Dian Fossey - Scientists and Facts

A quote from Dian Fossey about Scientists and Facts

    I am presently well into a book about Dian Fossey by the renowned Canadian author Farley Mowat, and the following comment made by Dian Fossey has more than a ring of truth to it:

Data gathering surely is important, but things haven't changed much from the days when scientists shot everything in sight to gather data.  They built their reputations then on mainly dead animals. Now they use live animals too, but the principle is the same. Alive or dead, you use the data to pile up a lot of research papers until you've got enough to get "silverback" status. Nothing terribly wrong with that, except that many modern scientists, just like their predecessors, don't seem to care if the study species perish, just so that they'll get all the facts they need about them first.

    It always horrifies me when I read about a new species of bird being discovered, to be immediately followed by specimens being taken. There seems to me to be no justification at all for shooting birds any longer.