Wildlife Heroes hold first council meeting
SUNWAY’S Lost World of Tambun in Ipoh recently played host to the first-ever wildlife council in Asia that is made up of the 10 child finalists from the Wildlife Heroes initiative.
Each of these Wildlife Heroes will receive RM8,000 for their participation, and the child voted as the chief will receive an additional RM4,000.
This year-long initiative will see the children immersing themselves in what both the Lost World of Tambun and Sunway Lagoon in Petaling Jaya have to offer in terms of wildlife experiences.
The 10 Wildlife Heroes are nine-year-old Alexandria Ng; 10-year-olds Alyssa Warren, Cahaya Rain Thomas, Medina Zahara Onn, and Ng Zhang Hui; 11-year-olds Ahmad Iszuddin Ahmad Izham and Nickhil Aaron; as well as 12-year-olds Anna Huggel, Owen Lim, and Shernyn Tay.
The children were welcomed to the Lost World of Tambun by Sunway Theme Parks senior general manager Calvin Ho, who said he hopes the children, through this initiative, would one day become leaders who would bring to the table the need for conservation, love of nature and respect of wildlife.
For the first council meeting, the children set up camp at the Lost World of Tambun for three days learning and interacting with the animals housed at the Wildlife Park as well as practising basic survival skills.
The Wildlife Park is home to a plethora of animals including a hippopotamus named Juwita, a giraffe called Rain, a deer known as Rainbow, and a gaze of raccoons.
Ho also joined the children for a night trek into Gua Datuk and waded through the mud exploring the 6th Mile Tunnel the next day.
Wildlife Heroine Anna has loved animals since she first learned how to incubate eggs at age five.
Meanwhile, Wildlife Hero Ahmad Iszuddin is no stranger to conservatism. He came up with the idea of selling homemade cookies and donating the proceeds to the Turtle Conservation Society in Terengganu.
Medina may be the smallest member of the council, but she dreams of writing a book about wildlife and sharing her passion for conservation. She cites British primatologist, ethologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall as her wildlife hero.
These Wildlife Heroes will convene for the next council meeting in November at Sunway Lagoon. – Azizul Rahman Ismail