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THE ESSEX NATURALIST
means there must be some control of numbers of certain species
of animals. The only stipulation is that such control shall be
done with a minimum of cruelty. Some cruelty there must be,
for no healthy animal can be killed without it. Gin traps and
other inhuman devices have been outlawed, and we are left
mainly with shooting and hunting with dogs.
To take shooting. The wildfowler can be useful to the cause
of conservation and the lease of shooting rights over nature
reserves may be justified on the grounds of keeping down birds
that would otherwise become too plentiful. But I find it hard to
see eye to eye with them when birds are reared for the sole
purpose of being released over the marshes and deliberately
shot down, so that a man may boast at the end of the day that
he has shot so many brace of duck. Nor can I go along with the
fox-hunter when the prime object of the exercise is to enjoy the
pursuit of a hopelessly outnumbered animal that could be kept
in check by more humane methods. To me it is not the killing
of game, but the enjoyment of killing that makes the adherants
less civilised than the savage, who at least kills for the pot.
Wildfowlers on reserves also act as very good wardens,
especially in discouraging the gangs of hooligans who come down
to the marshes at the week-ends and shoot everything that moves.
I come now to my last point—the role of the nature reserve
in educating the public. I believe it is one of the vital functions
of a reserve to make the ordinary man and woman realise the
value of all forms of life, wild and otherwise, and to make it
possible for all to enjoy the open in a way that will be fair to
everybody. We have a long way to go in this matter. Too often
we are roused by the battle cries of lovers of wild life engaged
in combat with the sailing fraternity over who shall do what
with a piece of water. Both sides are entitled to a hearing, and
nothing short of a Solomon could settle every case. We must
expect to have to compromise and often give way. And the
only chance we have to obtain this give-and-take attitude is in
the education of the public and those in power over the public.
At this point we come full circle, because I started out by
saying the European Conservation Year 1970 is designed to bring
these matters to the public and to authorities before it is too late.
It is a very large subject; I have done no more than explore
the fringe of it, but I hope I have penetrated far enough into the
jungle to reveal some tangles that may set you thinking. For
my part, I have, over the past few years, become increasingly
aware, through reading and listening, of the problems man will
have to face. At times I see no hope, but European Conserva-
tion Year 1970 is a step in the right direction. It must be followed
by other steps—1971, -72 and onwards must also be conservation
years, in fact if not in name, and they must be more than
European Conservation years—they must be World Conservation
Years.