Wild Things: Celebrating World Wild Life Day

World Wildlife Day celebrate flora and fauna in the wild around the world. It is a day to recognise our interdependence and to contemplate ways to maintain positive relations with our wild world.

When it comes to supporting wild life, especially if you live in the city, start small. It is getting less common for people to interact with wild life these days. Even when we enter into a species space, they know interacting with humans can have a negative impact.

On my last visit to Tanzania, I got into a conversation with a waiter in Dar es Salaam, he asked if I were going on Safari, I wasn’t. He shared that he had never seen any of the big five animals his country is famous for, and he hoped one day he would get an opportunity to do so.

The only wild animals I got to see on that trip were the sea turtles at the Mnarni Conservation Pond, in Zanzibar. The visit showed what can be achieved when the community comes together to support sustainable wildlife practices.

It is interesting to hear the local perspective when you travel because people will succumb to the lure of the exotic, and pay oodles of money to go on a safari. Wildlife charities will have representatives from countries that have eradicated most of the wild life in their own countries come and explain to local communities what they are doing wrong.

As Joseph Ogulu, a university researcher and statistician says, the challenge in conservation efforts is:

“Balancing the interests of wildlife preservation with the rights and well-being of local communities who have been the custodians of these lands for generations.”

All Creatures Great and Small

Sometimes we don’t even notice the variety of wild life we have on our doorstep. At the same time, around the world, there are people who have been displaced to make room for very small populations of endangered animal life.

On World Wildlife Day, we can focus on what it really means to protect and sustain our environment. We are all connected to each other, and a break in the chain could have unforeseen consequences.

The primatologist and conservationist, Jane Goodall, always spoke of hope when it comes to wildlife. Indeed, her whole career was based on showing that we can share the same space without causing the other harm.

“Every single one of us makes an impact on this planet every single day and we get to choose what kind of difference we make.” – Jane Goodall

Creating Friendly Wildlife Spaces in Your Backyard

Urban sprawl continues to reduce the habitat available for wildlife globally. In Canada, with its large land mass, the problem is not space, but leaving enough adequate habitat for a specific species.

I have already mentioned in previous posts that the wildlife in my backyard can include black bears. And although I wish them long life and happiness, I don’t want to look up from my gardening to find one staring back at me.

I think about people who have never had the privilege of seeing a black bear in the wild. It is such a powerful reminder of our place within the ecosystem.

Ways To Help Local Wild Life

• Create a native plant garden
  
• Avoid chemicals toxic to wildlife
  
• Set up bird feeders, and bird baths
  
• Bat houses – I know, but if you live in an area where there are bats, it is better to have them in their own house than yours.

Choose the species that you want to encourage carefully, birds are wonderful as they are great pollinators, and move on when finished.

Final thoughts

Wildlife is who we are. If you take stock of what humans are doing to each other and the planet, it is wild. So lets be kind to all creatures great and small, ourselves and each other.