Disappointing

I am very disappointed in your Exmouth Journal article of January 13, ‘Heeding the Call of the Wild’, which was about East Devon Education Ranger James Chubb’s two-week trip to Namibia tracking leopards on game farms.

I have been reading Paul Theroux’s account of a canoe trip in the Pacific Ocean 20 years ago, in which he relates being questioned by Islanders about the dangers from what was then known as Global Warming. It is an illustration of how unwilling we are to face up to the issue that we see in your paper today, a double-page spread promoting exactly those energy-wasting activities that cause human-induced climate change.

I always read James’ column and considered him an intelligent observer of the natural world, but scientific opinion is that we are witnessing a great extinction of species as a result of human activity and, surely, he can work out that his expedition will have exacerbated climate change, which is as much a threat to wildlife as well as to humans.

Flying and driving 4WD vehicles (yes, that means Land Rovers!) are activities that must be reduced, not celebrated in the press!

From any other journalist, this article would have been regrettable, although not surprising, but from someone employed in the education field, it is indeed disappointing.

So, having had his ‘trip of a lifetime’, perhaps James would wish to set an example by reassuring us that he will not be flying again?

Adrian Toole

Exmouth.