England is Disappearing!

[animartco]

Oh Yes DarrenM I agree with everything you say. Couldn't have put it any better. It is just that I can see a class of eight year olds 'adopting' an animal. Say a bunny rabbit. A little fluffy bunny (by the way a new generation of bunnies have just arrived in my garden) Does the teacher teach them that the fox is not a villain, does she describe the Myx, and explain that if the fox or the myx didn't control the numbers we would have to shoot them?
That would put the kids off wildlife forever! But if she just explained the life of bunnies, Watership Down wise, the kids would be viewing the wild through rose tinted glasses, and the shock when they learned the truth would also put them off wildlife.
This is why I think all education should be about a range of animals living in a habitat, with their true interactions. It wouldn't horrify the kids so much to know that birds eat Pretty, interesting, caterpillars, and they could be used to this idea before they were told that the fox eats fluffy bunnies.
The other point you raise about the enforced alienation of people from 'the wild' by placing wldlife in reserves very reminiscent of the Indian Reservations in America, is one I would love to discuss at greater length. The point about the Indian Reservations was that they were mostly on land that was too poor to farm, and of no use to the White Man. I think many Nature reservations are going down that road. The animals are not being kept in their most suitable habitats. Take for instance the gariel (have I spelt it right?) which are being poisoned by pollution in their reserves. As far as I know no one has found them another home. Could be wrong about this? Hope I am! Nature reserves are fast becomming places in which to dump toxic waste.

[darrenm]

to switch more people on in a positive way to the natural world and biodiversity all around them is what is needed and that way there will be something left for future generations to marvel at and we can all do our bit