The start of October is a bit of a bleak time; not much is going on. Summer has come and gone, the next proper holiday to look forward to is Christmas and Halloween is far less appealing than when you were a kid. But there is a special day, today in fact, which you might not know much about: World Animal Day! The mission: "To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards across the globe". Anyone who knows me will know how much I love animals, and today is very special as it is a celebration of all animals, whether our pets or our favourite animals, those we see at the zoo or those which are so endangered we may never see them at all. The idea of today is to raise awareness and education about the state of all animals, especially those which are threatened with extinction or mistreated and hopefully raise the profile of charities and organisations trying to better the lives of these creatures around the world. Today is also a celebration of groups involved in Conservation, stopping the illegal wildlife trade, protection of natural habitats, animal care and children's education as they are really championing the causes relating to animal care. Many celebrities are also voicing their love of animals and the need to look after them by supporting groups involved in World Animal Day, especially through their social media campaigns. Other forms of support come through fundraising and global events. In 2003, 44 events were held in 13 countries, and this has now grown to around 1000 events in 100 countries, ranging from conferences to spay & neuter marathons. A list of events can be found here if you would like to get involved or have a look at the organisations working with animals in your area. Simply using the hashtag #WorldAnimalDay will help get the word out about today and will help many charities and grass roots groups raise their profile online by receiving support and attention they need to campaign for their causes. Even if it is just to see beautiful photos of animals, please visit the website, or use the hashtag to spread the word about October 4th. As many of the posts so far on Twitter have been of people's favourite animals, I think I will finish off here with my own, the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), and some information about it. Happy World Animal Day everyone! Photo: Green Sea Turtle via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_turtle_swimming_in_Kona_May_2010.jpg
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Great news appeared on the TIME website recently: "Wild Panda's making a comeback in China" with an increase of 268 individuals across their 27 giant panda preserves since 2003.
Pandas are the epitome of cuteness and global branding - they are even the logo of the WWF, a charity I personally support. In China, they are a much loved native cuddly species, greatly protected at a substantial cost. They are a distinctive species, only found in China, and have previously been given to other countries as gifts or peace offerings. However, it was not always like this. Pandas used to be poached excessively for their fur and their populations diminished greatly. The WWF now estimates the Giant Panda population to be around 1826 in the wild, with the recent increase being attributed to greater public awareness in China for the need to conserve their charismatic species. The irony here is that whilst China has been working so hard to preserve the panda, they seem to have turned a blind eye to the rampant illegal wildlife trade which is diminishing the populations of thousands of animals worldwide, including, but certainly not limited to, pangolins, sharks, seahorses and rhino. The soaring demand in China is leading to more species becoming critically endangered, simply because their body parts are consumed as delicacies or claimed to be everything from hangover cures to aphrodisiacs. A perfect example is their excessive demand for ivory. The Guardian estimates that Elephant ivory prices in China are around $3,000 per kilo, and CITES data suggests up to 20,000 elephants are killed yearly to fulfil the demand in China, which has lead to their extinction in some countries. Is it then fair to say China is protecting their main charismatic species whilst decimating the population of another charismatic species abroad? Well, yes. China has experienced rapid economic growth over the last few years, and the excess money of the super-rich is being spent satiating their need to display higher status, for example, with shark fin soup at weddings, or to keep their libido high with powdered rhino horn "medicines". Whilst they are fast to protect their beloved panda, more has to be done to raise awareness and educate the Chinese as to the horrendous consequences of their current actions around the world and lower their demand for animal products. Stricter legislation must be put into place and more wildlife rangers need to be on the ground in order to further lower the trade. If even a fraction of the money they spend yearly on ivory was plugged into protecting those very elephants, and the hundreds of other species that are being exploited to extinction, then I am sure they would follow in the panda's footprints and see growth in their wild populations. |
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