It can be overwhelming. Every media outlet you turn to – all the messages are negative. Crime, economy, natural disasters…so we shut down mentally.
At the zoo we talk about the struggle to preserve wildlife and wildlife habitat. People need to see what is going on in the world, but you need to see the positives as well.
In Rwanda, a team of field veterinarians are tending to the health of Mountain Gorillas. In Zimbabwe, education bush camps are teaching children to protect Painted Dogs. In Texas, the Houston Zoo and partners are reintroducing Attwater’s Prairie Chickens and Houston Toad back into native habitat. In Botswana, our partners at Cheetah Conservation Botswana are helping to protect the health of the communities’ domestic animals and working side-by-side to ensure the safety of their livestock. At the zoo, we recycle and reduce our landfill waste stream.
A colleague once said to me Human nature does not program us to be proactive until it is almost too late. Well that is dissapointing. What really matters is for everyone to do something positive, just one thing. What really matters is that one thing can ultimately lead to a larger chain of events.
Find one minute a day to step back and look around – have you ever just stopped to watch the birds or butterflies in your neighborhood? A recent poll found Houston #3 on the list of most stressful cities. We work too much, do not get outside enough (it’s hot, it’s humid, it’s buggy – I get it). But if you take a moment and find one minute a day to do that one simple positive thing – that is what really matters.
These are not your ordinary veterinarians, and they do make house calls – even if it takes trekking 6 hours up a mountian to get there…