IUCN Red List

of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
According to the latest list, released on 29 January 2010, there are 5220 endangered species (2754 Animalia, 1 Fungi, 2464 Plantae, 1 Protista).

That’s not so much if you take in account that The National Science Foundation’s “Tree of Life” project estimates that there could be anywhere from 5 million to 100 million species on the planet, but science has only identified about 2 million.

Now the question is, Why do we need to help conserve the species?. afterall there are so many other. My counter question, why do you save that old photograph?
The answers could be numerous, but the most common would be “to show my kids and grandkids” or “to preserve it for the generations to come”. That’s a noble idea, Why then, don’t we preserve the animals and other species too, for the generations to come?.

How can we conserve the endagered species?.

Pardon me if I state the obvious. We can all try our best NOT to kill them. Rather, if it’s an animal (not dangerous), leave it alone or if you have caught it, give it to an organisation that specializes in the breeding of captured endangered species. There are numerous such organisations all over the world. If it’s a dangerous animal, run like hell. Or, if you would prefer, stand still, it has to eat too. Just Google for it.

If it’s a plant, in the wild, leave it alone!. if you have it in your backyard, care for it, read up on the methods most beneficial for it and apply those methods. Then when you get seeds from it, well, you should know what to do with it, you are a gardener afterall.

Anyone on earth can achieve much by only using a little common sense.

According to me, the best way to preserve our earth and everything on it, is to educate our children and make them aware of the benefits of preserving and conserving our environment. Live by example and send the message to the world.

“The preservation of animal and plant life, and of the general beauty
of Nature, is one of the foremost duties of the men and women of
to-day. It is an imperative duty, because it must be performed at
once, for otherwise it will be too late. Every possible means of
preservation,–sentimental, educational and legislative,–must be
employed.” from OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE. IT’S EXTERMINATION AND PRESERVATION. BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, Sc.D.

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Firstly, let me wish you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous and happy new year.

My prayer for you in this festive season.

Dear God.

Please keep your hand over everyone. Help them to get safely to their destinations and back home. Fill everyone’s heart with love and joy.

Help us to live our lives as You intended, in peace and love for everyone around us. Please heal everyone of their ailments, be they in hospital or at home

For, to Thy comes all the honour and glory.

Amen.

Please allow me to be your conscience and to be the little voice in your head.

If you have pets, please take them with you or at least get some friends or family to take care of them in the time you are away from home.

Dogs are pack animals. They need constant love and affection. They need to have a sense of belonging. So, get someone to take care of your dogs in the time you are not at home.

Cats are predatory creatures, they need a little less attention. They can mostly fend for themselves. Just keep a window open for them to go out at will. Get someone to come by from time to time, to see if everything is alright and put some fresh water in their bowls.

Reptiles can go for long periods without much care. Just see to it that they have enough food and water. Get someone to come by once or twice to refill the water at least.

Just a little more common sense conservation.

Study your pets. What are their needs ?. See to it that those needs are met, before you go on vacation.

A little care beforehand can go a long way afterward.

Take care and may God’s grace be with you wherever you may go.

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Do You Learn Anything at the Zoo?

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• Cradle to grave

By Mari van der Linde

What does it mean?

Well, I will try to explain it in a simple way.

Principle of cradle to grave

Firstly, the term mean, we are responsible for what we created.

Secondly, it also mean that we are responsible for what happen with it after its (our creation) working life has ended.

Thus, we talk about items, any concrete/ touchable item or thing we create.

It also implies that our responsibility does not end where the item lands in the waste bin. It actually continues.

To whom does this apply?

It applies to all of us, thus to industries, retail, mining, government, at home, every single human being is responsible.

Let us look at this point in a little more detail.

Let’s take an example of an industry. It is a manufacturer of chemicals. Obviously, they do create waste. What do they do with it? Because of the principle “Cradle to grave”, they are responsible to ensure that the waste they create and if they dispose it, that it is not harmful to the environment, that it will not pollute the ground, and eventually the ground water. So to prevent or minimize this effect, they need to have some sort of program in place, to either sell the waste to a company who can use it, or chemically alter the waste in such a manner that it is not harmful anymore when disposed of (this is a very simple explanation for some things that are not always practical to do).

On the other hand, in our homes, we create waste on a daily basis – plastic, carton, paper, etc. What do we do with our waste? Do we try to recycle as much as we can, or do we put it in a bin, and forget about it, because it has become the local waste remover’s problem? Sorry, that is not the case; we are still responsible for it, even though it moves out of our hands.

We stay responsible for the things we create, even if it is not in our hands anymore.

Furthermore, we need to realize that the items we use, and the waste we create can be harmful to the environment.

What is the influence of our creations on the environment?

We all know that plastic is bad for the environment, and we need to be more responsible how we dispose it. This also applies to chemicals, and other substances and materials.

Let’s look at a few items.

All these energy saving light bulbs and the fluorescent tubes: What happens if we through them in a bin, and it are moved to a landfill site? Have we thought of this? Do we know what these bulbs and tubes contain, and what happen to the content once the bulb or tube lands on the land fill and are broken?

Energy saving light bulbs contains small quantities of mercury. Now if each household dump one bulb a month and it end up on a landfill, imagine the quantities of mercury that’s being released into the ground.  The same principle applies for fluorescent tubes. The fluorescent gases are released into the air and over and above the fact that it is poisonous to humans – inhalation, it also leads to air pollution.

What about the batteries we dispose daily. Batteries contain acids, which can not only burn humans, but also acidify the ground, and ground water.

Yes, and the argument many follow is, but it is only little bits at a time. That is true, but thousands of batteries are manufactured, sold, used and disposed on a daily bases. Thousands end up on a landfill. And all the little bits of acid, becomes huge quantities of acid.

This is the effect on our environment we do not realize, or completely ignore. And this is why the “cradle to grave” principle applies to every one. Each and every person who does his/ her bit for nature conservation will reduce these accumulative affects of negligent practices.

It starts at the creator of the item, and it only ends, when the graved item is safe for the environment. We need to take the burden of the environment. We need to do what ever we can to make our waste the least harmful or if possible, make it have a positive impact.

A good example of positive impacts is wet waste – fruit peels, vegetable peels, teabags, etc. – when dried, can be worked into a compos heap. This put nutrients back into the ground, and also means that less artificial nutrients (chemicals) needs to be used.

Many countries have worked this into their environmental legislation, but unfortunately, not many applies it as diligently as it is should be. What happens in many countries are, people do what ever they want, until they are caught for some kind of illegal practice, not related to the environment. Then, during investigations, negligent environmental practices also surface and ads to the situation. It rarely starts at the environmental practices.

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There’s a lot of things everyone can do to help to make this world a better place to live in.

What do you do when you see a spider in your living room or bedroom?.

Do you grab the insecticide or do you grab something to catch the spider with?

You walk along the beach, You see a starfish lying there, what do you do?

Here’s what I do.

Catch the spider and release it outside again. Yes it’s not something most people will do, but think of it this way.

You don’t like mosquitoes, You don’t like flies and even the moths that’s attracted to your electric lights. These are in most cases the staple diet of spiders. Wow…Spiders actually help humans.

Ants, Now there’s a pest no-one like to have in the house. The same with cockroaches. What to do. Simple, just clean every surface where they could find a morsel to eat. If they don’t find something to eat, they will leave and look for food someplace else. If you really need to use insecticide, do so responsibly. Use a brand that is target specific for the problem insect you have in your house. That way you don’t accidentally kill some other insects that are beneficial to you.

When it comes to technology. Use electricity sparingly, shut off the lights of the rooms you don’t use, conserve electricity. That way you conserve the trees. Same goes for water. Use only as much as you need, nothing more.

You see, conservation is nothing but just the use of common sense. You don’t need a degree to use that thing between your ears, unless you think with the other side of your anatomy.

These are just some small things I do.

Now for more general common sense.

Are you a hunter? an Angler?

If you hunt, Why? do you do it for fun, or do you do it to fill a need?.

Need, such as, getting some food in the fridge. Getting a trophy isn’t a need, that’s a “want”. Same goes for angling. I’m an angler myself, I love the feel of the fish on the hook. But what do you do after you caught it?. Do you just leave it there?…Don’t. Set yourself a quota. Keep with the quota. If you catch some fish just keep those you intend to eat. The rest, tag them and then release them gently. There are many people that study the behavior of fish. Tagging them can give these people valuable data. The point I’m trying to get over is don’t catch or kill more than you can eat. If you do, you are a murderer and not a provider.

This last paragraph will probably get a lot of attention with activists. Something in the way of ” You say you do conservation, but you are an angler and kill fish? ” Yeah, Yeah. What the activists don’t like to look at, is the bible. God gave us all the earth and everything on it and everything beneath it and in the waters to look after. True, Go and read it in Genesis. He also said we must live off the land, we need sustenance, we find it in crops we grow, animals we hunt, fish we catch, farm animals we kill. Yes, we are the ultimate predator. But HOW we do it is the question, not why we do it. There are humane ways to kill animals. I had to kill animals in order to provide for my family..Yes I did it. I doesn’t mean I liked it.

Activists…Please stay off my back.

Now where were we, oh yes. Did you remember to take your car for a service?

Those exhaust emissions kill the earth, it pollute the air we breathe. So go on, take your car for that much needed service.

Factory’s, there are things you can do to lessen the pollution too. Every government has standards that will show you what to do. Follow their advice, please.

The point is, use COMMON SENSE. How hard can it be?

Look around you, there are a million and one things you can do to help make this earth a better place. Just start doing it.

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0 – 60 in just under 4 seconds with a top speed of 100 km/s, 108 degree turns without the loss of much speed, Sleek build, very little wind resistance..

Sounds like an advertisement for a sports car.

Actually, these are some truths about the fastest land animal on earth. One that are currently on the endangered specie list.

The Cheetah.

Please, meet Fiela.

Fiela At Cheetah Experience

She’s the first cheetah that was hand raised by Riana van Nieuwenhuizen.

Riana and Fiela, true love.

Riana is the owner of Cheetah Experience.

Fiela was born on 21 January 2006. She was found all alone in the veld. Her mother had abandoned her. This is how she got the name of Fiela.

Riana bought her at the age of 8 weeks.

Fiela at a very young age

As a person who loves nature, realizing the problems cheetahs face and the threat of possible extinction. Riana then began to promote her tame cheetah to increase awareness of the cheetah’s plight and for education.

Here are some of Riana’s own words.

“My passion and love for the cheetah motivated me to follow my dream and to leave my position at the Department of Justice after 22 years of service.  The decision to raise a cheetah was not an impulsive one, as I had been actively involved with “Friends of the Zoo” for the past 10 years.  During that time I frequently volunteered to raise orphaned animals for them.  After buying Fiela, I found temporary employment on a game ranch where I could raise her, but my actual dream entails so much more.  Merely owning a cheetah is not enough – I want to start a cheetah breeding project, especially considering the fact that there are only 1000 cheetahs left in the entire Africa.”

In November 2007 she launched Cheetah Experience on a hectare of land provided by Emoya Estate located in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Since then the family has grown.

Meet some of the other inhabitants of Cheetah Experience.

Mafusa.

Mafusa at Cheetah Experience

Mafusa was born on 15 February 2007. He broke his back leg when he was still very young.  He is now nearly fully grown.

Bibi.

Bibi

Bibi was born with a very short and disfigured tail on 17 December 2007. Because of this, she was abandoned by her mother when only a day old.  She had to receive hourly feedings until she was strong enough to start sucking by herself.

Xena.

Xena

Xena was born from a litter of 4 on 22 February 2008.  Two of the cubs died and she and her sister were taken away to be hand reared by Cheetah Experience. She broke her leg at a very young age and had to undergo major surgery to correct this.

Elsa.

Elsa the lion at Cheetah Expetience

Elsa the lion cub was found in the veld at the age of 10 days.  As the only sibling, she was brought to us to be hand reared.

Some other animals also reared by Riana and her personnel.

Canadian Wolves.

Canadian Wolf at Cheetah Experience

There’s even a Llama and 3 white lion cubs, which they are raising for someone else and a caracal.

Cheetah Experience are offering “touch and learn” experiences for everyone interested to visit them. They have friendly, competent and knowledgeable personnel, that share the love of nature and the love for the animals already at Cheetah Experience. Tours are available and very affordable.

Touch tours

But what price can be put to the glowing face of a child, that has his/her dream fulfilled, to touch an animal, that is wild and dangerous under normal circumstances.

The animals need constant care and medical expenses are enormous. Without outside help, they are fighting a losing battle.

Cheetah Experience are doing a great service to further the cause of conservation concerning the well-being and existence  of cheetahs. Any form of charity, monetary or otherwise will be greatly appreciated and will help them further their cause.

To learn more about Cheetah Experience and to make online donations, please visit their site : Click here.

If you find yourself in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Please do not hesitate to schedule a visit to Cheetah Experience. This is one experience you do not want to miss.

If you find yourself at the Bloemfontein Zoo, make a point to visit Sharu, the tiger. Sharu was raised by Riana and her personnel as well.

Sharu

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This is where everything begins.

On my “About page” you will get to know me better and even gain an understanding why this site was created in the first place.

In the Beginning.

God created EVERYTHING. And He says unto man.

Genesis 1:26.. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:27.. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

Genesis 1:28.. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Excerpts from The Holy Bible. King James Version.

In Genesis 1:28 God gave the earth and every living creature, to man with the command, to cherish and to love and to to keep it in good health.

This is the first command (No the ten commandments are NOT the only commandments) of God that man has broken. And we are ALL guilty of not fulfilling this command. Just look at the state of the earth today. How many species of animals and plants have become extinct as a direct cause of man’s ignorance, incompetence and carelessness.

This is the beginning of this site and my steps to try to create an awareness of conservation in everyone that reads these pages.

No matter how you look at it, no matter out of what angle you look at it, no matter if you are a scientist or a religious person or even if you don’t believe in anything, it is still our duty as man to cherish and care for the earth and every living thing on it and conserve it for our descendants.

I now invite you to follow me on my journey on this site and contribute wherever you may feel the need to do so.

The goal is to improve our knowledge and understanding of conservation, and to inform others as well.

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