International Tiger Day is an annual celebration to raise the awareness of tiger conservation. It’s held on 29 July. Governments and citizens across the world organize awareness programs on that day to spread the importance of protecting tigers.

From ancient times, tigers were the subject of constant attraction for their beauty, size and sometimes mythical stories related to them. People’s fascination (迷恋) for tigers is obvious from the fact that tigers are still a part of many national symbols and flags. Tigers are the largest cat species. Unfortunately, the population of tigers is fast decreasing. Every part of tigers from tail to skin to nail is traded in the illegal market for very high values. Many tigers are hunted, which is one of the key threats to their existence. They are also caught and raised as pets. 97 percent of the world tiger populations decreased in the last 100 years and only 3,890 tigers are left. If tigers get extinct, we will lose a species. And it also means that enough forests have been destroyed, which may endanger many other species.

For us, tigers are symbols of wildlife’s fighting for survival. It reminds us of the dangers we face because of people’s over-exploitation (过度开发) of the nature. It’s an opportunity as well. Many efforts are on the way to double the tiger population by 2024. Strict national and international laws are against hunting and trading tigers. As a result, the number of tigers in the wild has risen for the first time in more than 100 years. Even though this is just a small increase, it’s a huge symbolic victory in our efforts against the destruction of forests and wildlife. It’s very important that we all join together in this effort, not only to save tigers, but also to save our forests.

One night I received a Facebook message from Laura, a former classmate. “Hey Steve,” she said, “I know you’ve always been an animal lover. I’ve just had a baby and I can’t keep my mini pig.”

Being fond of animals, I knew I wanted the pig. I just had to figure out how to make it happen. I lived in a two-bedroom single-level house in Georgetwon, Ontario. It’s tough to bring a pig back to the house I share with two dogs, two cats, and my lifelong partner.

But I was not letting that pig go. So I told Laura I’d take the animal. When I got home with the pig, I hid her in the bedroom, and began to prepare a dinner for Alisha —her favourite bacon cheeseburgers. It’s better to make her happy before introducing the new member to her.

When I led her to the bedroom and showed her the surprise, Alisha stood in the doorway like a statue. It took her a few seconds to know what I had done. She complained about my unreasonable action. She insisted there was no more room in the house.

I knew I was wrong, but I hoped I could smooth things over. Soon enough, the lovely pig did the smoothing for me. Never had we felt such joy as she brought to us. We got her a name “Esther”.

Esther’s arrival changed our lives. A few weeks later, we decided to stop eating bacon. We figured it was our turn to try to change the world for other animals. A few months later, we moved to a farm where we cared for abandoned animals — so far, six rabbits, six goats, two sheep, one horse, three cows and three chickens.

A Wolf in Danger

What is happening to the timber wolf (森林狼) today?

Native Americans and early settlers often went to sleep to the sound of a lonely lullaby (催眠曲). It was the song of the wolf howling in a distant forest. There were many wolves then. One kind was the North American timber wolf.

Wolves are important to the balance of nature because they eat sick and weak animals. In Colorado, people tried to help deer by shooting wolves. But then there were so many deer that many of them starved to death.

The timber wolf is on the endangered special list . Animals on this list are in danger of disappearing from the earth. People drove the wolves away by cutting down the forests to build houses, towns, and highways. Timber wolves are now found only in Canada, Alaska, Michigan, and Minnesota.

This special animal may soon disappear from our forests forever. Then, its lonely howl will never be heard again.