The Wildlife War

The late Steve Irwin, better known as "The Crocodile Hunter," liked to refer to himself as a Wildlife Warrior.  It was a memorable nickname, one that made for a good soundbite on television, but it hinted at a darker truth.  In some parts of the world, wildlife conservation truly is a war.  And in war, people die... and not from stingray barbs.

For as long as governments have sought to enforce laws against the hunting of wildlife by posting guards and game wardens, there has been armed conflict with poachers, sometimes lethal.  It has taken place throughout history and into literature - the English folk hero Robin Hood got his start as a young lad who shot and killed a ranger in Sherwood Forest while poaching deer.  One of America's earliest conservation heroes was Guy Bradley, who in 1905 was murdered by a plume hunter who was slaughtering egrets in the Everglades.  These days, the shooting wars are at their worst in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.

Sometimes poachers kill game wardens and rangers.  Sometimes the rangers kill the poachers, or suspected poachers.  And sometimes, as is coming to light, some of those rangers are funded by western nonprofits... including some of the biggest names in conservation.

WWF's Secret War: WWF Funds Guards Who Have Tortured and Killed People

This is a hard read.  Our society often rails against poachers - any news article about elephants, rhinos, or other endangered species usually has a comment section filled with people who are outraged by poachers.  Often they express the desire to hunt or kill the poachers themselves.  Stepping aside for a moment from the consideration that there is (and should be) presumption of innocence, due process, and other legal rights, this has still made me deeply uncomfortable. You can imagine how such sentiments might play out in the developing world, where a poor villager or struggling farmer would react to the statement that rich white Americans or Europeans value his life - or those of his family members - so far below those of animals.

If wildlife is to survive outside of our zoos - if it is to have a future in the wild - than it must have the support, or at least tolerance, of the people who share those landscapes.  WWF says that it is initiating an investigation into these charges against the rangers it sponsors.  I hope they are addressed and explained soon.  The world is watching...