The Last Naturalist

Jûnger Rottman is a veterinary, according to him he is not a scientist but a conservationist of species and environments; One of the most respected ornithologists and conservationists in Chile today, at the beginning of the 1970s, he produced the first list of endangered animals in the country and pioneered the dissemination of this knowledge in newspapers and television. At 76, he says: "Almost all conservationists are pessimistic, but I am an optimist."

After achieving his career, I work as a zoology assistant and the University of Chile, in 1970 I work in the hunting and fishing division of the SAG, work that I leave because in 1972 he joined CONAF and became in charge of the fauna In the institution.

While that was happening, I had not stopped traveling through Chile and learning about flora and fauna and their conservation problems. In fact, a few years earlier, in 1968, with a group of Chilean professionals and amateurs had met to form the Committee for the Defense of Fauna and Flora (Codeff), which became the representative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Chile. That body, which had published its first Red List in 1963, recommended that they register the species of birds and mammals in the country. After collecting bibliographic data, consulting scientists, interviewing representatives of hunting clubs, collecting background information related to fur trade and tanneries data, and reviewing all the information available to the SAG Division of Fishing and Hunting, Jürgen Rottmann published the first list of bird species with conservation problems in Chile.