Today is a significant day as our founder Dr Ian Player died at noon, 30th November. – a year to date
Ian will be remembered as a man who never faltered from the cause of fighting for wild nature, and was quick to proclaim the difference between wrong and right. Too many of us today do not stand out of the crowd to be counted, but stand deep within the crowd and can be lost.
Ian stood up for nature and against the wrongs of humanities onslaught on species and habitats. He never did this with a blind approach but returned a deep wisdom to understand our human , emotional frailties, the need for survival when living in poverty in rural areas, the temptation of money when we have nothing. He also understood the voracity of the human need in our more fast moving, commercial worlds, for more and more, and our inability to know what is ‘enough’. This was particularly poignant in his war to save the white rhino from extinction and the ongoing greed for rhino horn today. It was something that tore his soul to shreds and a deep pain that followed him to his grave.
The quote by George Bernard Shaw sums up the calibre of the man who never stood back: ‘ Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.’
The voice and work of Ian Player resonates through a global community of wilderness conservationists. His spirit lives on in us for the benefit of the wild. His humour, ability to recite poetry and the bible with precision, his deep laugh, his passion and his charisma live on to keep us strong and focused here too in our office in the English countryside on a grey, very blustery winter’s day. He is not forgotten and his messages are being shouted out loud to everyone who will listen.
Photo courtesy of Trevor Barrett
