Wildlife Politics
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Book Descrip.-Quests.
    • Chapter Descriptions & Table of Contents
    • Ch. 2 Questions: The Role of Science in Protecting Wildlife
    • Ch. 3 Discussion Questions: Implementation and Enforcement Issues in Preserving Wildlife
    • Ch.4 Discussion Questions: The Development of U.S. Wildlife Policies and Legislation
    • Ch. 5 Questions: Charismatic Wildlife, Carnivores, & Politics of Wildlife
    • Cjh. 6 Discussion Questions ESA Evaluation and Politics
    • Ch. 7 Discussion Questions: Comparative Wildlife Politics
    • Ch. 8 Discussion Questions International Wildlife Politics
    • Ch. 9 Discussion Questions Wildlife Politics, Values, and Ethics
    • Ch. 10 Discussion Questions Hunting and Wildlife Politics
    • Ch. 11 Discussion Questions Tourism Good or Bad for Conservation of Wildlife?
    • Ch. 12 Discussion Questions Conclusion of Wildlife Politics
  • Wildlife Links
  • About
  • Contact
  • Papers on Wildlife Conservation

Charismatic Species and the Endangered Species Act & the Secret to becoming a Charismatic Animal: Have humans name you!

2/25/2017

1 Comment

 
​Charismatic Species and the Endangered Species Act & the Secret to becoming a Charismatic Animal: Have humans name you!  Emma Maris wrote in High Country News http://www.hcn.org/external_files/digitaledition/49-01.pdf about how a Oregon wolf became famous due to its journeys take took him into California for a while and thus became the first known wolf in the state since the 1920s. He had been radio-collared in Oregon so that is how they were able to trace him. He had been assigned the name OR7 when collared but became known as “Journey.”  According to Marris, he has become an inspiration to many and has been a subject of  documentaries and a children’s book.  Marris goes on to point out how much effort has gone into tracking the wolf  by a USFWS biologist, John Stephenson, who she quotes as saying “You get attached,” he says. “We all do.” OR7 is a celebrity, and no doubt the Fish and Wildlife Service will go the extra mile to enable him to live out his life and die a wild wolf’s death, perhaps after getting kicked by an elk or starving to death in a bad winter.”  Marris goes on to cite other examples of wildlife who have  become famous and been “named” such as a sea otter “Mr. Enchilada” whose death due to a car led to the installation of speed bumps in the area. Moreover, she points out that environmental groups have long known about the importance of people’s identification with individual animals and used this in appeals for money even though is the survival of the species rather than individuals that should be their primary goal.  Indeed, wildlife conservation efforts have for a long time tended to concentrate on charismatic animals because their appeal to humans makes the issue of conservation politically salient—more powerful for most than the abstract concept of biodiversity.  The hope among conservationists is that efforts to preserve the charismatic will assist other unglamorous species and thus overall biodiversity.  There is the hope that humans will become more knowledgeable about biodiversity and realize the importance of preserving all fora and fauna—I have seen a least one reference that I cite in my Wildlife Politics book that suggests this might be occurring though I don’t find this evidence convincing yet.  For now, human identification with charismatic species appears to be the main vehicle for our hope that attacks on the Endangered Species Act can be beaten. 
1 Comment
Laurel link
11/9/2023 07:21:12 am

Great post thaankyou

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    ​​During my research for the book, I noticed that there was no blog available for sharing informaton on wildlife conservation and thus I set up this blog to accomplish this purpose.  Please share any informaticoncerning issues related to wildife policy and politics. I welcome feedback from users concerning this blog and website. 

    Bruce Rocheleau

    Archives

    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Book Descrip.-Quests.
    • Chapter Descriptions & Table of Contents
    • Ch. 2 Questions: The Role of Science in Protecting Wildlife
    • Ch. 3 Discussion Questions: Implementation and Enforcement Issues in Preserving Wildlife
    • Ch.4 Discussion Questions: The Development of U.S. Wildlife Policies and Legislation
    • Ch. 5 Questions: Charismatic Wildlife, Carnivores, & Politics of Wildlife
    • Cjh. 6 Discussion Questions ESA Evaluation and Politics
    • Ch. 7 Discussion Questions: Comparative Wildlife Politics
    • Ch. 8 Discussion Questions International Wildlife Politics
    • Ch. 9 Discussion Questions Wildlife Politics, Values, and Ethics
    • Ch. 10 Discussion Questions Hunting and Wildlife Politics
    • Ch. 11 Discussion Questions Tourism Good or Bad for Conservation of Wildlife?
    • Ch. 12 Discussion Questions Conclusion of Wildlife Politics
  • Wildlife Links
  • About
  • Contact
  • Papers on Wildlife Conservation