By The Landlord
“No species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on Earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the Earth.” – David Attenborough
“Fortunately, nature is amazingly resilient: places we have destroyed, given time and help, can once again support life, and endangered species can be given a second chance … We must all join that fight before it is too late.” – Jane Goodall
“What is a fish without a river? What is a bird without a tree to nest in? What is an Endangered Species Act without any enforcement mechanism to ensure their habitat is protected? It is nothing.” – Jay Inslee
“Animals are, like us, endangered species on an endangered planet, and we are the ones who are endangering them, it, and ourselves. They are innocent sufferers in a hell of our making.” – Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
“We don’t own the planet Earth, we belong to it. And we must share it with our wildlife.” – Steve Irwin
“Look closely at nature. Every species is a masterpiece, exquisitely adapted to the particular environment in which it has survived. Who are we to destroy or even diminish biodiversity?” – Edward O. Wilson
“The many sorrows of our recent history suggest that we humans have a learning disability.” – Carl Sagan, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.” – Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See
“Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.” – P.D. James, The Children of Men
“So profound is our ignorance, and so high our presumption, that we marvel when we hear of the extinction of an organic being; and as we do not see the cause, we invoke cataclysms to desolate the world, or invent laws on the duration of the forms of life!” – Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species
Is it time to appreciate life before it’s gone? Yes.
Is it all doom and gloom? No.
Can we do anything about it? Yes.
This week’s topic is one that’s constantly topical, from the Arctic to the tropical. But with the bad news there’s always a little bit of good. While the great city of Birmingham this week said a street-procession farewell to rock legend and self-destructive, entertaining wild man Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on 22 July aged 76, a baby, also named consequently named Ozzy, was born at Safari West in Santa Rosa, California – a rare, endangered southern white rhino. Heavy metal to heavy mammal.
Various animal, bird, fish, and other species have always been a regular and popular thematic musical feature at our Bar. But for all the shocking and horrific statistics about ecological decline and destruction, variously caused by human impact, from hunting to poisonous chemicals, destruction of habitat and more, there are also stories of hope along with tragedy, of recovery and heroic triumph against destructive big business and public ignorance, and indifference.
This week then it’s time to try and save the animals, at least in song form and hopefully by turn in spreading the word on the state of things, with a celebration of but also warning about endangered species that may appear in lyrics and stories. Ideally in such songs their fate, or hopefully conservation is mentioned, but that isn’t necessarily required, but that at least the endangered species forms a key part of the song. Ideally also, a brief sentence on their current vulnerability would help bring focus to eventual playlists.
It’s a colourful but emotional subject, one that sometimes makes me feel helpless and sick to the stomach, yet at other times stirred and stimulated by stories of defiance and survival.
How do you source examples of particular species and what counts? Levels of threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, and there’s an easily accessible variety of lists to consult, primarily the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, or that of the World Wildlife Fund, the latter, in its Our Living Planet Report of 2018, which showed that population sizes of wildlife decreased by 60% globally between 1970 and 2014.
Here then is a small selection of species on various levels of endangered that may inspire songs, but feel free to pick as wide and specific selection as possible, from mammals to amphibians, birds, fish, insects or fish. They, and many others, all count for this topic:
Mountain gorilla
Yangtze finless porpoise
Hainan gibbon
Panamanian golden frog
Black and rufous sengi (elephant shrew)
Proboscis monkey
South China tiger
Quokka
Silky sifaka
Pichi
Red wolf
Mekong giant catfish
Tales of extinction and decline will almost certainly come into play, but perhaps stories about people who have halted that trend with their bravery and dedication. There are several key conservation figures, mentioned at the top of this introduction, and another is Dr Carl Jones, who grew up in rural Wales and became a real-life Billy from the Ken Loach film Kes, who as an eccentric, enthused boy rescued and kept all kinds of birds, reptiles and other animals, and went on, via the Durrell Wildlife Trust, to spend 20 years in Mauritius (once home to the extinct dodo), fighting local politics and also conservation bodies, to save, after a chance meeting with a pair in a cave when sheltering from a thunderstorm, the Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus) from just four individuals clinging on in 1974, to an estimated 400. He is now back in Wales, but continues to help species, including rearing giant Andean condors in his shed.
A living Kes figure, Dr Carl Jones, after saving species in Mauritius for 20 years, is still saving species in his native Wales
In his career abroad, he helped rescue and restore other species such as the pink pigeon, which at one point got down to just 10 individuals. He has been at the centre of debate about whether animals species should be hand reared before being released into the wild again, but says this is a vital part of learning about their behaviour to assist their survival. Another of his key moves was to transport a number of Aldabra giant tortoises, from the Seychelles, on to Round Island to restore its ecology, allowing species such as the ebony tree to thriving again thanks to the tortoises’ grazing and seed dispersal. By an interesting link, some of those older tortoise individuals he helped transport were still alive when Charles Darwin visited the island. Missing links through ecological history.
And finally, to close, another great story, comes with the upcoming release of a new RSPB short film, Return (out on 29 August), which documents successful efforts to re-introduce white-tailed eagles to UK shores. The white-tailed eagle, the UK’s largest bird of prey, had previously been driven to extinction in the early 20th century by persecution and habitat loss. Here below is a trailer for the film and also a new music accompanying it by Alice Boyd, both landing, by fabulous serendipitous coincidence, in my crowded inbox this morning:
So then, what species will you highlight and with some mention of the danger level they face? Keeping a watchful eye and ear on proceedings to curate and conserve resulting playlists, will be the marvellous keeper of records Marco den Ouden. Place your nominations carefully in the boxes below, and hopefully they will find a new lease of life. As usual, the bell goes at 11pm on Monday UK time, for playlists published next week. Let your ideas run, swim and take flight and let’s make tracks:
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