Friday, September 7, 2012
With Joan Embery, an ambassador for the San Diego Zoological Society and for wildlife protection worldwide
By Steve Dale
Joan Embery is today the Goodwill Ambassador at the Zoological Society of San Diego. She's appeared on dozens of TV shows - most notably on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson many times. "The idea was to and continues to be - bringing a bit of the wild world to people in our world," she says.
No surprise Embery has herself traveled around the world (and continues to). "In all my experiences, to all the places I've been, it might just be that seeing the mountain gorillas is at the top of the list," she says. "For sure, it's right up there."
When Embery made the trek up to see the gorillas for herself several years ago, she says, "I recall slogging through mud, and one woman was struggling....but we all made it up the mountain trails - and I was instantly awestruck. I can't put the experience into words. It's not the same as watching TV, that's for sure. If only more people could experience it, definitely people would be more motivated to save these wonderful places."
She says that by going on an eco-tourism trip you're obviously supporting gorillas, pandas, condors, tigers or whatever the flagship species is - but you are also supporting everything else that lives in the environment with them, from small mammals to lizards to the insects to the plants (we are still discovering plants for pharmaceuticals to help people).
Embery was personally involved in the California Condor program. She says that at one point there were only 23 left. They all lived in captivity, each and every one. Now, there are many times that number living in captivity and in the wild.
She worries about species like the mountain gorillas because because of where they live - the governments there are potentially unstable and might change their minds about protecting them (including protection from poachers). And then there's the increasing need of people who live in a booming population to find farm land, even if it is substandard. If something happens, as a result of disease, for example in one population on one mountain - that might be the end for that population. "It's like island species," she says, "They have nowhere to go."