| George Schaller Speaks Out for Animals, the Environment |
By Carolyn Weaver
New York
14 July 2008
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 | Schaller's work in conservation has resulted in the protection of large stretches of area in the Amazon, the Hindu Kush, and forests in Southeast Asia
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American biologist George Schaller has spent his life studying
wild animals in more than 25 countries: from gorillas in Congo to snow
leopards in Nepal to alligators in Brazil. At 75, he is being honored
for his achievements in animal conservation with this year's
Indianapolis Prize, given
by the Indianapolis Zoo.
In announcing the award, Zoo
president Michael Crowther called Schaller "the George Washington of
conservation biology," noting, "there are generations of people, of
conservationists, now, who grew up learning about conservation from
George Schaller." In fact, primatologists Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall
were both inspired by his work.
Work Begins with Mountain Gorillas
 | Little was known about the life of gorillas in the wild until Schaller published The Mountain Gorilla in 1963
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Mountain gorillas were George Schaller's first great subject. In 1959,
at the age of 26, he moved to Central Africa to live in the wild with
the little-known beasts. He recalls they were far more beautiful than
he had expected. "They are these great big longhaired, black-haired
cuddly animals with soft brown eyes. You know they're your relatives,
your kin. The biggest task was to be able to observe the animals so
they don't run away. So, you slowly get them used to you until they
see, 'Oh there's that Schaller again,' and forget it, and go on with
their normal life. And that's the way you want it."
That was the
beginning of a lifetime of discoveries in Africa, Asia and Latin
America. In the 1970s, Schaller became one of two westerners to see a
snow leopard in Nepal for the first time in nearly three decades. In
1988, he and his wife, Kay, were the first Westerners allowed into
China's Chang Tang region to study giant pandas. His research led to
the rebounding of panda populations, which Schaller showed were
threatened by frequent capture for zoos.
With fellow biologist
Alan Rabinowitz, Schaller discovered a new species of goat in Laos, the
Saola, in 1994. In the same decade, he rediscovered the Vietnamese
warty pig and the Tibetan red deer, species that had been both thought
extinct.
Conservation Remains Primary Motivation
 | | Schaller has written more than 15 books on African and Asian mammals based on his own studies, and supported by long-term observations of species in their natural habitats |
Yet the German-born Schaller says that the pleasure of studying animals
is not his primary motivation. He says it is conservation that matters
most -- and that poor countries like Rwanda and Congo have taken the
lead in that. "[They are] extremely poor countries, yet they've
preserved their forests, they've preserved their gorillas," he
observes. "This is something the United States can learn from. We've
been fighting for 50 years to keep the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
in Alaska from being destroyed by the [administration in] Washington
and oil companies, because they want to get in there, greedily get the
oil." He calls it an act of ecological vandalism. "Nobody wants to
think of the future. They want everything now."
Schaller says it
will take the dedication of local communities, not just scientists, if
the environment is to be saved. "If you really love something, if
there's something that should remain as a country's natural heritage,
you have to keep fighting, forevermore. Everything we have, this whole
so-called civilization, is all dependent on environment: on the clean
air, the water, the soil, the food… and unless communities start
fighting for a healthier environment around them, there's not much
hope."
Current Projects
 | Wildlife park would protect the habitat of the Marco Polo sheep, sought out as a trophy by hunters for their impressive spiral horns
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George Schaller's current projects include a vast wildlife park in the Pamir Mountains, to be run jointly by Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China. He's also working with the Panthera Foundation, to save tigers and other large cats.
Schaller says he'll use the $100,000 Indianapolis Prize to train local conservationists in the countries where he works. "They will train people who will then have students. So, generation after generation, the little bit that we started from, will increase in the country. So, you leave something behind that will be valuable, long after everybody's forgotten me."
American biologist George Schaller will receive the Indianapolis Prize at a ceremony in that city later this year. The organizers say it's meant to inspire the public to care about conservation, and to recognize field biologists as heroes who face down dangers and hardships to do their work.
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