ABSTRACT
Wilderness is for grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, and mountain lions, for seals, sea lions, and walrus and all the native species that symbolize the finest national values but that, alas, too frequently are slipping into oblivion. National parks without their wildlife are not national parks but imitations of the real thing, more like amusement parks designed to satisfy the curiosity of mankind in padded comfort. The abundance and variety of wildlife are basic measurements of environmental health, a barometer of biological change. The idea prevails widely, even among those professionally trained and engaged in wildlife activities and sciences, that lower animals gain validity only when managed for the use and benefit of man. "Clientism" in government is a common term; in the field of biological sciences, the special services of predator control to the livestock industry were among the first –and by all odds the worst.
