Rhinos and Chernobyl

Light up, light up

As if you have a choice

Even if you cannot hear my voice

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Helps on happiness; Run by Snow Patrol.

Do you ever get so depressed over the whole animal issue?

I was reading up on rhinos because I love them and it really struck me. I really bloody hate poachers. Apart from the White Rhinoceros which has been heavily protected in South Africa the 4 other species of rhino are in such small numbers, the worst off being the Javan Rhino, less than a hundred left in the world.

It is despicable that people poach them for Chinese herbal medicine :s Just leave them alone. Its all nonsense, and there's other things you can do to save lives. I don't believe in killing anyone even to save other lives. Its disgusting. Even worse is that people kill them for sport. I can't see the enjoyment in killing something, to be quite honest. Anybody who does should be locked up. Freaks.

I want to do something for them, but I really don't have any idea what I could do. People can tell you all about the facts and statistics, but you can't do anything yourself except give money, but well that's not very reliable is it. =/

These are the statistics for the rhino population:

White Rhinoceros = 17500

Black Rhinoceros = 4240

Indian Rhinoceros = 2620

Sumatran Rhinoceros = 200

Javan Rhinoceros = 50

This has just really got to me. Not quite sure why I started reading about it but yeah. Just felt it shouldn't be ignored.

And of course, this is the same all over the globe. Humans ruining everything that lives on the globe, apart from the pests - pigeons, house mice, rats.

I also happily stumbled upon the Chernobyl story. You may associate Chernobyl with being a deathzone, after the explosion of the nuclear reactor. Radiation was exposed to over 5 million people, affecting mostly Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

However, since the evacuation in 1986 of 135,000 people and 35,000 cattle, the complete lack of human presence has led to the Chernobyl area becoming a nature hotspot. The towns and villages have the look of a post-apocalyptic world, but in this nature has triumphed, clearly proving that without humans the world can bounce back easily in perhaps 20 years. And you have to remember that this happened after a major radioactive explosion.

Most of the animals have come back on their own accord to live in the odd paradise. There are signs of improving populations of lynxes, wild boars, wolves and even possibly a few bears in the area. The bird population has also rocketed; ironically, there are nests right next to the old nuclear reactor. =]

Here's some nature takeover photos:

A few wild Przewalski's horses were released into the zone. =]

So, in light of the nature explosion, on the evacuated Belarusian side of the border, the area has been made into a natural reserve. The Ukrainian side hasn't made it official; however, no humans will likely live there again for a long time, so I expect Chernobyl to really become a beautiful part of nature =] melding into the environment.

Moi