The Campaign to Save India’s Tigers Ignores the Human Cost of Conservation

Saving South Asia’s Regal Cats Has Plunged Thousands of Women Into Poverty and Ignominy

Tigers are for most of us a hypothetical necessity.

Hypothetical in the sense that very few of us spend any time around tigers outside of zoos, though we interact with images of tigers on a daily basis, depending on what type of cereal we eat, sports team we root for, or comic strip we read.

Necessities in the sense that most of us would agree that the world really, really needs tigers; that tigers must remain lurking in the jungle, with their stripes rippling under the dappled light. The existence …

Are India’s Elephants Blessed Creatures or Indentured Servants?

Photographs of Majestic Animals Caught Between Two Roles—and Two Eras

In 2011, I visited the magnificent Amber Fort in Jaipur, in the Rajasthan region of India. The beautiful Hindu-style architecture of the fort is adorned with large ramparts and cobbled …

Go on Safari in Century City

How Wildlife Statues Came to Dot a Concrete Jungle in Los Angeles

When I was studying painting at UCLA in the late 1960s, I had to take at least one sculpture class to earn my bachelor of fine arts. Not knowing much …

The Rise and Fall of the Gum Tree

How California Came to Love—and then Disown—Eucalyptus

Robinson Jeffers, a poet commemorated as an environmentalist, published a sonnet in 1916 that now seems eco-heretical. In 14 carefully rhymed lines, the laureate of Carmel offered praise to eucalyptus:

Thankful, …

Good Migrations

When the Geese Fly South, the Sacramento National Wildlife Sanctuary Is the Place to Be

“I’ll probably be gone all night,” announced Wally, opening the closet door and reaching for his uniform coat. “Hiller’s been getting reports of late-night duck shooting east of the refuge.”

It …

Angelenos, Meet Your Wildlife Neighbors

Understanding Our Natural World Can Make A Better Human Community, Too

The first thing you notice when you step out of your car in the dusty parking lot is that your cell phone has no reception. The second thing you notice …