Wildlife conservation documentary weekly

Wildlife documentaries are a brilliant means of visual media outreach that promote self education about issues relating to wider species or ecosystem conservation.

The idea of this thread is that every week I'll post a documentary on a topical issue relating to wildlife / biodiversity conservation that I've recently watched.

I'll give a brief review of each documentary and why (or why not) you should check it out and hopefully this will encourage views and topical discussion / debate relating to conservation.

If you have recently seen a documentary on wildlife conservation and would like to post it and review it please also feel free to do so here.

 

The first documentary review on the thread is "Cat fight" which can be viewed in the link below:



This is a thought provoking documentary that examines the debate surrounding the impact of feral and pet domestic cats on wildlife in the California town of Antioch and the conflict that arises between advocates of animal rights and conservationists and wildlife sanctuaries over this issue.

I really liked how this film took the approach of zooming in on this subject from the level of a single town and explored how this fierce debate manifests between members of the community rather than a more abstract approach of the general issue on a national or even international level.

For me personally it was very interesting (and frustrating) to hear the perspective of the animal rights advocates and their opposition to conservation although it goes without saying that I do not agree with these views.

My only criticism would be that I felt that the filmmakers gave much more time to documenting the views of the animal rights activists over those of conservationists (who are only represented by a few interviews) which I felt left it slightly unbalanced but that might just be my own bias.

I would give "Catfight" an 8 out of 10 as it raises awareness of a global ecological problem in a fun, quirky and engaging way, I highly recommend it.

 

Second documentary review "The killing fields of Kazahkstan" (2001) which can be viewed in the link below:



This is a fairly old documentary from the turn of the millenium which captures well the challenges of conserving the saiga antelope on the steppes of Kazahkstan.

At that point in time the main threat to this species was not the mass mortality from epizootic illness which has recieved a fair amount of coverage in the media but poaching by the human population for meat and to sell the horns in neighbouring China where they are ground down and used for traditional medicine.

The film does a good job of documenting the complex socio-economic and socio-political causes of the poaching crisis in the late 90's with explanation of how the breakdown of the former Soviet Union several years before led to mass unemployment and poverty of local people who then turned to illegal activity.

One of the strengths of this short film is how the human element is documented through interviews with the local community, the poachers themselves, hunting inspectors and conservationists which allows for the viewer to reflect more deeply on how interrelated human development is with conservation.

The ecology of the saiga antelope on the Central Asian steppes is detailed in the film and there is some excellent footage of the enormous herds which once roamed the region, both historic and then-contemporary conservation efforts with this species are detailed and though it contains bleak footage this is ultimately a hopeful film.

Maybe I'm biased because I prefer documentaries with a bit of vintage to them but I would give "Killing fields of Kazahkstan" a 9 out of 10 as though a bit dated now this film captures well both a moment in time and the complexity of the conservation of this strange animal.

A word of warning : The film does show some very gruesome footage of the activity of the poachers and culling of wolves by trophy hunters so if you are squeamish then this film is probably not for you.

 

Third documentary review "The Musk Connection" (1988), which can be viewed in the link below:



This is very much an 80's documentary (vibe and music etc) but the topic is a pertinent one even today as illegal poaching pressures on the musk deer and the demand for its musk for perfume continue even to this day.

The documentary was made by a brilliant British documentary film maker Richard Taylor and it is thoroughly researched.

Though the documentary examines the natural history and conservation of the deer in the Himalayas this is not so much a natural history documentary but rather a thought provoking anthropological examination of the socio-economic and socio-cultural drivers of the decline of the species in the wild.

Taylor documents the long history of the use and trading of this substance from the times of Ancient India, China and the silk road to the present day and interviews with then specialists of the perfumery industries of the USA, UK, France and Japan elucidate why the musk of this animal is still so highly sought after for the manufacture of perfume.

The murky and dubious nature of the legality of the trade in musk is explored through visits to several different scenes such as shady musk merchants in India and Nepal, the murder scene of a musk importer in Hong Kong and Chinese musk deer farms which may or may not be a cover for illegal musk trade.

The conservation of the species and its status under CITES are examined through interviews with government officials of several countries and conservationists studying the ecology of this strange species in its natural habitat of the foothills of the Himalayas.

Despite this documentary being quite dated (and with some questionable 80's background music) this is really an excellent film IMO and very much worth watching and I would give this a 9 out of 10.

 

Fifth documentary review "Predators of the wild: Wolf", which can be viewed in the link below:



This exceptional American documentary is about the Iberian wolf in Northern Spain.

It looks to have been filmed either during the late 80's or the early to mid 1990's, however, despite its age this film is still deeply pertinent to the topic of wolves in Europe.

The documentary explores the general ecology and the conservation of the wolf in Cantabria and is accompanied by some superb footage of the social lives of these canids and activities such as hunting prey, mating, feeding, denning and pupping and patrolling their territory.

This is a film that doesn't shy away from the often troubled relationship between humans and wolves in Spain and the history of human-wolf conflict from ancient times to the time of filming is related to the viewer without any sensationalism and in an unbiased way.

Interestingly this documentary features both historic footage and interviews with the witnessess and the then adult survivor of one of the spate of wolf attacks which occurred in Spain in the 70's and which claimed the lives of two children (to the best of my knowledge it is the only film of its kind to have done this).

The strategies used by conservationists during that period to study and mitigate human-wildlife conflict between local communities and wolves are shown such as radio-telemetry tracking, compensation schemes for livestock killed and the provision of mastiff guard dogs to shepherds.

Due to the wealth of information about human-wolf coexistence in the film-making this is the kind of documentary that I would recommend to the well intentioned people *cough* George Monbiot *cough* who advocate the reintroduction of wolves to the UK to show just how challenging the conservation of this mammal can be.

*A word of warning: This film does contain footage that some viewers would find disturbing such as the lethal control of wolves.

I would give this film a 10 out of 10 and I highly recommend it.

 

Sixth documentary review "Beauty and the bullet" (1998), which can be watched in the link below:



This is a fairly old documentary from the 1990's about the overpopulation of mountain gazelle in the Golan heights of Israel (these had been reintroduced to the area during the 70's by conservationists).

The causes of the boom in population of this species are explored such as the reduction in predators (such as jackals), legal protection and access to agricultural crops and livestock pasture for feeding.

The human-wildlife conflict that arose because of gazelle numbers in the heights are shown such as raiding of cereal crops, damage to orchards through overbrowsing, spread of zoonosis to livestock and the pressures exerted on the environment by growing urbanization / development and shrinking natural habitat.

The field studies done at the time by scientists who were trying to find a solution to the problem and the introduction of subsequent hunting quotas of these animals are documented and reveal just how difficult decisions relating to the effective management of wildlife can be.

Also mentioned throughout the documentary is the cultural and religious significance that the mountain gazelle holds for Israel and the Jewish people (it is apparently the national animal / embelm) which is quite interesting.

This is a curious film from a historic perspective because it captures a moment in time which has now passed as today the situation appears to have worsened for this species with viable habitat for the gazelle in the heights and wider Israel having been almost totally swallowed up by development.

"Beauty and the bullet" is a very interesting documentary on a very pertinent subject and I highly recommend the film (especially to @DelacoursLangur ) which I would give a 7 out of 10.

*A word of warning, some people may find some of the footage in this film disturbing.