Greetings READER! Linking back to The Lorax, revised in an earlier post. We had to go about findig real world examples we could use to show which ever class we are teaching something that is tangible and relatable. It should be something that could tie in with The Lorax when used as a teaching tool in order to relay and ensure that the concept at hand is brought across clearly and well defined.
My "Real World example" stems from volunteering at a Private Game Reserve outside of Graaff-Reinet situated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The reserve has plenty of Game and is set in a beautiful location, but as the reserves main attractions are its cheetahs, trophy hunting kudu, game drives and two of the big five (rhino and buffalo) they do not make as much money as surrounding reserves owning a greater number of the animals that comprise the big five.
A brief History and context.
Previously the reserve formed part of land that was mainly sheep farmed, resulting in many areas being overgrazed and nearly impossible to rehabilitate. These areas have been left to recover with natural vegetation before animals were reintroduced.
Although kudu were still naturally present in the areas, eland (a potentially destructive grazer) was re-introduced. The initial eland population boomed and are threatening to revert the land back to its barren state. As other grazers such as rooi bok, oryx, sprinbok, plains zebra ect. are too dependent on the vegetation, their carrying capacities may be reached sooner.
This reserve also participates in the cheetah project, the possible introduction of bigger cats like lion and leopards will adversely affect the projects efforts of conserving cheetah. As these cats are known to kill cheetah and rob them of their kills. Though this is controversial as the reserve needs to remain open to conserve these cats, the bigger cats will simply provide a better financial backing. This is as tourists are eager to pay to see the bigger, popular cats.Which may cause a problem as the cheetah is an endangered cat and natural hunting populations are dwindling fast.
Another support for introducing bigger cats are their use to control the big populations of eland. This my prevent recapture and selling costs synonymous wit keeping population sizes in check. Other arguments for controlling populations size which may yield some form of income may be that of culling and trophy hunting. Though one needs to bare in mind that the average "America" is not going to want to go home with a mounted female eland! Instead he wants to hunt the big strong bull, so the suggestion is not that grounded. Bigger cats may also tend to hunt smaller prey and not the suggested eland exclusively. Which would encroach on the cheetah even further.
There was possible discussion of elephant introduction.The reserve has well concentrated areas of Acaccia karoo (food source) but not dense enough to support a population of elephant greater than 10 in an already water stressed region. The introduction of other big game has been suggested to attracted a greater number of visitors to the reserve. As these are the kinds of animals tourists, especially foreign tourists come to "Africa" to see. But with carrying capacities, food webs and other forms of species interactions there is no one approach that can be approached.
Thus if planning and the correct information are not weighed equally. The pros will outweigh the cons and vice versa depending on the approach and the desired outcome. Thus biodiversity present before can easily become absent, and no one truly knows the effect that removing a single species may have, as there are so many unseen's.
Hopefully the many possibilities a single action can put into motion can be understood by the learners. And that the how and the scale something affects the other can never truly be predicted.
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