Read the following article:
Old News?
Marlin is a 10 year old Sumatran tiger. He is lucky, he lives in a nature reserve in Nepal where rangers protect him from poachers and he has enough prey to catch and eat. The problem is not for Marlin, but for the future generations of his kind. The WWF say that the wild tiger population has “declined by 97% since the beginning of the 20th century”. Soon there may not be any tigers left outside of zoos and safari parks.
You have probably skimmed over the previous paragraph and not bothered to read it fully. Why? Because it is old news, isn't it? Pandas, rhinos, tigers, endangered animals, we should all care enough to do something, blah blah.
I felt the same way until I took my nephew to the zoo. He was amazed by the larger animals, totally captivated by their size and power. Do you remember the first time you saw a lion yawn, or a gorilla beat its chest? These experiences are part of the magic of childhood. We should never grow too old to be amazed by nature, or we will end up living in a world where nature programmes are the ONLY way we can ever see some of these amazing creatures.
“Ok, fair enough” you may be thinking, “but I haven't killed a tiger. I don't have a tiger skin rug, or tiger bone in my tea.” No, but you do have wooden furniture in your house, and you write on paper, don't you? Do you know where these resources come from? As well as poaching, tigers are at risk from their areas being used for logging. However, I don't want you to feel guilty. Feeling guilty is counter-productive. We need to be proactive: educate yourself, raise awareness, exercise your rights!
- Educate yourself - use the internet to find out more about our planet, its animals, and who needs your help.
- Raise awareness - tell your friends about what you discover.
- Exercise your rights - campaign for your cause to your local M.P. or the Prime Minister.
Things won't change overnight, but if we don't start now, tigers really will be 'old news' for this planet.
Let's have a go at the questions now.
If you need to read the article again as you go through the worksheet, you can click on the Help button.
