Vorpal wrote:mercalia wrote:Sir David said last year: “If you’re a film cameraman you are trained, as it were, to be the observer, a non-participant. That’s very important.”
It's that attitude that is morally questionable?
Is it? I think it depends upon the situation. When human interference causes distress or endangerment to the animals they are studying, they can & do help them. When the natural environment causes distress or endangerment, to the animals they are studying, they help only in exceptional circumstances. Predators hunting and catching prey is part of the natural cycle; deer or antelope dying to feed lions also improves the deer / antelope genetics through the survival of the fittest.
Scientists, observers and the folks who bring their work to the public have learned through previous errors to avoid interference.
It has nothing to do with morality. Watching an animal get run over by car when it could have been prevented is morally questionable. Watching one get caught by a lion is not.
Its every thing to do with morality. Maybe in my original case since nothing could be done to save the antelope, the right thing would be to NOT film it and certainly not to show it for entertainment - The BBC made a profit I assume form the films? I cannt say I learnt much from watching that part
Once you start to observe the natural cycle as you put it, it ceases to be the same natural cycle before you started observing it. You cannt justify non action by reference to genetics as we dont put crippled or defective or moronic humans out to die like the Spartins did etc Might be a good idea but that would be eugenics.
As far as I can see there would be nothing to gain from not helping the turtles even if they hadnt been upset by human interventions. Sir Davids attitude is a throwback to the time when we used to think we were special and not part of nature, wrapped up in bogus science. The detached observer is a fiction
There was another case that the BBC crew went against SIrs dictums. It was filiming penquins. This large group had got trapped down a snow gully and try as much as they could they couldnt get out as they kept on sliding down the slippery snowy slope. It was certain death to stay where they were. SO the camera crew cut steps in the snow slope and the penquins one by one managed to get out of their certain deadly situation.Sir David would have left them there to perish I assume as they clearly have poor genes to have got in the situation in the first place.