does it mean, against the backdrop of a biologically-interdependent world? A nation is not one individual, but an idea held together by forces whose historical origins and continuing power-hold over state, provincial and regional governments, communities, indigenous stakeholders, neighborhoods, households and dwellers within offers solutions based upon compromises. Inevitably, for all of the chatter regarding ethics, water holes dry up, animals starve, are poached, or consumed; natural calamities tax the staying power of empathy, weariness works feverishly against the… Continue reading

Thinking About Wilderness

Part 2: Animal rights and habitat protection

Back in November, 1979 author/naturalist John Fowles wrote a cover story for Harper’s Magazine entitled “Seeing Nature Whole” that began with a kind of heresy, as Fowles thought of it, namely, the realization that Carl von Linné, best remembered as Linnaeus, had exploded the unity of humanity and nature by forging ahead with a binomial nomenclature that would ensure a complete dissociation of feelings and needs, deep urgings and instincts from that which could be defined, and set in concrete: the natural world, and… Continue reading

Thinking About Wilderness

Part 1: How much of the Earth is protected by sanctuaries?

There was a time when people gave no thought to wilderness; when our orientation to the natural world was a guaranteed issue of food, shelter and avoidance of pain. Given our 120,000 odd years in the global coordination of species and the biological toll our behavior has collectively wrought, we have come a long way from that innocent past, as we approach the staggering 7 billion number of individuals. Typically, such numeric prodigiousness would be construed as a biological success… Continue reading