SA: Why don’t we care?

DO South Africans engage in issues of extinction or do we have bigger fish to fry?

According to Chris Galliers of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, our country is no different to other countries in the sense that we are “quite accepting of the concept of extinction”.

He said this had to do with how we “[removed] ourselves from nature”, choosing to create environments of “shopping malls and plastic plants”.

He said schools should include the issue of extinction in curriculums, and noted the nature of politics could be partly blamed for apathy.

“Animals don’t have a voice and don’t vote — because it comes down to getting as many votes as possible, [conservation] doesn’t make it on to the agenda,” he said.

But, he added: “If you really understood the impact of extinction, you might make different decisions. So I believe it is all about awareness and education.”