Celebrating World Wildlife Day!

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Today we celebrate World Wildlife Day. Just as charity begins at home so appreciation of nature and wildlife begins in your back garden as it were. Wildlife is being threatened more than ever these days and although WWF are doing their utmost to protect endangered species it’s a tough task. I support WWF and recently tried to raise funds for them, with a focus on protecting the elephant from the ivory trade, but was met with apathy and total disinterest. So, I joined Ellen DeGeneres’s #BeKindToElephants because each retweet meant she would donate to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
There are many organizations looking after animals that are injured, orphaned or abused eg The Donkey Sanctuary, which I support, is one such charity. Their work is worldwide ensuring that donkeys and mules are respected for themselves and all the work they do. I think this is an important charity because many children, including myself, learn to ride a horse but they rarely come across donkeys.  The latter are not an animal that’s given much coverage so this sanctuary is crucial in the way it raises awareness about this important yet under-rated animal:


Other organizations focus on endangered species such as WWF:


And on March 24th at 8:30pm there’s a ‘lights out’ for 1 hour in solidarity for planet earth. It’s part of an initiative called Earth Hour. The site above tells you more about this WWF initiative.

Wildlife isn’t just about the adorable animals, such as the koala bear, it’s about the whole of the animal kingdom from toads, snakes to urban foxes, hedgehogs, badgers to wild big cats such as the jaguar to elephants, rhinos and bears. It includes sea life which is often overlooked. People rarely think of the seas and oceans as teeming with important ecological life, fishes, dolphins, sharks, and coral reefs. Indeed, recently a new thriving supercolony of penguins has been discovered, which is very exciting and exceedingly good news!


It’s vital that all animal life is preserved, and that habitats are not destroyed so that the ecological system stays in equilibrium. This is not just good for wildlife in general, it’s good for us, and future generations and for the health of planet earth. Prince Charles recently talked about the ecological disaster of dumping plastic into the oceans. He is a passionate advocate of the environment and is hands-on when issues threatening the environment need addressing and solving. Here is a youtube showing Prince Charles outlining his concerns and campaign to reverse this ecological damage:


Also an article on the same topic:


However, children cannot appreciate animals unless they have empathy with those around them, the garden animals who need food and shelter throughout the seasons. Whether this be the beetles, birds, hedgehogs, frogs and toads or the less loved urban fox. Here's a photo I took of one of the foxes that inhabit my garden:


Unless children learn to appreciate trees, hedges, undergrowth and nature in its natural state in their own back garden they won’t truly understand or feel empathy with animals they only occasionally see in a zoo or learn about on the TV and that inhabit countries that they’ve never been to and are unlikely to ever go to. Manicured lawns and several cars in the driveway are not a welcoming environment for wildlife and, worst still, add to pollution which is a health hazard to humans and wildlife.

So, starting today, March 3 2018, let’s start teaching children and their parents, as well as society in general, how to care for and appreciate the environment and animals around them as well as protect those further afield from extinction.

Here’s a beautiful set of photos of wild animals to celebrate this day:

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