SOME QUOTES FROM DAPHNE SHELDRICK’S “THE TSAVO STORY” THAT ARE AS APROPOS NOW AS THEY WERE BACK IN 1973 WHEN THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED
Reflecting after the death of Dickey, an orphaned dik dik Daphne was trying to save, she states “How arrogant some people are, particularly those pseudo-intellectuals who, sheltering behind the guise of science, denounce what they call “emotionalism”, and attempt to bring to ridicule those who are so misguided as to admit to a love of animals. Did they but know it, by so doing so they admit their ignorance, for they could learn a lot more by being “emotional” themselves where animals are concerned. After all, it was Dr. Loren Eiseley, in his book “The Unexpected Universe”, who pointed out that the human soul “craves that empathy clinging between man and beast, that nagging shadow of remembrance which ….. asserts our unity with life and does more. Paradoxically, it establishes in the end our own humanity. One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human”.
Later in the book “hasn’t man always had a regrettable tendency to manipulate the natural order of things to suit himself, and when it doesn't, convince himself easily that what he has done was in the best interests of that which he has manipulated, conveniently overlooking any long term adverse effects of his actions? Cloaking greed under the guise of science, we piously preach present-day thinking and management in the light of modern research, but what, exactly does this mean? We convince ourselves that it is the environment that stands to benefit from our interference, but then we deprive it of that which should be returned to it. Haven’t we been guilty of the destruction of noble forests, the pollution of streams and rivers, lakes and seas; the disappearance of many species of birds and animals, and the impoverishment of the soil over huge areas?
In our blindness, can we not recognize the signals that warn of the need to stop blindly accepting theories based on insufficient knowledge, and the need to call a halt to the mass exploitation of the environment? After all, haven’t we consumed far too much of the earth’s resources already; in fact, more in the last twenty-five years than the rest of man’s occupation of this planet? Yet, we continue to heed the plausible patter about “consumable natural resources” and “maximum utilization of the habitat”, including in this category the remnants of the world’s wildlife which is struggling for survival.
Fashionable to deride those are are emotional where animals are concerned; popular to denigrate those who marvel and take note of Nature’s ways, enlightened to shrug off the very concept of Nature as something old fashioned and out-dated in the light of modern techniques in the same way as it is considered clever to scoff at the concept of a God. Man has become so scientifically orientated that he fails to take note of the need to escape the trammels and stresses of modern living, a need which leads to a widespread longing for the natural and unsoiled, and a yearning for the solace of a wild place. With amazing arrogance we presume omniscience and an understanding of the complexities of Nature, and with amazing impertinence we firmly believe that we can better it. But, can we even begin to improve on the termite, or the honey bee?
Perhaps, we have forgotten that we, ourselves, are just a part of Nature, an animal which seems to have taken the wrong turning, bent on total destruction. So prolific that we threaten the very survival of the earth, we stand in judgment of other populations guilty of the same crime, populations that will, however, bend to Nature’s rules before all is lost. We, on the other hand, while priding ourselves in our superiority and ability to circumvent the inevitable, will be beaten by Nature in the end and will find that even we have to conform to her laws. And, if we are given the chance of hindsight when the time comes, we will then realize that we had not been quite so clever after all”.
