ANIMALS IN DANGER
People have lived on our planet for many years. They lived and live on different continents in different countries. People depend on their planet, on the sun, on animals and plants around them. Today let's read and speak about some animals on our planet the Earth.
People have hunted and killed many tigers in India and a lot of elephants in Africa. Why?
Many animals and birds on the Earth are disappearing. Many of them are in danger.
Tigers and elephants are often dangerous animals. Tigers can kill cows, sheep, other domestic animals and sometimes they can also kill men. Some people are afraid of tigers and kill them to save their domestic animals and their lives. But some people have often hunted tigers for fun and for their beautiful skin.1 They can easily sell the skin and get a lot of money as the prices2 are high.
The result is very sad. There are few Indian tigers left on the Earth now. Many of them are old, sick animals. Most tigers don't hunt people nowadays, but hide from them in deep, dark forests. Or they rather hid there earlier, because there aren't many forests for tigers nowadays. People have cut3 down many trees. And the question is: "Have those animals got a future?" ш
We can ask the same question about African elephants. They are wonderful animals. They can help men. In the 19th century Africa was full of elephants. But these days there are not many of them except in African parks.
This is the sad story of Indian tigers and African elephants. But many less dangerous wild animals and birds are also disappearing from the Earth. Modern life is bad for them. The air is not fresh. The water is not clean. They don't often have good things to eat and space to live. You can find their names in the Red Book. You can find the names of some fish there too.
People must take special care of them.
We must save wild animals.
We must find the right balance between land, people and animals.
We must take care of nature.
April 22 is Earth Day. People all over the world think about our planet. They think about air, water, plants and animals on the Earth. They say our planet is in danger. Many people do
not know how to protect wild animals and plants, how to keep water clean and the air fresh. But they are ready to do it. They try and help nature.
Water is very important for life on Earth. It is in our oceans, seas, rivers and lakes. There is a lot of water on our planet and at the same time there is little water on it. This is because very little water on Earth is good for drinking. In many rivers and lakes the water is very dirty. Sometimes people cannot swim even in the sea because the sea and the seaside are not clean. In many places the water is not drinkable and it is dangerous to use it when you cook. Even fish die in such water.
For example Lake Baikal is the deepest freshwater lake on Earth. It is 1741 meters deep. The lake is very beautiful but now it is in great danger, because of the factories which are near it. In some places the water in the lake is so dirty that it kills the animals and plants in Baikal and around it.
The way people live has changed the climate on our planet. Nowadays the temperature is rising. You do not have real Russian winter in Moscow any more. In the north of Europe the climate has become milder and warmer too.
If the temperature grows by 3-4 degrees1 it will become more difficult to live on the planet.
