World

NATURAL HISTORY/WILDLIFEMost respondents tended to take the same line, writingabout the danger to natural habitats and animals fromman. This theme was also discussed fully within theother groups when asked about wildlife programmes.Examples of this type of story were:EXAMPLE AReporter: Basically the biggest problem is the naturalhabitat. The elephants are large animals and humans arepushing them out further and further and they areactually going out into the mountains. Crocodiles areendangered species and they are still being used for ladieshandbags and shoes etc. The gorillas are exactly the samescenario and that goes back to all the factors of man thatdo all the damage. When we talk about the ozone layer,why are there more droughts now? It all goes back towhat man has done to the environment. All these things,the vegetation, elephants and gorillas are all effected byus. If we had left them alone we wouldn’t have thatproblem. (Low income, Bath)EXAMPLE BA number of different species of animals are now indanger of becoming extinct because of the destructionwrought by man. The removal of natural vegetation,forests, the effects of ozone depletion and the use ofanimals for food and luxury products have all meant thatanimals need to be properly protected. These species arean essential part of the earth’s eco-system. It up to us toensure that they are looked after in their naturalenvironments. (Retired, London)Another way of interpreting the pictures was used byone group who all remembered watching a programmeabout tigers in India (Land of the Tigers). While none ofthem could remember the name of the programme, theyall remembered that it had been about the impact of thetigers on villages. The local inhabitants were afraid of thetigers and some way had to be found to resolve thesituation before the tigers were all killed.EXAMPLE CNow a short item on the plight of local villagers in ruralIndia. In this area tigers are seen as being dangerous bythe local population. They come into the villages at nightlooking for food and have been known to kill humanbeings. The local population, while attempting to protectthemselves have started to capture and kill theseendangered animals. Animal protection groups havebeen called in to see what can be done about the situation.While they are aware of the threat to humans posed bythese animals, they are also very concerned to ensure thatno more animals get destroyed. A plan has been decidedon which involved high barriers being erected around thevillages which will keep the animals out. Localinterpreters have also been brought along to explain tothe villagers that they cannot kill the tigers and why. Let’shope it is successful. We’ll let you know how they get on inour next programme. (Ethnic minority, Afro-Caribbean, London)Other groups also discussed this programme whenasked whether they watched wildlife programmes. Anumber of respondents discussed Land of the Tiger inparticular, because it was seen as being ‘a really powerfulway of showing how animals and humans affect oneanother’ (Ethnic minority, London) and also that ‘itmade you want to watch to see what happened, youcouldn’t wait for the next programme to come on’.(Retired, London).Wildlife programmes were generally liked by themajority of the respondents. This cut across all of the agegroups. Some in the groups stated that these were theirfavourite type of programme:1st: I love them. Absolutely love them.2nd: I could eat them.3rd: I think the way they are done is excellent.1st: It is just seeing how they live.2nd: I think because we don’t see that type of thing. I justlove it. (Middle class, Glasgow)The reasons given for this were varied. For example,respondents said that they liked seeing animals in theirnatural habitats, and that these programmes, more thanany other, showed the effects of environmental damageor the impact of the destruction of species:You might see a programme dedicated to lions. They justsay about their hunting and the fact that sometimes theycan’t get things to eat. My colleague over there is right inwhat he is saying, I think humans are basically knockingeverything down just for beef cattle and things like that.These animals are really suffering. I think all in all theyare not really emphasising the fact because of the ozonelayer or because of man. Now and again you do getprogrammes and they do say that if it wasn’t for us theywould have a happier life. (Low income, Bath)A number of respondents also stated that it was theirlove of animals which meant that they enjoyed this typeof programme. There was a feeling within most of thegroups that wildlife programmes were well made andwere informative. There was also sense in whichDFID – July 2000 127