Ebook: Seeking the Sacred Raven: Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island

Will the ’Alala ever return to the wild? A bird sacredto Hawaiians and a member of the raven family, the’Alala today survives only in captivity. How thespecies once flourished, how it has been driven tonear-extinction, and how people struggled to save it,is the gripping story of Seeking the Sacred Raven.For years, author Mark Jerome Walters has trackedthe sacred bird’s role in Hawaiian culture and theindomitable ’Alala’s sad decline. Trekking throughHawaii’s rain forests high on Mauna Loa, talking with biologists,landowners, and government officials, he has woven an epic tale ofmissed opportunities and the best intentions gone awry.A species thatonce numbered in the thousands is now limited to about 50 captive birds.Seeking the Sacred Raven is as much about people and culture as it isabout failed policies. From the ancient Polynesians who first settled theisland, to Captain Cook in the 18th century, to would-be saviors of the’Alala in the 1990s, individuals with conflicting passions and prioritieshave shaped Hawaii and the fate of this dwindling cloud-forest species.Walters captures brilliantly the internecine politics among privatelandowners, scientists, environmental groups, individuals and governmentagencies battling over the bird’s habitat and protection. It’s onlyone species, only one bird, but Seeking the Sacred Raven illustratesvividly the many dimensions of species loss, for the human as well asnon-human world