Jeff Corwin recently was in town to lecture on environmental activism at Harper College in Palatine.
WHAT’S THE CLOSEST CALL YOU’VE HAD WITH AN ANIMAL? Back in 1996 or 1997, I was in grad school studying in Belize. I was in the jungle and wearing sandals when I stepped on a coral snake and was bitten on the foot. Their venom is one of the most toxic of the New World snakes. It took me about 45 minutes to hike out of the jungle and I was already developing symptoms-the pain was shooting into my hip. Then I had to wait for a helicopter to Belize City and I didn’t get the first antivenom shot for about four hours.
IS ANY ANIMAL JUST TOO DANGEROUS TO APPROACH? No, not really. A shark can be approached if you follow the rules. It’s about respecting the animal and knowing its natural history. When people think about Africa . . . they think about lions and crocodiles. But it’s hippos that kill the most people. People forget this animal can run at 30 m.p.h. and bite a croc in half.
DO YOU FAVOR CLONING TO PRESERVE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES? Cloning endangered species ventures into wasted energy. It’s not where time should be spent. The last known Tasmanian wolf died in the 1950s and is probably extinct. Because it is so recent, they have specimens [and] . . . it is realistic that they could clone it. But how many tries and $200 million later? What could we do with $200 million for the animals on threatened lists that could be saved now?