Thank you Only Magazine for this moving interview with Derrick Jensen, author of Endgame: The Problem of Civilization and Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos. I will return to Mr. Jensen in a moment.
On Bears
On October 11th, CBC's The Nature of Things with David Suzuki aired an amazing documentary titled The Bear Man of Kamchatka, the story of Charlie Russell and his study of grizzly bears in Far Eastern Russia. The documentary portrayed these bears as sensitive, inquisitive, intelligent creatures, capable of harmonious co-existence with humans as long as basic rules of respect are followed. At the close of the hour, the husband and I wept at the beauty and gentleness of these bears, and the gentleness of the man who for 12 years was their steward and surrogate mother.
I immediately found Charlie Russell's website and sent some money to his foundation, which is, perhaps unfortunately, my immediate response upon encountering the potential suffering of any little creature that cannot speak for itself. I say unfortunately because money seems like such a trite, stereotypically middle class response. Anyone can send money. It's far easier to open the wallet and put the thing out of mind than to work towards change, is it not?
But typically this is what I do. However, uncharacteristically this time, I also emailed Mr. Russell to tell him how moved I was by the documentary, and to ask what I could do to help.
His response was heartbreaking.
Dear Nikki,
As you might know, I am not going back to Kamchatka because it is impossible due to the poachers getting the upper hand there now. I have no idea what has happened to my bears and it would cost me about 30 grand to find out and I am too afraid of the answer.
I got a lot during those 12 years and had lots of privileges there. Now I am continuing the other part of my job, that of taking advantage of the attention I am getting and talking to as many people as I can to persuade the world that there are better ways to manage these animals than we are now doing. It is happening slowly. I will update my web site soon.
I have raised a pile of money over the years, but never paid myself much because I never seemed to have enough for the projects I was doing, therefore any money now is sure welcome, even though it just goes into a general fund that buys gas and hotel rooms. This is not the romantic part of my life of living with bears in an exotic place, but it is just as important and I sure appreciate any help I can get.
As for what else you can do, just keep adding to the growing pool of positive thinking.
Thanks for your interest and for taking the time to write.
Charlie
On Elephants
The elephants make me cry. I feel particularly drawn to the elephants; their complex social groupings and familial bonds, their experiences and expressions of grief.
Joe Schlesinger with CBC's The National did a lovely story about one of my favourite organizations, The Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary. Watch the video here. (Runs 11:38)
To quote Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary Director Carol Buckley, "Elephants are walking bodies of emotion." Which is probably why they make me cry.
Back to Derrick Jensen and our civilizations & our zoos:
Incarcerating animals in zoos is to entering into relationships with them in the wild as rape is to making love.
Hyperbolic? I don't think so. I don't think we can employ enough rhetorical devices to properly capture the myriad ways in which humans have inflicted suffering and torture upon our planet and the creatures we share it with.
This is why an organization like The Elephant Sanctuary is so important. Humans have orphaned these creatures and sold them into slavery in the form of zoos or circuses, but humans have also built a place of refuge for the lucky few to live out their days as nature intended. With adopted friends and family and the freedom to roam. The freedom to be their own elephant selves.
Another organization dear to my heart is the David Sheldrick Wildlfe Trust in Kenya. The Trust fosters orphaned elephants and rhinos, and raises the animals until they go off into the wild of their own accord. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust also engages in important community outreach activities in its regions, including assistance to schools, conservation initiatives, and initiatives to discourage poaching.
As well, the DSWF has a program whereby individuals can 'foster' an orphaned elephant or rhino. From the DSWT website:
A tiny newborn elephant is orphaned, often its mother and family gunned down to serve the Ivory trade, its life support gone; any survivors fleeing in terror; its fate now suffering and death in hopeless and lonely isolation it cannot understand. For an elephant, the family is all important; its very existence dependent upon its mother's milk for the first two years of life and a life that should span three score years and ten, equivalent to that of man. In a perfect world that elephant life would be filled with fun and joy through the companionship of friends and a close-knit and loving family, whose love is pure and unconditional all the days of its life.
As you can imagine, I was compelled to become foster parent to a baby elephant. Little Sinya (above at left) recently rescued from a livestock well at approximately eight months of age, and Edie (below) an adventurous eight year old, also retrieved from the bottom of a well, in 1999.
So, while there are certainly individuals and organizations like Mr. Jensen, Mr. Russell, Ms. Buckley, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, and while I want to remain hopeful for the future of animals on this planet, I find it difficult not to remain deeply pessimistic. It's up to us humans, and we have a really lousy track record.
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