Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Call of the wild
60 years ago a shock edition of the Mirror saved many animals from extinction... today entire species are doomed, unless we act
THE planet is under threat as never before and urgent action is needed to stop nature going into freefall, campaigners warn.
The alert comes 60 years after the Daily Mirror published a special shock issue revealing many species faced extinction “due to man’s folly, greed and neglect”. It helped launch the World
Wildlife Fund, whose fight for endangered species helped save blue whales, tigers and black rhinos.
But the battle is far from over.
Our planet’s wildlife populations have plummeted by 68% since 1970, according to latest the Living Planet Report, WWF’S flagship research series.
And there are no signs that this downward trend is slowing.
WWF chief Tanya Steele said: “We’re immensely grateful that the Mirror was there at the beginning of WWF’S journey, sounding the alarm about the threats
facing nature. Yet despite the success stories, that alarm now needs sounding more urgently than ever as our planet – our one shared home – is under threat as never before.
“Nature is in freefall and we must take action now if we are to save it.”
In 1961, our call to action warned many animals could “disappear from the face of the Earth” without urgent help.
Under the headline “Doomed”, with a photo of a rhinoceros and calf, we warned: “Unless something is done swiftly, animals like this rhinoceros and
its baby will soon be dead as a dodo. From jungle to hedgerow, tragedy is stalking the living wonders of the world.”
Slamming hunters for slaughtering “for the cash a tusk or tail will bring” and those who “bulldoze wildlife out of its natural haunts”, it set the agenda for our campaign to protect the natural world.
WWF founder Peter Scott was inspired to create the charity’s logo by Chi-chi the giant panda at London Zoo.
By the 1970s the panda population had fallen to just 1,000, but there are now 1,864 in south-west China. There was
also success with black rhinos, which were hunted by poachers until there were only 300 left. Now there are more than 5,600 but this is still sadly a fraction of the 100,000 that existed in the early part of the 20th century.
This week, the Mirror is again proud to be working with WWF to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
But again there are warnings of species facing an uncertain future. In some areas leatherback turtles have declined by between 20% and 98% since 1970, with an 84% fall at Tortuguero beach in Costa Rica. African elephant populations in the Central African Republic have declined by up to 98%.
Lockdown has greatly increased people’s interest in nature – yet many
UK species are under threat. One quarter of our native mammals are classified as being at “imminent risk of extinction”. Among them are the water vole, hedgehog, hazel dormouse, wildcat and the grey long-eared bat.
Curlews and puffins have joined cuckoos, house sparrows and turtle doves on the list of birds whose populations are in big trouble.
Grey partridge have declined by 85% and Arctic skua in Orkney by 62%.
Sounding the alarm, WWF’S Tanya Steele said urgent action is needed to
save our planet. She added: “That will mean ambitious conservation efforts to protect wildlife, but also global action to tackle the twin threats of climate change and the destruction of our wild places.
“A better future is possible, but only if the world acts today.
“We owe it to our children and grandchildren to ensure that, 60 years from now, they can live on a restored and flourishing planet.”
Nature is in freefall.. A better future is possible, but only if the world acts today TANYA STEELE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND