[RightWhale]

A counter-example of someone who actually saved a species from extinction was the notorious drunk, Gray Wolf, who single-handedly saved the Canadian beaver from Hudson Bay Company trappers. He ran his scam for a long time, probably in mere self-interest, but he did save the beaver, which was his announced goal. Like Iron Eyes Cody, he pretended to be Indian, which provided the true root cause of belief in the mythical native interest in environmentalism.

[Willie Green]

Who's to say that even the Greenspeace eco-terrorists aren't pusuing their own financial self-interests?
They obtain their revenues from sympathetic donors, and the whales are saved despite the disengenous motivation!

Ol' Walter is really walking on quicksand with his hypothesis.
In the end, he may be right despite his awkwardly incompetent example!