Quotes from Doug Peacock

The whole concept of 'wild' was decidedly European, one not shared by the original inhabitants of this continent. What we called 'wilderness' was to the Indian a homeland, 'abiding loveliness' in Salish or Piegan. The land was not something to be feared or conquered, and 'wildlife' were neither wild nor alien; they were relatives.

The dangerous temptation of wildlife films is that they can lull us into thinking we can get by without the original models -- that we might not need animals in the flesh.

I have spent too much time with my eye glued to the viewfinder and ended up missing both the image of the mind and that on film.

Insulate yourself with friends and seek out wild places.

About thirty-five genera of mammals disappear from America, about half of them in a brief window of 500 years, 13,200 to 12,700 years ago, with Clovis hunters occupying the core of that time period. A sudden cooling, the Younger Dryas, descends on the Earth by 12,880 years ago, marking the terminal appearance of many of these animals. Suspected causes of the YD are still contentious. But it signals the end of Clovis and much of the megafauna.

Traditional Blackfeet saw the natural world in terms of awe and mystery. Animals lived in metaphorical relationships to them; the creatures were other nations. Every plant and animal passed coded information to man. Part of the price western science has paid for analytical power is that it has transformed the natural world into something alien.

There's plenty of work to do; do your job with decency and an open heart. Love your brothers and sisters in all actions, in all relationships. Speak the truth. Extend your innate empathy to distant tribes and strange animals. Arm yourself with friendship and love the Earth.

Everyone's mortality is in the lens now and it's not necessarily a telephoto shot.

Humans are strongly discouraged fro comparing their lives with those of other animals. Yet everything I had experienced taught me that metaphor is the fundamental path of imagining, a first line of inquiry into the lives of other creatures that sheds light on our own.

The only species of animal that tries to get by in the wilderness without interspecific tact of communication is the human critter.

I have spent too much time with my eye glued to the viewfinder and ended up missing both the image of the mind and that on film.