MIXING MUSIC AND CONSERVATION TO SAVE THREATENED SPECIES

National Threatened Species Day is the perfect time to celebrate some of the unsung heroes who, in their own way, protect wildlife on the brink. Heroes, like each and every WWF-Australia supporter. And heroes like WWF Legacy Society member, David, who proved that mixing music and conservation can protect threatened species. Concert pianist, comedian, and actor, David Scheel, shares his story this National Threatened Species Day. For as long as I can remember, wildlife photography has been my number one hobby. But there comes a time – if you are lucky – when a pastime can morph into something else, something deeper, and this happened to me on the island of Malta, in 1983.

I had been engaged to perform a month-long series of concerts at a 5-star resort on the island. These would occupy my evenings but leave my days free. Malta is a treasure house of archaeological sites, some Neolithic or earlier. However, it’s a small island, so you can see them all in a matter of days. I was quick to enquire if there were any wildlife reserves on the island. Yes! There was one. Għadira, a reserve for migratory birds, but I was warned not to go near it. Curiosity got the better of me, so I ignored the warning, went to the reserve and discovered that nearly every single bird there had been trapped or shot. Bird shooting is a popular sport among Maltese men, and they don’t discriminate between common game birds and rare migratory species. When I shared what I had witnessed with the people who had told me about the reserve they were so concerned that they urged me to put pen to paper. I returned to the reserve to photograph the illegal bird traps (and had a gun levelled at my head for my efforts!) then I set about writing a photo-essay.

I had never written an article before when I wrote Għadira, the Sanctuary Where There Are No Birds and submitted it to Wildlife (now BBC Wildlife) Magazine. To my surprise they not only accepted it but made it their cover story. It was not long after that the Maltese Government restored the habitat, this time with armed guards to patrol it. For the first time I realised the power of the written word. Not long after, I found myself doing a series of concerts in the USA and visited the world-famous San Diego Zoo. I had no hesitation in preparing another piece, when conservationists told me about the struggle they were having with the USA’s all powerful Audubon Society. The struggle was over the preservation of what was then America’s rarest bird, the Californian condor, at that time reduced – I believe – to just five individuals in the wild. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance were attempting a conservation breeding and reintroduction program to save the species from extinction. The Audubons declared that they “should be allowed to fly freely and die with dignity”. In my article, I argued that there is nothing dignified about dying a slow, lingering death from lead poisoning resulting from these carrion-eaters ingesting the flesh of carcasses contaminated with lead shot (shooters again). Among other things, lead poisoning causes paralysis of the neck muscles, and it is horrible to witness.

Once again, I submitted the article, this time (plucking up courage) to New Scientist. The piece, entitled How Not to Save a Species, again made the front cover. New Scientist has a global readership and a raft of media interviews and – happily – the inclusion of the remaining wild condors in the breeding program resulted. There are now close to 350 Californian condors in the wild, and a further 200 in human care. Currently, while my concerns are many, I could cite three that are of most importance. The effect of global warming on frogs and other amphibians, the planet’s living barometers. The disastrous drop in the number of butterflies and native bee species, the world’s principal natural pollinators. And, at a purely local level, there is a need to establish further habitats for the Critically Endangered mountain pygmy possum, the world’s only hibernating marsupial. David Scheel became a regular environmental commentator on BBC World Service’s Global Concerns. He also wrote “WWF News” columns for Science Journal Nature and became involved in numerous campaigns with the Conservation Foundation of Great Britain. David’s articles have gained favour with well-known experts in the field, including David Suzuki, David Attenborough, anthropologist Richard Leakey, and science writer, John Gribbin. David is a proud WWF supporter and has chosen to include a gift in his Will to WWF-Australia as part of his already significant contribution to conserving nature. To protect threatened species and create your own legacy to nature, please consider including WWF-Australia in your Will.