Strong Words from the Great Man: Sir David Attenborough speaks out!

Angie getting the drop on mother and cub! We better watch out if we are to ensure a place for wild lions for our children – read on:

I always knew there must be a good reason to purchase the Weekly Telegraph (no we are not Conservative groupies) besides being a good way to get a summary of the overseas news along with the Weekly Guardian. In the January 30 – February 5, 2013 issue Angie and I came across a hugely important snippet from an interview with Sir David Attenborough – one of our heroes. Titled “People are a plague on the Earth, says Attenborough”, the article went on to say: “Humans are a plague on the Earth that need to be controlled by limiting population growth, according to Sir David Attenborough. The broadcaster said that humans were threatening their own existence and that of other species by exhausting the world’s resources. He said the only way to save the planet from famine and species extinction was to limit human population growth. “We are a plague on the Earth. It’s coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so. It’s not just climate change; it’s sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now,” he told the Radio Times. Sir David, who is patron of the Optimum Population Trust, has spoken out before about the “frightening explosion in human numbers” and the need for investment in sex education in developing countries.”

These are the very same sentiments that some lion researchers are now voicing – and some have been doing so for many years. It isn’t just loss of habitat that is killing off our wildlife. The trade in bushmeat is exploding across Africa with wire snares a cheap and easy way to kill wild animals – and a brutal one at that. Easy to say that when you have food on the table but certain kinds of bushmeat – such as the flesh of the great apes – is considered far more than food to sustain an empty stomach; it is a status symbol too consumed by some people who are far from feeling the pinch when it comes to eating. Won’t go on a rant – but I think you know what we mean. We need to wake up to the current wave of poaching of elephants and rhinos in Africa – and the trade in tiger skins and bones across the water. And………….

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