Just a little editorial while babysitting.

[Ron Gatrelle]

As a parent, if my child was drowning I would not wait for an Olympic
swimmer or even a life guard to show up - though they could do the job
best. I'd dive in myself even though it might well cost me my life. Crises
affect caring people that way. They easily get in over their head.

The founders of The International Lepidoptera Survey are not Ph.D.s,
neither are we rich. We are not A.C. Allyn and Lee Miller. But our vision
is much the same. Their primary focus was the collection and taxonomic
assessment of butterflies. In today's world conservation must be added that
vision.

We can only debate which names to put on a list if the names exist. Names
which represent living creatures. TILS  was created because of the
creatures that are going extinct without ever having received names. If
they had received names, singular identities above the masses on the light
sheet, perhaps they and their habitat could have been preserved. Perhaps
not. That is what diving in is all about - hope, a chance for survival.

We no longer have the luxury to wait for complete analyses, genetic
mapping, consensus, or anything else. If butterflies had voices, would
their cries for help be heard? Names provide this voice. Who is listening?
When one says, "we don't want subspecific names," they ARE saying they want
to hear certain voices no more. (Blacks did not count as persons as long as
they were labeled as anything but human beings.) To the perishing leps., it
matters little whether their plight is caused by human overpopulation,
industrial pollution, collectors, watcher trampling etc., their part of the
biological light goes out just the same. While the factions debate, Elmer
Fudd (TILS) has gotten involved. We've heard the cry, affixed a name, told
the lifeguards - who can choose to continue to pursue their tan or get wet.
Or, they can continue to feud over which one is the best swimmer and should
thus lead the rescue.  Or, trample the efforts of others, in order to show
that they are the hero.

A cry for help is a 911 call. But without a specific individual address
(taxonomic ID) the help will never arrive. Who will speak for the
butterflies? TILS, among others. But remember the TILS motto.
     We can not protect that which we do not know.

(Monetary donations will not be refused.)



 
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