Obituary: Günther Peter (born 1947), died on 24. Oct. 2013
Son of animal-loving teacher became internationally recognized animal protection activist
Günther Peter was born on August 28, 1947 as the son of a nature-conscious teacher and began to care for the animals and nature already as a child. He studied engineering but was with his soul always with the animals, especially in the wilderness and under water, since he also became an avid scuba diver. With these traits Günther Peter started to make underwater films.
It was the year1981, which changed for Günther Peter everything in life. He had to witness and see the almost unimaginable horror on Bali and what happened there to the sea turtles: After being caught, the gentle sea-creatures were cut up and dismembered while still alive. The animals only could groan during the torment – scenes that traumatize. While everyone looked the other side – only one person did not and Günther Peter changed his life.
The case became known through his startling TV film “Save the turtles”. The film showed how brutal the sea turtles – threatened already then by extinction – were taken and slaughtered in masses with the most cruel methods by Balinese boatmen from the sea off Papua New Guinea – only to allow wealthy snobs all over the world their plates of turtle soup and to be seen with spectacles from tortoise shells. The film shocked the world.
“Turtle-Peter”, as he was by then known among friends and foes, created a worldwide movement that tackled as first project this very horrible fate of the sea-turtles around Bali, but then he also enlarged his activities and cared for all wild animals and especially the endangered wild species, while persistently also spoke out against the horrors domestic animals have to endure.
After a few years, he managed to get all turtle products banished from the food industry, and – born by his private initiative “Save the Sea-Turtles” – he created in 1986 the internationally active NGO “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Artenschutz e.V.” (AgA) – head-quartered in Korntal-Münchingen in Germany. Back then this global network of highly effective activists managed their huge, worldwide tasks without Internet – something almost unimaginable today.
The moment Günther Peter uncovered anywhere a cruel situation, he never let loose to change it for the better. He never gave up and he never gave in to Governments or authorities or the criminals. With his tenacity, however, he was able to turn almost all enemies he made in the course of his activities into allies. They soon embraced Günther Peter and then supported his initiatives and helped to care for those, who could not defend themselves. “Lacoste”, the group with the crocodile label, is only one example, where an adversary became one of the biggest supporters of Günther Peter and his mission.
He not only enforced the boycotts for crocodile leather or the sea-turtle products, which came in Germany as one of the first countries under an official trade-ban on 1.1.1988, but – likewise against against a powerful opposition – he achieved in the following years also that the international protection levels for the sea-turtles could not watered down; and he was able to enforce protection areas for the breeding grounds of these million-year old species by engaging the tourist industries in the local regions in Turkey, in Greece and elsewhere.
The Bolivian scientist Prof. Noel Kempff Mercado was an another ally of Günther Peter, with whom he stood steadfast against the illegal wildlife trade and especially against any fur trading. Günther Peter could prove that the CITES certificates, issued under the Washington Convention, were forged by corrupt authorities. He went himself undercover in the Bolivian jungles and could expose the highly criminal trade routes of the illegal fur and skin buyers. But even the authorities in Germany were reluctant to act and stop the illegal trade of ten-thousands of skins from spotted cats like Jaguar and Ocelot or hundred thousands of Caiman hides. This always voluntarily work was extremely dangerous and everyone had to realize this when, after investigation documents were leaked by careless authorities in Germany, Prof. Kempff Mercado and three students were shot and killed in September 1986 in Bolivia by the Mafia of the illegal wildlife and fur trade.
From then on, there was no more holding back for Günther Peter. His fight led him to several other countries, but he always checked back in Germany, where the illegal trade flourished too and where the criminal trade routes and the consumers of the illegal goods came together. Legal disputes between Günther Peter and the fur traders, which repeatedly flared up even before the German Federal Supreme Court (e.g. in the case against the infamous but influential fur-trader Fehns and his involvement in Bolivia) were legendary and the criminal adversaries damaged Günther Peter financially and privately, though the courts always ruled that he was on the right track.
Besides this, he achieved with his commitment court rulings of different nature, which serve nowadays as baseline reference at the interface between the freedom of expression and the reporting of suspected criminal acts on the one side and the so-called “personality rights” of the exploiters of the wild animals on the other.
As a brilliant Chairman of the NGO AgA e.V. he organised renowned and well documented journalist-travels to Kenya and its famous wildlife reserves at a time when the first large poaching drives decimated the Elephants and spoke out for their protection. He collected funds and donated them for 15 years to an Elephant orphanage in Kenya. As an advisory Director to the World Animal Welfare Society and head of the German section of the International Society for the Protection of Primates, he was always present on international conservation conferences, where he stood – after his world’s acclaimed success for the turtles – first and foremost to abolish the ivory trade and therefore fought to enhance the protection status for these gentle giants. Most powerful interests stood against Günther Peter and his comrades – but as ally, the Government of Kenya stood by him. During the CITES conference 2000 in Nairobi he could together with ECOTERRA Intl. hand over more than 10 Mio. signatures from all over the world demanding better Elephant protection.
Günther Peter created values and unique documentations. His photo and video collections are irreplaceable and many articles in designated journals and the media proved the often barely imaginable density of facts in his investigations. His work was numerous times rewarded with various prizes, twice with the renowned Bruno H. Schubert prize.
With the exhibition of his wildlife protection activities together with the German Customs authorities, who provided their seized and confiscated exhibits, Günther Peter opened the eyes of the wide public to the beauty but also to the extreme threats of the wild fauna and flora, caused by unscrupulous gangs, dealers rings and, as he rightly called them at a time when the term was not yet in everyone’s mouth: organised crime. Thousands of whole school-classes became due to the exhibitions, film presentations and public speeches of Günther Peter aware of the urgent needs in animal and nature protection. He brought the plight of wild species in far away countries and continents through his photo and video documentations to Germany, but also informed about the routes of the ruthless trade in and through Germany causing the extermination of living nature.
15 Years after his at first purely private engagements and over 10 years after founding the ‘Aktionsgemeinschaft Artenschutz’, Günther Peter was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on March 7, 1997 by the Federal Republic of Germany for his sustained contribution to the protection of wild species. (The laudatio you can read here in German).
Günther Peter was a distinguished activist, who saw not only the species and the genus of wild populations, but always also the individual, the individual sea turtle, the individual ocelot, the single crocodile, the individual elephants, he was the animal rights activists among the protectors, which earned him a special appreciation of the world’s largest animal rights movement PETA as well as dedicated nature- and human-rights organizations like ECOTERRA Intl., with which he worked closely for almost 30 years.
With his book „Pelz macht kalt“ (a German word-play = “Fur Renders You Cold” and “Fur Kills” ), which he compiled in extensive investigations together with two collaborators, Günther Peter left his outstanding legacy as the fireman in animal protection, who was there when the wild species needed him most. He was a hands-on activist and couldn’t stand fair-weather conservationists, who back off when the going gets tough. This is also why he finally split after 25 years from the organization he had founded together with his former wife, who passed away just last year too. In recent times his health deteriorated also due to a long-time borreliosis he had acquired during his work for the protection of our natural world overseas.
In this untimely death of Günther Peter, the wild animals have lost one of their most tireless and selfless Patrons and the stout wildlife defenders a trusted friend.
(Team: ECOTERRA-pjb/PETA-deh/muz/ForAnimals-ed)
Note to Editors:
Awards and prizes recognizing the merits of Günther Peter:
1984 – The Bruno H. Schubert Prize for outstanding contribution to the preservation of nature and the animal world is handed to Günther Peter by The Bruno H. Schubert Foundation.
1984 – The Hessian Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Nature Conservation presented Günther Peter with the plaque of honour in silver for his his outstanding contribution in the protection of sea turtles.
1988 – The German Sport Divers Association (VDST) presents Günther Peter with the silver badge of honour for his contribution to marine protection.
1992 – The Animal Welfare Landesverband Hessen e.V. honours Günther Peter with the Golden Lion of Hesse for his years of work in global biodiversity conservation.
1994 – The environmental magazine “Weeds” – of the Bavarian television, hands the Green Oscar to Günther Peter for special merits in nature and species protection.
1997 – Günther Peter receives the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
1999 – The Bruno H. Schubert Foundation honours Günther Peter for a second time with the Bruno H. Schubert Prize
Prizes and awards Günther Peter received as chairman of AGA e.V.:
1989 – The German Travel Association (DRV) honours the AgA with the DRV international award for “Tourism and the Environment” for Günther Peter’s outstanding contributions to the protection of the Bay of Dalyan in Turkey.
1991 – The AgA receives the Willi Weyer prize by the INGENIEURGESELLSCHAFT NOWEA at the Düsseldorf trade fair “boot” for outstanding work in environmental protection
1992 The Bavarian Landesbausparkasse LBS, honours the AgA with the Environmental Protection Prize for the activities of the environmental and landscape protection at the military training area of Tennenlohe.
1994 – Certificate of appreciation issued by the ALPA Luxembourg (Association Luxembourgoise pour la Protection des Animaux), at the occasion of the 15-year anniversary of the AgA.
Personal website of Günther Peter and Photos: http://home.arcor.de/arten-tierschutz/
– free for publication immediately: 29/Oct/2013
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Nachruf in German language: http://www.veganblog.de/2013/10/29/nachruf-guenther-peter-geb-1947-ist-tot/
Auszeichnungen und Ehrungen von Günther Peter:
1984 Bruno-H.-Schubert-Prize für besondere Verdienste um die Erhaltung der Natur und der Tierwelt. Die Bruno-H.-Schubert-Stiftung verleiht Günther Peter den Bruno-H.-Schubert-Preis für besondere Verdienste um die Erhaltung der Natur und der Tierwelt.
1984 Der hessische Minister für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Naturschutz überreicht Günther Peter die Ehrenplakette in Silber für besondere Verdienste um den Schutz von Meeresschildkröten.
1988 Der Verband Deutscher Sporttaucher e.V. (VDST) verleiht Günther Peter die Silberne Ehrennadel für die Verdienste um den Tauchsport.
1992 Der Landestierschutzverband Hessen e.V. verleiht Günther Peter den Goldenen Hessen-Löwen für den jahrelangen Einsatz im weltweiten Artenschutz.
1994 Das Umweltmagazin “UNKRAUT” – bayerisches Fernsehen, verleiht Günther Peter den Grünen Oscar für besondere Verdienste im Natur- und Artenschutz.
1997 Günther Peter erhält das Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande.
1999 Die Bruno-H.-Schubert-Stiftung verleiht Günther Peter zum zweiten Mal den Bruno-H.-Schubert-Preis.
Prizes and Award Günther Peter received as chairman of AGA e.V.:
1989 Der Deutsche Reisebüro-Verband e.V. (DRV) ehrt die AgA mit dem internationalen DRV-Preis “Tourismus und Umwelt
1989” für besondere Verdienste zum Schutz der Dalyan-Bucht.
1991 Die AgA erhält von der Düsseldorfer Messegesellschaft mbH- NOWEA den “Willi-Weyer-Preis der boot-Düsseldorf für Umweltschutz”
1992 Die Bayerische Landesbausparkasse LBS, ehrt die AgA mit dem Umweltschutzpreis für die Aktivitäten des Umwelt- und Landschaftsschutzes für den Truppenübungsplatz Tennenlohe.
1994 Anerkennungsurkunde der ALPA Luxembourg (Association Luxembourgoise pour la protection des animaux), zum 15 jährigen Bestehen der AgA.
Persönliche website von Günther Peter and Photos: http://home.arcor.de/arten-tierschutz/
– Freigegeben zur Veröffentlichung – sofort: 29/Oct/2013
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