Examining our animal behaviour
 Social Sciences
Understanding why people seek out animals in their natural environment forms the basis for 's latest book, Facing the Wild: Ecotourism, Conservation and Animal Encounters. Professor Bulbeck, who is the Foundation Chair of Women's Studies in the , said the book had its genesis from her personal experience with the renowned Monkey Mia dolphins in Western Australia in 1988. "The experience was indescribable, not a situation for a social scientist. That sun-drenched dolphin-touched day was the first step on a journey of a thousand citations," she said. "To understand Monkey Mia, I had to comprehend human relations with animals, the lure of wildness and the development of ecotourism. "I needed to explore these across time and space, looking for historical and cultural patterns. I wanted to know why humans in the West, despite (or perhaps because of) their animal-deficient environment, went in search of communication with dolphins, eye contact with big cats, and the vistas of apparently untouched nature." Professor Bulbeck says that with encounters with wild animals we attempt to 'escape' our daily existence and work demands to a space where time is our own. "Wild animals symbolize that leisure and pleasure - particularly those animals whose lives appear effortless and fun-filled, such as dolphins. After writing this book, I have come to the conclusion that some things about contact with animals cannot be said: those things which are not about the 'I' reflected in their 'eyes', but which are indeed about an indescribable, mysterious, deliriously pleasurable other," she said. Facing the Wild - Ecotourism, Conservation and Animal Encounters is published by , and is available from . Story by Howard Salkow
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