Walk for Wildlife
Dr Lawrence Anthony stood in the blistering heat of the Arabian desert looking at the pitiful lion that could barely open its mouth to quench the thirst that had been tormenting it for more than a week.
It had to submerge its mouth in the newly filled water bowl so that its tongue could loosen up enough to drink. The animal was trapped in a cage, neglected, while man waged war around him. When Dr Anthony got to the Baghdad zoo the animal population had dropped from 650 to 35 animals, in 2009 the Gaza Zoo had 10 of their 400 animals remaining and in World War 2 the Berlin Zoo went from an animal population of 3715 to 91.
In the Iraqi conflict of 2003, as in every other war in history, the lives of animals became inconsequential. Dr Anthony realised that unless it was made law, humans would never take responsibility for the animals they had put into captivity, and so the draft resolution to the United Nations was born.
The Wildlife in War Zones draft resolution was written with the aim of protecting captive animals and marine reserves in times of war, making the wilful destruction of captive animals and their keepers a war crime. Many facilities with captive wildlife have endangered or threatened species in their care, and their protection is often vital to the survival of that species.
The Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization has endeavoured to finalise the passing of this resolution into international law. The organization has already submitted the resolution to the United Nations and now has to carry out the remaining steps, as well as lobbying the UN and negotiating with the International Criminal Court.
In order to raise awareness and funding for this project a fun walk is being held on September 29. The walk starts at 8am at uShaka Marine world and follows the promenade, ending at Suncoast Casino. The walk is just less than 5km. Tickets are on sale with Computicket for R60 and entry for kids under 10 is free.
