From the Wildife Society Blog
And the Oscar goes to…..Aldo Leopold?!?
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Yesterday at 11:41am
The Guardian describes China’s chic approach to make wildlife conservation more appealing. The lavish ceremony, complete with Chinese celebrities, prizes and Oscar-style glitz, was held again this year to honor wildlife heroes by escalating them to celebrity status. Although China has more nature reserves than any other country, they can’t compete with the ever-rising markets for endangered species. The goal of The Second China Border Wildlife Conservation Awards Ceremony was to highlight the federal employees such as the border patrol and customs police who risk their lives tracking down armed smugglers and confiscating contraband animal products. In America, we might not need to concentrate as much on tackling wildlife smugglers, but we still need to fight for publicity for the thousands of endangered species, of which only a small fraction are protected under the Endangered Species Act. I’m not sure if China’s celebrity approach will, in fact, reach a wider audience and consequently transform people’s actions but I can guarantee it’s a better strategy than posing nude (for animal rights…so they say) and becoming spokesmen for environmental issues, which they have no credibility or knowledge of, as American celebrities tend to do.
Read full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/26/china-endangered-species-oscars
No question, wardens, COs, and game rangers are unsung heroes of wildlife management. In the US most are taken for granted, but in the late 1800's and early 1900's the game wars were in full swing and many died for the cause of wildlife restoration. In some places like Africa they still are...
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