Posted on Jul 20, 2022
Last week Rotarians Del Benson and Ralph Smith presented a program entitled Views of Wildlife in Words and Pictures. Since Ralph has a much bigger camera and lens, he did the second portion (Pictures). Del focused on the many attitudes people have towards animals.
A familiar Bambi cartoon illustrated generational differences, but attitudes toward wildlife vary from very negative to very positive. These have been categorized by scientists.
 
Members were asked - What wildlife do you like to see and what do you think about when you see animals? Excellent answers included - habitat, zoonotic disease, extinction, human manipulation, and invasive species.
 
Aldo Leopold is considered the father of wildlife science.  His 1943 essay began the conversation about peoples’ responses to wildlife and how they were affected by national origins, and whether responders were urban dwellers or western ranchers, etc.
 
More recently, Steve Kellert at Yale University (1996) categorized these approaches (values) toward nature –
  • Utilitarian (practical exploitation and use)
  • Naturalistic (direct exploration)
  • Eco logistic (systematic scientific)
  • Aesthetic (beauty of nature)
  • Symbolic (think wolves)
  • Humanistic (love for nature)
  • Moralistic (spiritual/reverence)
  • Dominionistic (mastery and dominance)
  • Negativistic (fear and aversion) and
  • Mutualistic (animals as companions).
Ralph Smith and his photography were introduced by Del with his own hilarious photo selection. First, examples of human - wildlife interaction (grizzly bears and fishermen in AK, bison blocking the road in Yellowstone).  Next, we were treated to photos from  two of Ralph’s favorite places to take pictures - the Pawnee Grasslands and Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver. The Grasslands are a great place to see and photograph a variety of birds and in the Arsenal there are bison, deer and coyote. Sandhill Cranes gather by the thousands near Kearney, NE. Black footed ferrets, Sandhill cranes and California condors represent success stories with our endangered species.
 
This was another event showcasing our local talent and reminding us why we enjoy Colorado and the mountain west.