"Animals: Why Should We Keep Them, and How?" was written in my junior year of high school to fulfill a research paper assignment for my AP Language & Composition class. We were told to pick a world issue, describe it, and then state ways in which we could solve that issue. Judging by my chosen issue of endangered species, I guess you can tell the wildlife conservationists early.
For this assignment, I made my Dad drive me to the Bronx Zoo one Saturday morning to witness a book reading and signing from Jeff Corwin. Jeff Corwin is a worldwide acclaimed wildlife conservationist and television host. He won an Emmy Award for Animal Planet's "The Jeff Corwin Experience", which reaches 13 million viewers in the United States and is viewed in more than 70 countries around the world. He is well-known for producing the documentary and book 100 Heartbeats, where he displays an urgent portrait of wildlife that is suffering in silence and teetering on the brink of extinction. Corwin is imperative when discussing the power of entertainment, because he educates his audience on animals by bringing the wilderness to our living rooms, providing the importance of animal preservation through his humorous and vibrant personality.
I longed to meet Jeff Corwin so badly because his input on the endangered species issue would be prized in my paper, and I had watched his show with my older brother when we were little. After Jeff Corwin did a select reading from his new children's fiction book, Your Backyard is Wild!, he answered some questions from the crowd and I took notes on his responses. Let's see if I can translate my own notes into understandable sentences:
Jeff Corwin began as a conservationist-naturalist with reptiles and amphibians because of his first experience with a garter snake. He was visiting his grandparents' house when he was 6 years old, and when he saw something scaly and strange in the wood pile, he grabbed it. It turned out to be a garter snake, and it grabbed him right back. He staggered into the house looking for the adults, with the snake hanging from his arm by its mouth. However, when they wanted to take the snake away and put it outside, he didn't want them to. When asked why not, Jeff gestured to the snake and said, "Because I love it."
Jeff has been on television shows spreading the word on animals and their importance in our world for nearly 15 years. He and his team of colleagues have collected everything from skins to feces to venom while studying and following snakes. He has encountered rare species of sea snakes, and he has discovered the largest anaconda while in Venesuela. And Jeff Corwin has loved every minute of it.
When questioned on his pets, he admitted that instead of "snakes hanging from the chandelier and crocodiles in the bathtub", he has one living cat and one helping the tree int he backyard grow. This is all that he wants, because Jeff says nontraditional animals do not make good pets. People are often misinformed on how to properly care for wild pets, and so the animals are often abandoned or otherwise mistreated. Therefore, we should limit exotic animals as pets.
Jeff Corwin also mentioned that since we were on the topic of pets, he believes we should buy our pets from pounds in order to promote disapproval of puppy mills and the mistreatment of animals by pet stores.
Corwin told the crowd how when he was young he volunteered at a wildlife center near his house. They would take in hurt animals, help them heal, and then release them back into their habitat when they were ready. He said that even after nearly thirty years, he still remembers when he took care of a falcon. He grew exceptionally attached to the falcon, and remembered how hard it was to let the great bird of prey back into the wild. But he let the falcon go nonetheless, because he knew it was the right thing to do.
At the end of his time onstage, Jeff Corwin took his place at a table to the side of the stage, where he took a while to do a book signing. My Dad bought me two of his books, Your Backyard is Wild! and A Wild Life: the authorized biography while I held my spot in line. While Mr. Corwin was signing my books, I asked him, "What can we do to help endangered species?"
I shifted to the side of the table so the long line behind me could snap pictures of Jeff while he answered my question.
Jeff Corwin told me the best way to help endangered species is to protect their habitats, because animals cannot survive without the specific territories they require. He said that we should react to the environmental issues around us, get involved in our local nature (through wildlife centers, zoos, parks, etc.), and be proactive in any way we can that benefits all species. The advice Jeff Corwin left me with was that we should try to lower our levels of consumption, because everything we do effects nature, and it is our choice whether that effect will be positive of negative.
Mr. Corwin probably thought I was a little strange, scribbling everything he had to say on my little pad. Nonetheless, it was inspiring to meet one of my childhood heros (not to mention my older brother was super jealous of me). What Jeff Corwin said about us getting involved in the wildlife around us inspired me to apply to be a volunteer at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, NY. A year and a half later, I am still volunteering there whenever I can while in town. In the course of my conservationist career, it would be a dream come true if given the opportunity to work with Jeff Corwin, or better yet, if he came to me for professional advice.
A picture of me with Jeff Corwin in the background (in the orange long sleeved shirt). The guy immediately to Corwin's right was a member of the Bronx Zoo staff. My Dad was the photographer.
A better picture of Jeff Corwin; acquired from the internet. He is with an elephant, and although I do not know much else about this photo, I'm assuming the location is somewhere in Africa. It is one of my favorite pictures of him (and I have a shirt that matches his).
"Lions, People, and Their Prey" was a research paper written for my History class last semester. I was researching the state of the Tanzanian people, the lion population surrounding Serengeti National Park, and the interconnectedness of them with the prey populations. I originally just wanted to include this paper, and not "Animals: Why Keep Them, and How?", but since I used information on lion behavior from the first one in the second one, I felt obligated to post both. In the end, I'm glad I did, because posting the older one gave me the chance to relate my experience with Jeff Corwin.
A link to the article mentioned in both papers, "The Truth About Lions" by Abigail Tucker, is listed below for your curiosity. It is one of my favorite articles featuring animal discoveries.
Smithsonian's "The Truth About Lions"
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