Wednesday 27 March 2013

Wildlife Prejudice



This week in the supreme court, the issue of same sex marriage is being debated. Prejudice against sexual orientation and human rights are at the forefront of arguments on both sides. Although we have come leaps and bounds in the last 100 years in the eradication of human prejudice, it seems we still have many hurdles to get over. To take the idea of prejudice a step further, I'd like to address a topic very near and dear to me - that of wildlife prejudice.


Whether you believe in evolution or creationism, most people will agree that the diversity of wildlife is astounding. Animals exist in the air, on land, and at sea, from the highest mountains to the deepest burrows in the earth, in all temperature extremes, in all corners of the world. We can think of species as being intricately connected within a biological chain comprised of links within links. There are direct links, for example the food chain, and indirect ones, such as symbiotic relationships. 

Eastern fox snake                                              c. L.Dunn
Take, for example, a seemingly insignificant fruit bat hanging out in a tree. That bat feeds on the fruits of many species of trees and in turn flies great distances dispersing those seeds in its feces causing new trees to sprout where they may not have otherwise. The leaves of the new trees may be eaten by antelope, it's new fruit enjoyed by birds or elephants and one day a tiger might prey on the antelope that was sustained by the tree. You get the idea. Each species is a block in a huge interconnected world game of Jenga. Take one out, and you weaken the system. It seems regretfully pathetic to me that this knowledge is lost to a great percentage of human beings. Some who seem intent on passing judgement on species that they just don't like, for whatever reasons, and cooing like a baby when they see one they do. I saw this first hand on my first day of University.

I had signed up for the zoology program to fuel an innate desire to learn everything I could about the various species that inhabit our planet. Nervously, I walked into my dorm room that was to be shared with another first year zoology student. She had already moved in and  one wall of the room that was officially on her side was plastered floor to ceiling with national geographic photos. This wouldn't have seemed odd to me except that they were all softly furred mammals with round, dewy eyes.

I set up the personal belongings that I had brought with me including my turntable stereo, books, and a small glass aquarium housing a little green anole lizard. When my roommate saw the tank and its inhabitant she backed away like it contained nuclear reactive material and demanded that I get rid of it. "I'm not getting rid of anything" I replied, "this little lizard is perfectly harmless". Our relationship was off to a wonderful start. Not surprisingly, she lasted a year in the program before dropping out, not being able to handle dissecting invertebrates to learn about their anatomy, or sitting through slides of diseases caused by parasites of wildlife.

We, as a society, are starting to become much more open minded about differences among human beings. Why then, can we not apply this to wildlife as well? Does an animal have to be seen in cartoon form in a Disney movie or a computer animated version in a cell phone commercial before we deem it "cute" and worthy of a group advocating for its survival in the wild?
I have always championed for those species which, due to fears and misconceptions based on religious iconography, mythology and folklore, have been blacklisted for centuries - snakes and other reptiles, bats, sharks, wolves....you name it. We are the ones responsible for perpetuating the myths, for believing in ridiculous religious connotations, for refusing to educate ourselves and learn of their behaviour instead of fearing it, and have instead put unfair labels on them. Is it really so wrong to want to conserve wildlife regardless of its appearance or behaviour?

Eastern massasauga rattlesnake                 c. L.Dunn

The truth is, because of my education and desire to protect these species, without passing judgement on them, judgement gets passed on me. I have found myself being introduced at a party only to have the person add "she likes snakes" with a bit of a sneer and a whisper like I might not be "right in the head". I usually then spend the night sitting in a corner while the conversation revolves around how someone once had a garter snake get into their basement, or some other mundane trivia. It's as though "liking snakes" was all there was to me,  my life, my 5 years of university education, and the 20 years I spent working with wildlife and engaging in the conservation of countless species. It has affected relationships with some folks, this "liking snakes", and has made me as much of an outcast to those people as the snakes are.

It would seem as though wildlife prejudice and human prejudice may be somewhat related. Perhaps it is just a general close-mindedness of some people and lack of interest in the world around them. I hope that one day we reach the age where we are all just humans, and wildlife is wildlife, and a tiny salamander or rattlesnake or fruit bat will be seen as  majestic and important as any other animal and equally deserving to have a place in the ecosystem that houses it.