Andean Tapir Fund is a permanent status 501 ( c ) 3 organization registered with the IRS and donations to it are tax deductible.
Craig C. Downer
Craig C. Downer is a wildlife ecologist (UCalifBerk, UNevReno, UKanLawr, UDurhamUK) who has extensively studied both the wild horses of the West and the endangered mountain tapirs of the northern Andes. He has given speeches and written many articles, including encyclopedic, and several books. His works are both popular and scientific, in English, Spanish and translated to German.
Several of these concern wild horses, their ecological contribution, their North American evolutionary roots, their great natural and social value and their survival plight. He is a member of the World Conservation Union, Species Survival Commission and has written the Action Plan for the mountain tapir (1997). Fluent in Spanish and competent in French, he is also a member of the American Society of Mammalogists.
One of his books, entitled Wild Horses: Living Symbols of Freedom (1977), examines these magnificent animals from a variety of perspectives, stressing their need to live both freely and naturally in appropriate habitats of sufficient size for long-term viability. He frequently emphasizes how much we owe the horse and by this he means the sharing of freedom on the land here in this world we share as home. Downer has also written a book of poetry Streams of the Soul (2005) containing several illustrated poems concerning wild horses, plays the piano and composes music.
I grew up in the Sierras and Great Basin, dividing my time between Nevada, where I was born, and California. I grew up riding an amazing horse Poco with whom I shared many wonderful adventures in both states, including doing the High Sierra Trail Ride where we took a trophy. One of the most memorable encounters while riding was seeing how my companion Poco reacted when we encountered wild horses. He was electrified in the presence of these very “turned on” and naturally adapted fellow horses and had an irrepressible urge to run up and greet them.
My earliest contact with the Montgomery Pass wild horses occurred in my teenage years while visiting this scenic east Sierran area while working summers for my father’s civil engineering business. The survey crew, including my brother and often my father as well as local Paiutes, would thrill to catch sight of these beautifully spirited mustangs as they went about their daily rounds, giving a special animation to this spectacular area. These horses along with Poco had a major hand in my decision to become an ecologist by studying at Cal-Berkeley for my B.A. and later at the University of Nevada-Reno for my M.S.
At both of these, I did field studies of the wild horses, including in the Pine Nut Mountains east of Carson Valley where my family lived. My family were friends and collaborators with the famous Wild Horse Annie, who spearheaded the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act passage. During the 1970s, I did field inspections of a number of wild horse and burro herds, public education talks, public relations interviews, and litigation while working off and on under her direction. Later I worked as the Director of Research Services for the Animal Protection Institute of America, where I continued this work including winning some cases. Defending and appreciating all of America’s great wild horses and burros throughout the West in all of their legal areas on BLM and USFS lands has become a guiding passion fueled by a first-hand as well as in-depth scholarly knowledge of just why they should be considered deeply rooted natives in North America and real Keystone species who enhance ecosystems They lend much needed balance, including in relation to the cloven-hoofed ruminants who are promoted in large numbers by people.
During my career I have specialized in the mammalian Order Perissodactyla. This contains the Horse, Tapir and Rhino families. Having an early familiarity with horses helped me become a leading conservationist of the Endangered Andean Tapir, which has many similarities. My nonprofit, the Andean Tapir Fund / Wild Horse and Burro fund has worked since 1996 to defend wild horses and burros as well as Andean Tapirs both in and together with their natural habitats. I am a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and wrote the Action Plan and Species Description for the Endangered Andean/Mountain Tapir for the Tapir Specialist Group and have given input to the Equid Specialist Group. I shall continue to work to save these beleaguered animals in the wild for as long as I live, because to me they are like family. Indeed, they truly are.
His speech Forever Wild and Free (Wild Horse Forum (ISPMB), Las Vegas, Columbus Day, 2008) received a standing ovation and has been posted on several websites. He has also been a plaintiff in several legal suits to restore wild horses and burros at viable population levels in their legal herd areas throughout the West and has given testimony. He is a 4th generation Nevadan and grew up with his best friend Poco, a tall chestnut stallion, with whom he had many adventures in the deserts and mountains of western Nevada and eastern California. [Composed by C.C. Downer 8/10/2009.]
Craig Downer is available for speaking engagements to deliver his powerful speech entitled “The World’s Endangered Species Present a Crisis of Conscience for Humanity, ” as well as a Wild Horse and Burro Power Point of 219 slides. Contact him here.
Craig also now offers a new 152-slide PowerPoint prepared with a fellow ecologist and delivered at a meeting of a professional scientific society on May 7, 2019 in New Zealand. It is entitled: “World’s Wild Perissodactyls: Restoring the Restorers of Ecological Balance.” Contact him here.
Curriculum Vitae: Craig Downer
Why bother to save the tapirs?
Besides the obvious reason that a beautiful creature that’s been on the planet for an estimated 35 million years – whose traceable ancestry probably reaches back about 60 million years – should not be exterminated in a few short lifetimes by humans, there are some very practical reasons to save mountain tapirs.
The Andes are a watershed for humans and animals alike.
The destruction of this watershed is already in progress. Villages in Ecuador and other Andean countries are already without water because humanity has devastated the source of this water. Desertification has already begun. This is not a hypothesis of what may happen, it is today’s reality. This situation is widespread throughout the Andes; some of the occurrences in Ecuador are in areas south of Sangay and also near the Colombian border.
How are the watersheds being destroyed?
In several ways. One has to do with tapirs and other animals. Where the animals have been hunted to extinction, the trees disappear. Downer has recently studied the tapir’s role in dispersing seeds needed to maintain healthy forest growth. In turn, the forest is vital in maintaining the watershed. Without trees, the land becomes a desert, and populated areas within the drainage of this watershed become waterless as a result.
Can these ecosystems be saved?
Yes, they can! But it’s going to take a lot of hard work and money in a short period of time.
Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient:
Marquis Who’s Who, the world’s premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Craig Carpenter Downer, Ph.D. c., with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.. Read More...