Go the whole hog, protect wildlife

The term ‘wildlife’, which originally referred to undomesticated animal species, now includes organisms that grow wild, without having been introduced by human beings. Wildlife can be found in varying, but distinct, forms in all ecosystems, such as deserts, planes, grasslands, woodlands, forests, including urban areas. In common parlance, it refers to animals untouched by human factors, although scientific studies have shown that much of it is affected by human activities. While, it may, sometimes, threaten human safety and quality of life, it is, otherwise, of considerable value to human beings. It plays an important role in maintaining the sustainability of the ecosystems of our planet and balance in the food chain.

Exploitation of wild populations has been a characteristic of modern man since some 70,000 to 1,30,000 years ago. Global wildlife populations have decreased by 68% since 1970 as a result of human activity, particularly over-consumption, population, growth, and intensive farming. The rates of extinction of have been so high, over the last few centuries, that it is now believed that a sixth generation great extinction event (the ‘Holocene Mass Extinction’) is currently ongoing.

Conservation prevents wildlife from aimless killing and poaching, and creates awareness about need to maintain the food chain and ecosystem balance and aims at the maintenance of natural habitat, by protecting animal life. If, for instance, tigers are hunted for skins, then the count of deer will increase. Likewise, when chicken are killed for meat, the supply of eggs will fall. Wildlife conservation, therefore, is necessary to maintain the population of animals on earth. Measures, such as the banning of the felling of trees by law, are part of that effort.

Different countries have different laws for restricting hunting of animals, birds and aquatic life. Concern for the natural environment, especially in recent times, has led activists to protest against exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment.

Wildlife trade refers to trade in products from non-domesticated animals or plants. It is a serious problem, and adversely affects the viability of wildlife, threatening the survival of many species. It also often leads to the emergence, and spread, of new infectious diseases in humans.

The subject of wildlife has for long been a common choice for educational television shows. The National Geographic Society specials have, for instance, been appearing since 1965. Since then, many other channels have served to popularise the subject, such as ‘Wild Kingdom’ by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in 1963, ‘Look’ by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the UK, with David Attenborough following through ‘Zoo Quest’, which explored wildlife in Indonesia and Madagascar. Post 1984, the ‘Discovery Channel’ and its spin-off ‘Animal Planet’, in the US, have dominated the market along with ‘Nature Stand’ in New York and ‘Nova’ in Boston. Wildlife television is now a multi-billion dollar industry, with specialist document filmmakers in many countries, including the UK, US, New Zealand, Japan. There are in addition to magazines and websites, which cover the subject, including the ‘National Wildlife’ magazine, ‘Birds and Blooms’, ‘Bird, Wildlife’, ’Net’, and “Ranger Chicken’ for children.

Wildlife has also interested authors, creators of comic strips, and producers of movies. ‘Lady and the Tramp,’ for example, is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney. In its plot, one ‘Jim Dear’ gives his wife Darling a cocker spaniel puppy as a Christmas present. The puppy, named Lady, grows up pampered by her doting owners and, with changes in her family, meets and falls in love with Tram, a homeless mutt and an elderly Bloodhound. Likewise, Curly Wee, and Gussie Goose, were the chief characters, in a children’s cartoon, published daily in the ‘Irish Independent’ until the end of the 1950s. Curly Wee was a rather aristocratic pig and Gussie Goose was his excitable sidekick. The cartoon was very popular with children and adults.

Calvin and Hobbes is yet another American comic strip belonging to the same genre, featuring Calvin, a precocious, mischievous, and adventurous six-year-old boy; and Hobbes, his sardonic stuffed tiger. It is commonly cited as “the last great newspaper comic”, it has enjoyed broad and enduring popularity, influence, and academic and philosophical interest. It follows the humorous antics of the title characters.

A similar comic strip is ‘Peanuts’, in which Snoopy is a dog who, later, is described as a beagle. While generally behaving like a real dog and having a non-speaking role, Snoopy connects to readers through having human thoughts. Despite acting like a real dog much of the time, Snoopy possesses many different anthropomorphic traits. Most notably, he frequently walks on his hind legs and is able to use tools, including his typewriter. He introduces fantasy elements to the strip by extending his identity through various alter egos, such as a ‘world-famous’ attorney, surgeon or secret agent. His character is a mixture of innocence and egotism.

‘Lassie’ is another American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog, named Lassie, and her companions, both human and animal. Rin Tin Tin, is yet another story based on the life and times of a dog called a male German Shepherd who become an international star in motion pictures. He was rescued from a World War 1 battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who nicknamed him “Rinty”. Duncan trained Rin Tin Tin and obtained silent film work for the dog.

Belonging to a similar category is the legendary ‘Panchatantra,’ an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story, many of which deploy metaphors of anthropomorphized animals with human virtues and vices. The narrative illustrates, for the benefit of three ignorant princes, the central Hindu principles of nīti, worldly conduct. It is a set of delightful stories with pithy proverbs, and ageless wisdom.

That animals, in the ultimate analysis, are more sensible than human beings is best illustrated by the tongue-in-cheek observation, a wise guy made, saying that, “Horse sense is the sense which prevents horses from betting on men!”

(The writer is formerly Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)