Tom {Harrisson} and the Survival Service Commission
This is a short memorial note by R.S.R. Fitter, a former colleague of Tom Harrisson from Mass Observation, tracing Harrisson’s role in the IUCN Survival Service Commission (SSC) from 1963 until his death (p. 71).
Summary
Fitter outlines how Harrisson’s appointment to the SSC in 1963 opened a new phase in his conservation work, building on his earlier Sarawak turtle conservation scheme and his writings on orang-utans. He served as Chairman of the SSC’s Orang-utan Specialist Group, where he and his wife Barbara devised the Orang-utan Recovery Scheme (OURS) to rehabilitate illegally imported animals seized by customs authorities, and as first vice-chairman and later co-chairman of the Marine Turtle Group (p. 71).
Fitter identifies Harrisson’s 1969 visit to the Philippines with Charles Lindbergh as perhaps his most notable single achievement in the region: the pair established a locally based, officially supported conservation structure for the tamaraw and the monkey-eating eagle that remained intact at the time of Harrisson’s death (p. 71). The note closes with a personal tribute to Harrisson’s presence on the SSC’s Alert Group (later Steering Committee) (p. 72).