Sheila’s Comments (group member since May 29, 2015)

Sheila’s comments from the Conversations with Chris Palmer group.

Ha! Since I read your first book, I find it difficult to watch those shows now! But if these networks can cover more of the muckraking social topics -- i.e., trafficking of wild animals, or what really happens at companies like Have Trunk Will Travel, that was taken to court by Animal Defenders International, or cover what really happens in the university labs that test on mammals -- dogs and apes, or do a piece on the palm oil plantations, and consequences both for the animals and for us, (i.e., how the rainforests provide essential carbon catch regions)-- I think any of these subjects would draw a huge audience and make the public more aware of the realities.

I think Discovery could generate a lot more compassion for sharks and their place on the planet if they could emphasize (in a big way) the impact that sharks have on the ocean ecosystems and the importance of healthy oceans to our own lives. Sharks are essential to the health of the oceans in numerous ways--not the least of which is that they maintain the balance of the food chain. What would happen if there were no sharks? Think, Yellowstone before the wolves were reintroduced in the 1990s - the elk population overgrazed their own food sources, which created an unwelcoming environment for other animal species, which, in turn, strengthened a cascade in which the park seriously deteriorated. In the case of sharks, the entire marine ecosystem would be thrown off balance, with important consequences for the planet and for all its inhabitants.