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Meets and Greets
Sep. 2nd, 2019 08:21 am2 September 1989
Saturday began with quiet formality, and ended with great festiveness!
In the morning was the scheduled meeting of the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group, of which I was a member at the time. Brief reports were given about the status of otters in each country, followed by a discussion of the OSG's Action Plan, which summarized the various threats facing otters worldwide, and set out recommendations for their conservation, and for research.
Also discussed were initiatives for promoting otters as symbols of wetland preservation, and fund raising for the OSG.
As the day progressed, more and more attendees gathered at the Otter-Zentrum. Those of us who were giving poster presentations were shown our respective spaces. Mine was perfect for my purposes. It had ample room for displaying my findings, and it was immediately adjacent to one of two video rooms. I also received the very welcome news that Claus had managed to find a VCR that played the NTSC video format. This had been a big concern of mine, since my presentation depended in large measure on the video I'd compiled of my otters' social and maternal behavior.
After the SSC meeting, a small group of us decided to head into Hankensbüttel and hit up the local pub for lunch and some schnapps. I think my companions were Jim Conroy, Pat Foster-Turley, Chris Mason and Shiela Macdonald, but that's relying on memory, not my diary, so I can't be certain. Anyway, after that, it was back to my guest house for a nap. Drinking during the daytime always makes me sleepy, and I knew even more drinking was ahead of me that evening, so I needed a breather to recover in the meantime.
The first major social gathering of the meeting was our welcome dinner at die Lübener Tenne, in a village immediately adjacent to the East/West German border. We'd all heard in advance that the main entree was going to be sheep brains – a local culinary curiosity that did not enthuse me in the least. (It enthused me even less when I saw it on my plate.) Consequently, I ate mostly bread and potatoes that evening. And, according to my diary, I had 5 beers and as many shots of schnapps. Hoo-boy. Perhaps needless to say, I got wasted.
Inside die Lübener Tenne. Still looks the same after all these years! (Photo courtesy Lübener Tenne.)
After we were done with all our dinner and conversation, I stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and clear my head a little. Then, I got the bright idea to try to walk to the East German border! It was only about 1000m away, so why not? As I walked eastward along the unlit street, though, I wondered if approaching an armed border in the dead of night might be a little reckless. My drunk imagination visualized a headline in tomorrow's newspaper: U.S. OTTER BIOLOGIST SHOT AT EAST GERMAN BORDER. Unfortunately/fortunately for me, however, not too far along, the street turned southward, and I couldn't find any other road or path that would take me in my intended direction. So, I had to stagger back to the tavern disappointed that I wasn't going to be seeing the East German border on this trip, after all.
Rode the bus back home sitting next to an equally-drunk Clarence Wright. I don't remember now exactly what we talked about, but we sure had some good laughs, whatever it was!
Saturday began with quiet formality, and ended with great festiveness!
In the morning was the scheduled meeting of the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group, of which I was a member at the time. Brief reports were given about the status of otters in each country, followed by a discussion of the OSG's Action Plan, which summarized the various threats facing otters worldwide, and set out recommendations for their conservation, and for research.
Also discussed were initiatives for promoting otters as symbols of wetland preservation, and fund raising for the OSG.
As the day progressed, more and more attendees gathered at the Otter-Zentrum. Those of us who were giving poster presentations were shown our respective spaces. Mine was perfect for my purposes. It had ample room for displaying my findings, and it was immediately adjacent to one of two video rooms. I also received the very welcome news that Claus had managed to find a VCR that played the NTSC video format. This had been a big concern of mine, since my presentation depended in large measure on the video I'd compiled of my otters' social and maternal behavior.
After the SSC meeting, a small group of us decided to head into Hankensbüttel and hit up the local pub for lunch and some schnapps. I think my companions were Jim Conroy, Pat Foster-Turley, Chris Mason and Shiela Macdonald, but that's relying on memory, not my diary, so I can't be certain. Anyway, after that, it was back to my guest house for a nap. Drinking during the daytime always makes me sleepy, and I knew even more drinking was ahead of me that evening, so I needed a breather to recover in the meantime.
The first major social gathering of the meeting was our welcome dinner at die Lübener Tenne, in a village immediately adjacent to the East/West German border. We'd all heard in advance that the main entree was going to be sheep brains – a local culinary curiosity that did not enthuse me in the least. (It enthused me even less when I saw it on my plate.) Consequently, I ate mostly bread and potatoes that evening. And, according to my diary, I had 5 beers and as many shots of schnapps. Hoo-boy. Perhaps needless to say, I got wasted.
Inside die Lübener Tenne. Still looks the same after all these years! (Photo courtesy Lübener Tenne.)
After we were done with all our dinner and conversation, I stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and clear my head a little. Then, I got the bright idea to try to walk to the East German border! It was only about 1000m away, so why not? As I walked eastward along the unlit street, though, I wondered if approaching an armed border in the dead of night might be a little reckless. My drunk imagination visualized a headline in tomorrow's newspaper: U.S. OTTER BIOLOGIST SHOT AT EAST GERMAN BORDER. Unfortunately/fortunately for me, however, not too far along, the street turned southward, and I couldn't find any other road or path that would take me in my intended direction. So, I had to stagger back to the tavern disappointed that I wasn't going to be seeing the East German border on this trip, after all.
Rode the bus back home sitting next to an equally-drunk Clarence Wright. I don't remember now exactly what we talked about, but we sure had some good laughs, whatever it was!
