This past week was not an easy one. When you learn about the natural world and you develop an appreciation for it, it comes with the understanding that it is not always peaceful. Nature comes with inherent violence. A tiger must kill to feed their family, kangaroos will fight to the death for territory and mates. It can be bloody and at times so difficult to rationalize. But you must and you do. You carry on with the knowledge that such things occur, that it is part of the natural order and out of your control. The animals aren’t to blame for it. However, it is different to be told that, to watch videos of it, than to watch it happen and accept that it is out of your control.
In any passion project or belief there are times when those values are challenged. Times when you must sit down and reflect on their validity, on your outlook. There are moments that will make you want to give up. Failures that seem insurmountable.
There is no success without failure. I know that sounds cheesy, but it wouldn’t be so common a phrase if it wasn’t true. Conservation is the birthplace of cutting-edge research. The knowledge on how to save species and the environment does not appear in our laps. It is trial and error, boots on the ground. It is failing over and over often in heart-wrenching ways in the hopes of eventual success. It is looking at a mountain of obstacles that appear un-breachable and deciding to try anyway. For the love of nature, of animals, plants, and everything in between.
I have an endless amount of respect for the people who wake up at 5am, 6 days a week to do the unglamorous job of animal husbandry in conservation research. It is back breaking work that does not care whether it is 100 degrees or 0 degrees. There are individual relationships between them and the animals. It is a bond beyond simply caretaker. It is for the love of the species, not for the job or the money. It is a part of who they are and they work so admirably hard and are so thoroughly invested in what they do, and sometimes it does not pay off.
We can attempt to breed endangered species, we can provide them with the best nutrition, quality of life, medical care, but in the end, they are not privy to our efforts. It is quite literally their world, and we are living in it. There is nothing we can do if they decline to cooperate. They are wild animals with their own autonomy, experiences, and personalities. As much as we would like to help, to take action, sometimes the only course of action is to accept that which we cannot control and approach the issue from a different angle.
It does no one any good to dwell on defeats. You can play what-ifs around in your head for the rest of your life, but it will never solve the original problem. All you can do is learn from them. The amount of persistence that it requires to fail so thoroughly, and the next morning get up and try something different is unmeasurable. They do not skip a beat.
And that is how species are saved. By the people who have moments of doubt and tears but get right back up and keep pushing forward. Conservation on any scale is not linear, it is ever evolving as our world, technology, and society change. Behind every success story is a myriad of previous attempts that are lived out by these people in real time. It is adaptability and resilience that are key to preserving the forward momentum that we need. I am in awe of these individuals and grateful for the ability to learn from them.