Wild Echoes: Encounters With the Most Endangered Animals in North America

Rating:
Summary: Largely outdated, but provides good historical information.
Review: I'm not sure exactly how to rate this one - I've been hedging between a 3.5 and a four, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and going with a four. For the time it was published (originally in 1990), it's probably a four-star book. What Bergman has done here is compiled his personal experiences with nine different endangered species (all North American). He's devoted a chapter to each: the wolf, the dusky seaside sparrow (now extinct), the California condor, the Florida Panther, the manatee, the Puerto Rican parrot, the black-footed ferret, the North Atlantic right whale, and the ivory-billed woodpecker (possibly extinct in North America). In each chapter Bergman gives us both a personal account (he has seen all of the above listed species in the wild except the dusky seaside sparrow, the last individuals of which were in captivity at the time, and have since died), and then explains both the history and current status of the species and what, if anything, is currently being done to help save it.

However, having been written in 1990, much of the "current" information is vastly outdated (particularly on the wolf and condor), so if you want the latest news, you'd be better off looking elsewhere. Steve Grooms's "Return of the Wolf" is an excellent and comprehensive text on wolves, and while it too is a bit outdated, having been written in 1999, it is more recent than "Wild Echoes" by far, and much more factual. Lots of the information on wolves that Bergman provides here is either no longer true, or wasn't true at the time and has since been proven false (and, ironically, Bergman concentrates almost entirely on wolves in Alaska - the only place in America where wolves are NOT endangered). However, the historical background provided for each animal is very good (and quite interesting!), making this book more suited for historical study than as a reference on current events.

One other thing that concerns me is the philosophical side of Bergman's writing. He often writes in circles, and while I can understand and empathize with the gut responses he has to certain animals' situations, in the text he frequently contradicts himself. He says that when humans talk of "saving endangered species," it separates humans from other animals and gives us power over them, and he rails against this mentality, and yet he still emphasizes most strongly that we need to save them. He both rails against biologists, and alternately praises them hightly. Bergman also argues that starting captive breeding programs for severely endangered species is just another power-trip for humans, but does (almost grudgingly) admit that they do some good. And the most contradictory, he says: "I don't want more commonness. I want more of the rare" (pg. 240). He does not seem to recognize the fact that, once we have more of the species that are now rare, they will no longer be rare and will then be "common" themselves. Bergman also states in one chapter that today's culture is responsible for all endangered species. I understand what he meant, but it was poorly stated, considering that many, many species went extinct for various reasons before humans even existed.

But as I said before, outdatedness and philosophical loops aside, this is still a very worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history of these endangered species. Bergman has obviously done a great deal of research. The author's personal encounter stories are also interesting. The book is well-written and easy to read, with vivid and touching imagery (though I must admit I found Bergman's description of the right whale's body shape as "unavoidably phallic" (pg. 216) to be a less-than-attractive analogy, though he seems to have meant it as a compliment). The book also includes black-and-white photos of some of the species discussed, an appendix listing extinct species of the United States, and a second appendix with contact information for many wildlife advocacy groups. Though this is certainly not a definitive work on endangered species, it is nonetheless informative, interesting, and well worth the read.