Remember the Human

I attended a seminar recently run by the UK Wolf Conservation Trust (www.ukwolf.org) Two professors and a doctor….a lot of information and one particularly interesting speaker (Dr Alistair Bath) who talked about the wisdom of not ignoring the human element in animal conservation. So many decent, passionate and acutely intelligent conservationists only think of the animal. For example, Alistair talked about a farmer in a Slavic country who had thirty sheep. One night a wolf jumped his fence and killed twenty one of them. His grief was not purely based on economics – he cried and said that losing his animals was as bad as losing his children. These are people who have a bond with their creatures, with nature – they live and sleep with them. A shepherd’s average age is 77. Animals are their life and they are in tune with the changing of the seasons, they know if a creature is ill or afraid. Solutions have to think of the wolf but also the people who are intertwined with it.

I also had a chat with author Michelle Paver (www.Michellepaver.com), who is a director at the Trust. She is a quiet and deeply observant woman. As we chatted she put her hand through the bars to stroke one of the wolves, who clearly knew her well and rubbed herself against the bars in joy. Of course this is not recommended for just anyone and although she has a relationship with the wolves she was still told: ‘Michelle, do be careful with your hands.’ Quick as a flash she said: ‘I have another hand that I can write with…’ Wolves are her passion, as her series of children’s books demonstrates. We both stood there for a while, watching Torak, who runs that particular pack. He paced around, being photographed but ultimately keeping his lupine dignity, guarding his sisters. I truly liked Michelle….she is a real writer, lacking in cynicism and ego. She just gets on with the job.

I am also in the process of working with a young film-maker in turning one of my stories into a screenplay for a short film. Now I have to tell him all about my characters, those light shadowy creatures in a quickly written flash. It’s fun….