Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente(1928-1980)

Born in the small village of Poza de la Sal, in the Castilian province of Burgos, on the 14th March 1928. He grew up in the midst of the wonders of nature and the Spanish Civil war, and then studied medicine at the university of Valladolid where he graduated as a specialist in dentistry. He became an expert in falconry and in 1960 he was employed by the Saudi Arabian king together with two excellent specimens presented by the Franco Government to King Saud. Thanks to generous donations by the Saudi king and the collaboration of a number of Grandees (Spanish Aristocrats) he was able to produce his first documentary programme "Señores del Espacio." The success of this documentary allowed him to embark on his second great passion: an exhaustive study of the lives of wild wolves - which fortunately still exist today in Spain, probably due to Rodríguez's tireless work in conserving this and other species in danger of extinction, such as the Iberian lynx, several species of eagles, and Cantabrian and Pyrenean bears. He later travelled extensively in Africa and South America, from which he made a number of documentary programmes. But in 1974 he started on his most ambitious work and the one he will always be rembered for: El Hombre y La Tierra. Starting off from some of his earlier work, such as Wolves (El Lobo), Otters (La Nutria), etc, he made up an exceptional series of documentaries on Iberian fauna which has never been equalled. The series includes such subjects as hunting dogs, the last vultures in Europe, foxes, deer, storks, etc., and a special on the Doñana National Park (World Heritage Listed). All this when "ecology" was still a rather unknown word and had not come into fashion. Thanks to his work many species have survived and parks have been created for the protection of wildlife. The whole series of 26 parts exists in video, made by RTVE and licenced to a private distributor. These programmes are not only excellent for nature lovers, but also for students of the Spanish language, as his speaking is clear and easily understood. Whilst filming Los Perros del Mundo (Dogs of the World) in Shaktoolik, Alaska, he died in an aeroplane accident, on his fifty-second birthday, 1980.