The Position of Wild Life Preservation in West Africa

Extract

In any country the basic need for wild life preservation the education of the masses; and this is perhaps especially true of Africa, which has a shorter history of civilization than other continents. Vast sums are spent annually in West Africa on furthering general education, in building new schools and in improving and extending old ones. New universities spring up on all sides, which, like the schools, are full to overflowing with young students eager for knowledge; but though there are lessons in Nature Study, Zoology and Botany, these matters are all too often treated as mere exercises in learning with view to examination, and tend to concern themselves with the more obscure anatomical features of animals rather than their mode of life. Little emphasis is laid upon bringing home to the boys and girls, the young men and young women, the beauty and cultural value of the living scene around them: the animals, the birds, the trees, the flowers, and the importance of ensuring that the brave new world they are creating is not established in a dull and lifeless countryside. These boys and girls are the teachers and legislators of the not very distant future; ten years at the most will see them persons of considerable influence. It is they who in the States now coming into being will set the tune and engender the spirit which will colour the life of many generations to come. They should be made well-informed and interested in the natural world around them.