Beyond the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation: From Lethal to Compassionate Conservation
Anja Heister
Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2022, 273 Pages
Hardback: £99.99 | ISBN: 978-3-031-14148-5
Review by: Simon Leadbeater
Introducing NAM
Until reading this book, I had no idea that the North American model of wildlife conservation, NAM for short, was both distinct yet has permeated conservation way beyond America’s shores. Anja Heister’s vitally important work explains how hunting is deeply embedded in America’s version of conservation, not as paradox but masquerade. Her book is shocking, compelling and enlightening all at the same time. Some of the books I review are, once read, consigned to some hidden corner of my study, eventually finding their way to a preloved table at the back of my local supermarket. Not Dr Heister’s book; this will grace a central place in my pantheon of favourite authors, looking down on me from my single book shelf as I write, providing both solace and inspiration however oxymoronic that may sound. This is how I feel about Anja Heister’s book.
I am a conservationist after all
Sometimes, when I find myself chatting to people who I think of as conservationists, I wonder what I am doing there. I question whether I too am a conservationist amidst discourse centring on habitats, connectivity, landscape scale, species, native, alien, invasive… And I particularly feel alone in such groups when discussions flow over lunch (my meaning might become clearer later). Anja Heister has, however, restored faith, in myself if nothing else, that I am indeed a conservationist, but of a particular kind. I am a compassionate conservationist who believes that the rights we take for granted, even our understanding of ourselves as individuals, ‘persons,’ should extend to nonhuman animals and constitute the starting point for any conversation about conservation.
In writing this review, as with both recent discussions of Nick Hayes’s and Philip Lymbery’s books, I asked myself whether I was too parti pris to make a fair assessment. While I have never met Anja Heister I feel I know her at least a little, the more so having read her book. I am proud to be one of her co-authors in Helen Kopnina’s led chapter ‘Wild Democracy’ in the Routledge Handbook of Rewilding1 and was pleasantly surprised to find my name in her acknowledgements. But that all said, as Heister makes abundantly clear, so called objectivity is often spurious and masks a particular world view. And I could have found a polite way to discuss her book, address the main themes, and conclude with a form of damp praise. Fortunately, I don’t have to be inventive. I hugely admire and enjoyed Heister’s book, if it is possible to find pleasure in reading something which press-ganged me onto a rollercoaster ride of emotions, pitting anger against despair, and sometimes forcing me to figuratively duck under the bedclothes to shield myself from the more harrowing exposés of the reality of the North American Model’s – NAM’s – version of wildlife conservation.
The reason I feel so passionately about this book is mostly threefold. First, Heister details the background and contemporary practice of the social construct that is NAM. Second, she retells NAM’s journey with explaining how and why such an abomination came into being through an analysis of the ideological roots which have led to NAM dominating wildlife management in North America and beyond. This component of her book could be seen as parenthesis, insomuch as Heister could just have written about the historical and present day NAM perfectly competently. But persistently returning to its underpinning ideology, her refrain, allows Heister’s distinctive voice to be heard throughout the book, elevating her composition to achieve a wholly comprehensive and in equal measure devastating judgement. And then the third indispensable factor, whose overarching presence makes itself known from the outset when Heister recounts her eyes locking with the pine marten she and her partner saved from a trap.2 In so doing she affected this reader quite deeply. While rare for a book of this kind, there was something outstanding about this introduction which then infuses every subsequent page. Heister does not write for herself; she writes on behalf of that pine marten, and all earthlings. And this quality makes for a rather special book.
What is Beyond the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (Beyond NAM) about?
Heister analyses how what passes for conservation causes “suffering and death to hundreds of millions of wild animals every year,”3 including the 7.3m doves shot annually,4 between 6 and 21m mammals killed in traps,5 and, perhaps worst of all, the persecution of predators, chiefly wolves, but also coyotes, lynx and mountain lions, to boost the number of elk available for ‘sports hunters.’ In one state alone over 5 years 1,734 wolves and over 100k coyotes were killed.6 Heister meticulously details the extent of killings, state by state, while making these statistics excruciatingly real by emphasising the suffering incurred by individuals. Elk, if lucky enough to be shot with a bullet not arrow, walk several yards and may then require several shots to finish them off.7 Trapping comprises sheer torture.8 The barbarity of some human persecutors apparently has no boundaries, exemplified by the infamous case of a father and son team who in 2018 shot a female black bear in her den along with her “shrieking new born cubs.”9 This was not isolated cruelty, sitting comfortably besides the 100 hunters who in 2020 surrounded a herd of elk and opened fire, along with ‘thrill-kill’ chasing and running over animals, then, to make sure, ‘coyote whackin’ them against the side of their 4×4 vehicles,10 or, those who delight in ‘blowing away’ prairie dogs to “to see the red mist of their blood hanging in the sky.”11 And all of this under the guise of wildlife conservation. So, how did this horror show come to be normalised and defended in state legislatures.
NAM’s founding fathers and subsequent incoherence
The history of NAM is quite interesting and is inextricably linked to the western colonisation of the Americas, which initially resulted in wiping out vast numbers of animals, particularly bison, whose numbers were annihilated from perhaps as many as 60m to 1,000 individuals, also reducing beavers from again 60m to around 100k.12 This became known as subsistence or ‘market hunting,’ and in its place pioneers such as US president Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold, together with organisations like Boone and Crockett, and Safari Club International, promoted ‘recreational hunting,’ in which animal quarries were never to be taken for profit, but rather harvested as a renewable natural resource. Leopold is often lauded for his land-ethic, but Heister rightly points out that he reduced “sentient wild animals to no more than ‘crops’ to be harvested like a field of wheat.”13 With this background, NAM was born, predicated upon seven elements, including, inter alia, the elimination of markets for ‘game,’ yet animals still represented a resource, policy was to be science based, and hunting democratised.
Heister deconstructs the NAM charade through several approaches, firstly by hoisting NAM by its own petard. Money talks; NAM is honest to precious few of its own ideals, such as of being democratic and open to all, when dominated by wealthy white men. 98% of trappers, for instance, are men, of whom 98% are white.14 There are strong links with overseas trophy hunting, such as Mark Zuckerberg’s killing of a black rhino in 2020 and the infamous murder of Cecil the Lion with a crossbow by Walter Palmer in 2015.15 Trapping is ‘market hunting;’ the second element of NAM “establishes that commercial use of wildlife, their parts or products should be prohibited”16 whereas clearly pelts are sold, and licenses, such as to kill wolves, vary from $2117 to $5,750 for a British Columbia wolf hunt18 or $2,500 per wolf in Idaho.19 NAM is not representative of American society; hunters and trappers combined are 90% white, 90% male, overwhelmingly rural, and represent a tiny fraction of the American population, standing at 11.5m hunters in 2016, having declined by 2m in four years.20 This minority is out of step with public opinion, “opposed to the killing of wild animals for reasons other than ’food’ procurement…”21 NAM is also irrelevant – not at all up to date with the challenges posed by current sixth great extinction, being “conceptually a failure at a minimum.”22
With these inherent contradictions, how then does NAM persist? Essentially state legislatures are packed with pro-hunting23 ‘sportsmen’ supported by a “[p]artially opaque network of relations between governments, public and private science, and the corporate (agricultural) sector… sustained by an ideology that naturalises the human as a consumer of other animals…”24
Abandoning Human Entitlement25
The second way Heister dismantles NAM is in laying bare why the NAM ideology exists at all. In short, she asks why do NAM proponents believe what they believe. In a way, Heister’s is a study in anthropology, as her analysis of NAM culture demonstrates, to quote David Haberman, emeritus professor of religious studies at the University of Indiana, “that reality is not a given for human beings, but rather is socially constructed within a specific historical period of that particular culture.” In other words, “reality is defined in a specific way as an individual undergoes the process of socialisation into a particular culture. In short, our perception of, experience in, and behaviour toward the world are largely determined by the specific culture and historical moment into which we are born.”26 The power dictated by our biographies is difficult to shift, except, rarely, through epiphanies, such as when a hunter observed the duck he had shot hiding her head under her injured wing.27 This is where I think Heister’s book really excels, and for me will serve as an inestimable reference manual going forward.
Grafting ideology to factual narratives
The author’s stellar success lies in her ability to vividly portray what NAM entails at a macro level, illustrated by her command of death counts per state, simultaneously highlighting the suffering of individual animals, while also explaining why all this abhorrent treatment of nonhuman animals continues. The cause of all this suffering is rooted in an:
…anthropocentric paradigm that humanity is operating under, a most destructive belief system that assigns an exclusive role and center-place to humans, while viewing wild animals and their habitats as inferior, and pushing them both to the periphery of moral concern.28
If ever there were a clarion call to dethrone anthropocentricism it is Heister’s book, compellingly gruesome details supporting the lucid exposition of the tyranny of human supremacy and its practical impact on the natural world and her denizens. Her solution is naturally compassionate conservation, with its four tenets of first do no harm, individuals matter, inclusivity of all wild animals, and peaceful co-existence,’29 standing in marked contrast to NAM’s seven ‘elements,’ which as Heister shows are mostly a sham anyway. Beyond this Heister attributes personhood to wild animals, utterly rejecting their use as ‘renewable resources,’ and suggests giving them some of the rights and privileges we expect axiomatically, such as property rights and being included within democratic decision making.30 And finally she offers advice, what we all can do. And top of the list, “switching, even slowly, to a vegan diet” in order to make that “profound difference.”31 It was very refreshing to read a book about conservation which concluded with individual choices being key to effecting positive change, reifying abstract distant atrocities into meaningful and impactful action, as it is changing our relationship with animals which will ultimately undermine NAM’s already shaky foundations. If only those conservationists I occasionally lunch with would read Heister’s book.
Two particularly insightful contributions from Beyond NAM
There is so much here, as Heister skilfully weaves her story between historical landmarks and present day policies and practice, all grounded in understanding ‘why’ at a philosophical and ideological level; I feel remiss in only highlighting two particularly illuminating discussions I liked very much:
1.Taking the Animal Standpoint – drawing upon historical antecedents and bringing us right up to date in a clear helpful way, Heister highlights the work of Charles Darwin, Tom Regan, Marc Bekoff, Melanie Joy,32 and others, to explain that while animals may differ from us in degree, that does not infer inferiority, and that the public is increasingly taking their standpoint, highlighting how out of touch NAM is becoming:
Commitments to [NAM’s] human supremacy ontology make the NAM… look like a monolith of death amidst a sea of progressive, life-affirming changes among a general public increasingly turning toward an emphasis on greater care and compassion for wild animals.33
2. Heister’s critique of rationalism – it is far from the case that ‘sportsmen’ have no emotional connection with hunting, yet claiming their version of wildlife conservation is based on objective science, serves “the purpose not to allow emotional bonds with living, feeling, individual animals, only dead ones.”34 Drawing on ecofeminism, Heister argues that attempting to ground inter-species morality in abstract terms while leaving out emotions, affections and virtue is inadequate, as “all abstract and rational tenets, in reality, are tied to emotions.”35 She later quotes Elisa Altola, that theory alone keeps people cold, but when accompanied by emotions the obviousness of what is wrong becomes clear. Emotions are the source of moral concern “to which reason only contributes fine-tuning: we care because of emotion, and arguments only sculpt what we already know.”36 As Heister opines, “only with emotion do we grasp the particular of what is right in front of us.”37
And now abideth faith, hope and love… but the greatest of these is love
This book affirms Anja Heister as both scholar and activist,38 an unusual combination, which mutually enhances her work in each area of her life. But I was left thinking, what keeps Anja Heister going against such insuperable odds? I may be wrong, but I don’t perceive much faith or hope that people will eventually come to reject NAM, because in a sense most already do, but the firewalls NAM has successfully erected over the years prevent democracy from interfering in a minority interest. Settling on such a pessimistic outlook is, however, I think unwarranted, as the tide, however agonisingly slowly, will eventually move against NAM’s philosophy and its more egregious practices will be outlawed over time. And Heister’s book will contribute to effecting that change, and stand testament; the whole unholy edifice needs tearing down. But for now, what drives Anja Heister? What I read in Heister’s wonderful book is a voice of love, unconquerable, forever striving on behalf of “all earthlings, especially the furbearing ones”39 epitomised by that pine marten she rescued from a trap, who, upon being freed, “stopped and turned around to look at us as if to thank us. Our eyes met. I will never forget that moment. She became someone to me.”40 Love, for all the someones being mercilessly persecuted everywhere. And, ultimately, I believe Anja Heister’s love will prevail.
References
1Kopnina, H., Leadbeater, S., Heister, A., ‘Wild Democracy,’ In: Hawkins, S., Convery, I., Carver, S., and Beyers, R., Routledge Handbook of Rewilding, Routledge
2Heister, A., (2022), Beyond the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. From lethal to compassionate conservation, Palgrave Macmillan, p. xi.
3Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 233.
4Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 139.
5Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 84.
6Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 187.
7Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 177-8.
8Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 192.
9Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 180.
10Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 181.
11Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p.182.
12Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 46.
13Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 60.
14Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 148.
15Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 63.
16Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 53.
17Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 3.
18Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 68.
19Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 70.
20Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 90.
21Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 164.
22Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 81.
23Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 157-8.
24Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 230.
25Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 203.
26Haberman, D.L., (2013), People Trees: Worship of Trees in Northern India, Oxford University Press, pp. 9-10
27Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 203.
28Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 214.
29Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 219.
30Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 226-7.
31Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 233.
32Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 17-43.
33Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 40.
34Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 117.
35Ibid
36Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 205., Quoting Aaltola, E. (2012), Animal Suffering: Philosophy and Culture, Palgrave Macmillan
37Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. 204.
38In 2007 Heister co-founded FOOTLOOSE Montana which campaigns against trapping
39Anja Heister’s book dedication
40Heister, A., (2022), Op.cit., p. xi.