 Sir David with schoolchildren aiding the Big Butterfly Count |
City-dwellers are now so “divorced from nature” the only wild animals they are likely to see is a rat or a pigeon, according to Sir David Attenborough. The veteran presenter, who has introduced viewers to some of the most spectacular wildlife in the world through his television programmes, said most people are unlikely to see animals in the wild.
“Worldwide we are estranged from nature,” he said. “Over half of the world’s population is now urbanised which means that more than one person in two is to some degree cut off from the natural world. There will be some people who do not see a wild creature from one day to the next – unless it is a rat or a pigeon – and they aren’t wild…”
The natural world is around us all the time in our houses and gardens. And it is not just a question of standing back and looking at it in a passive way it is about getting involved in an active way and that transforms your attitude.”
Sir David urged people to take part in the Big Butterfly Count, which asks people to count butterflies in their local park, woodland or even the garden for 15 minutes over the next couple of weeks. He said the scheme, now in its second year, is the perfect opportunity for even “townies” to reconnect with nature…
“If my heart is not going to be lifted by a butterfly because they’ve gone my life is going to be much the poorer.”
I recall being at a high school football game in the Texas Oil Patch at twilight. As the powerful lights clattered on to illuminate the contest, insects gathered in clouds around the brightness. I expected next to see swifts and other birds knifing through the schools of flying bugs – but none appeared.
I asked my friend, a True Local – “where are the birds?” He replied, “They’re dead and gone. The hydrocarbons in the air, the fields, every puddle on the ground in the oilfields has killed them”
He said, “Breathe deeply. We call that the smell of money.”
I see plenty of wildlife. Large hornets and wasps, attempting to make a home or nest in our sun baked lawn. Small birds, picking at the few bugs they can find. Crows flying is mobs of six, looking for weaken rodents to dine on. And bread scraps people leave out for the smaller birds. Pigeons, that some local fancier, who moved here last year, can’t live without. So those things are always about and easily spooked into flight. Very annoying, and they make a mess! And then there’s the dog lovers, who moved in up the road from us, but walk there poopie pets thru our neighborhood. And don’t always PICK UP. And they seems to like doing it were our mail box is. I don’t hate dogs. Just everyone else’s, who comes by to relieve themselves wherever I step.
We take the given as the normal:
Used to be 100x fish on the Grand Banks. Now there is 10x. When it goes up to 11x people are happy the fish are “surging back”–10% more. But you used to be able to fish with a hand net, walk across their backs they were so thick.
Deer, raccoons, skunks==do well with human trash and lack of top predators. They speak to how ill our environment is, not how healthy.
Like everything else, can we avoid a crash from numbers that grow too high? I don’t think so. Will we see it, or our kiddies, or grandkiddies? Possible it could go farther—but cycles do exactly that: cycle. Up and down. Like the housing bubble==nothing goes up forever.
Thats the way it goes.
I had the pleasure of spending some time with Sir David Attenborough some years ago (before the ‘sir’ was tacked to the front of his name). He was one of the nicest people I’ve met. Hes also absolutely correct about the ‘wildlife’ most people see these days.
I’m lucky enough to live in a small town in a rural/bushland area, and even here with a population of under 10,000 the only common wildlife I ever see much of are the introduced species that live off our urban refuse like sparrows, starlings and stray cats.
When I was growing up in Melbourne some 35 years ago we didn’t exactly have kangaroos bounding down the streets (despite what Americans might think), but I remember seeing more wildlife in the middle of that city than I now am seeing out in ‘the sticks’.
You have to really move away from towns all together to get an idea of what animals we have displaced with our McHouses and public parkland so devoid of any real life they should be called deserts.
#19. Interesting list, but Bald Eagles are thick in this area. I have one nesting about 20 yds from my house.
And grizzly bears I prefer to see from the comfort of a fast car.
#5 Racist much.
#9 You don’t have to be rich to own a horse, they aren’t worth what they used to be. You do have to be to keep one cause they cost a freaking fortune to maintain.
Tui birds, sparrows, blackbirds, mynahs, song thrushes, starlings, wild ducks, native fantails and riflemen, rosella parrots, pidgeons and ring necked doves. In my front yard. A Sunday drive in the country reveals hawks, pheasants, partridges, quails, wild turkeys, lost chickens and the odd escaped emu in such numbers they are a road hazard. This is not Texas, but I imagine something like Texas used to be.
“the only wild animals they are likely to see is a rat or a pigeon.”
But that only applies to straight folk.
In the gay world you’ll find bears, wolves, otters, pigs, silver foxes and (gym) bunnies among other critters.
And here I am removing a rattle snake from my back porch. Good thing I have watch this evening with my rifle looking for the local mountain lion seen a little too close to the school.
I got racoons in my neighborhood 20 min from manhattan. They knida freak me out. I saw two of them running into a neighbors back yard over the weekend and it wasn’t even dark.
#27 Straight folk might also catch glimpses of pumas and (in recently built affluent suburbs), wasps.
This is true in developing parts of the nation. There’s no escaping the fact really. When I was a kid in San Diego here canyons were abundant, there were many more birds around to shoot…errr see, healthy bumblebees flying about and butterflys flaping by.
Now, it’s ravens, pigeons, seagulls, black birds and of course the regular finches. Where are the blue jays, the robins, the owls even, the eagle that nested on the golf course down Tecalote canyon for years and years.
Development has pretty much devasted the landscape in a big way. I miss the bumblebess, really miss them. They were always a pleasure for me to watch as a kid. I can watch them go about their daily lives all day, all week!
Did I mention I miss bumblebees here?
If I worked on DU I be sharing daily pictures of Bumblebess instead of cats 
Just to make clear that I’m not talking about Transformers >.>!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumble_bee