Dear Sir David , will the human race
Become extinct like the dinosaurs?
HE may be only four, but Otis Allen is already thinking about life’s big questions.
But when he asked his mother at bedtime if the human race would die out like the dinosaurs, she was stumped.
Luckily mum Gerry Holt knew who Otis should turn to for advice – Sir David Attenborough. The next morning they sent the 94-year-old a card with their question and a drawing of a dinosaur by Otis.
Three days later, the TV naturalist wrote back to assure young Otis humanity will be safe if ‘we look after our planet properly’.
‘I was just staggered,’ said
Miss Holt, 38. ‘There’s something really special and poignant about a 94-year-old conservationist who has spent his life working to save the planet corresponding with a fourand-a-half-year-old who’s just at the very beginning of his journey to understand the impact of climate change and our behaviour on the planet.
‘Otis was really thrilled – he’s really fascinated by venus fly traps at the moment so he’s been watching video clips of Sir David talking about them.
‘His little face just lit up when I read the letter to him... but I think he’ll need to be a bit older before he really understands the significance.’
Miss Holt, a communications officer at Cardiff University, described Sir David as a ‘wonderful human being’ and a ‘national treasure’, adding that the letter ‘made us all smile’.
‘He has that innate ability to inspire and engage people, whether it’s speaking at UN climate change talks or writing to a young boy about the dinosaurs,’ she said.
‘It’s thanks to people like Sir David that Otis will grow up knowing about the climate emergency we face – and I think we should all be so grateful for his work.’
‘His little face just lit up’