WWF policies and Sir Peter Scott

[Guest guest]

Dear colleagues,

 

I noted with some intrigue the recent debates on

AAPN on some policies of WWF in regard to a particular petition that was

submitted on the protection of tigers in China. Of particular interest was

the *Animal People* statement, " Founded in 1961 by trophy hunter Sir Peter

Scott and pals, among them captive bird-shooters Prince Philip of Britain

and Prince Bernhardt of The Netherlands, the whaler Aristotle Onassis,

and then-National

Rifle Association president C.R. " Pink " Gutermuth, WWF is the leading global

voice of the idea that wildlife should " pay for itself " through

" sustainable use, " meaning sport hunting and the sale of wildlife products. "

 

Recently in the course of my professional work I have had occasion to read

works by and about Sir Peter Scott and have reason to believe that the

statement posted on AAPN was rather selective, and I dare say, somewhat

economical with the truth. I would therefore like to present some facts on

Sir Peter Scott and leave you to draw your own conclusions on his role in

framing WWF policies.

 

The son of Robert Falcon Scott of Antarctic fame, born to a legend with

which he was convinced he could never compare, Peter Scott set out to make

his name in his own way. Sir Peter Scott put in an eagle's amount of work

in the sparrow's cage of life and achieved distinction in an astonishing

number of fields, as a naturalist and conservationist, painter, naval

officer, glider pilot, yachtsman, traveler, broadcaster and author.

 

One of the founders of the World Wildlife Fund, Sir Peter Scott's views

are thus enumerated:

 

ON WHALING

 

In 1987, Sir Peter made an attempt to shame the whale hunters. Back in 1971,

Iceland had recognized his research into Pinkfooted Geese by awarding him

the Order of the Falcon, a medal which he now sent back to Reykjavik as a

protest against Iceland's continued killing of whales. He explained, " I

really cannot keep it now............I am dismayed by their disgraceful

behaviour. "

 

" What we have done to the great whales in the sacred name of commerce is an

affront to human dignity, a debasement of human values and sensibility.

These magnificent animals - almost certainly the largest that have ever

existed on earth, and now recognized as the possessors of outstanding

intelligence- have been brought to the brink of extinction by killing

methods of appalling cruelty, through the greed of mankind. "

 

Sir Peter Scott, to the International Whaling Commission, 1985

 

" In the light of present knowledge of these intelligent mammals, no

civilized person can contemplate the whaling industry without revulsion and

shame at the insensitivity of our own species. "

 

Sir Peter Scott, to the International Whaling Commission, 1985

(Biography of Sir Peter Scott by Julia Courtney, Exley Publications,

Watford, UK, 1989)

 

ON WWF's role in conservation:

 

" Much money is needed for relieving human suffering, but some is also

needed for human fulfilment and inspiration. Conservation, like education

and art, claims some proportion of the money we give to help others,

including the as yet unborn.

 

Even if I am wrong about the long term prospects - if man were to fail to

solve his own overpopulation problem, and reaches the stage when there will

be standing room only on earth- even then the conservation effort will have

been worthwhile. It will have retained at least for a time, some of the

natural wonders. Measured in man-hours of enjoyment and inspiration this

alone would be worth the effort. Many will have enjoyed the pictures even if

the gallery is burnt down in the end.

The community chest which seeks to make the gallery representative and

maintains the fire-alarm system is the World Wildlife Fund. "

 

ON HUNTING

 

" I had more or less given up shooting. My personal doubts had increased and

been finally crystallised by a particular incident. During a goose-shoot the

six or seven 'guns' were standing in a cluster when a single goose flew

over. Each man(and I was one) raised his gun and fired two barrels. Twelve

shots went off at the goose, which staggered in the air, flew on and then

began to lose height. It came down far out on the mud flats in a place quite

inaccessible because of the soft mud which in parts of that estuary amounts

to quicksand. As it landed, I watched with my glasses, and saw that both

legs were broken. It crashlanded, came to rest quivering on its belly and

put its head up. There was nothing that any of us could do. It was 500 yards

away and out of reach. We went later to the hotel for lunch, and in the

afternoon we went shooting again, and as we passed the sea-wall I saw with

binoculars that the bird still sat out on the mud, its neck still raised. At

dusk we went back to tea. On the following day I came out again to watch the

geese. The shooting was over and many of the geese were feeding in the

fields as if nothing had happened. But out on the mud, in exactly the same

place sat the goose with the broken legs. 'What right,' I said to myself,

'have we men to do this to a bird for our fun - to impose that kind of

suffering? I should not want this for a sworn enemy and that goose was not

my enemy when I shot at him- although I was his.'

 

'That kind of suffering,' I had said - but what kind of suffering was it,

for without being a bird how could one know what pain they felt? It has been

held that pain in birds is something quite different from, and much less

than, pain in humans. But in spite of all this the goose with the broken

legs was upsetting.

 

I am quite sure that as soon as doubts and the disquiet prevent one from

enjoying shooting there can no longer be any reason for going on doing it

oneself. So I have sold my guns, and I no longer shoot.

 

THE EYE OF THE WIND by Sir Peter Scott, pages 236 and 237, Hodder and

Stoughton, 1961

 

Sir Peter Scott's painting entitled 'The Natural World of Man' is as

powerful and sensitive and unsparing and unsentimental as any I have ever

seen. I recently saw a film on him and was really touched by his incredible

sensitivity and amazing gentleness towards both animals and humans. Elspeth

Huxley, his biographer, aptly summed up his life by quoting the poet Walter

Savage Landor:

 

I strove with none for none was worth my strife

 

Nature I loved and next to nature, Art,

 

I warmed both hands before the fire of life

 

It sinks and I am ready to depart.

 

As far as the petitions on WWF's stance on banning the Chinese tiger

medicine trade are concerned, I read their content line by line and word for

word, found nothing objectionable or contrary to the fundamental principles

of animal rights or welfare, and therefore had no hesitation in lending my

support to the endeavour by signing them both.

 

Best wishes and kind regards,

 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Ghosh