11/01/2026
Perhaps the most meaningful thing photography has done for me is inspire an appreciation of things I’d rarely given thought to before.
To be perfectly candid, it’s pretty easy to care about animals as adorable as this Red-necked Pandemelon. Yet, they’re ambassadors for so many other animals that don’t necessarily give us the fuzzy feelings of affection that compel and empathetic attitude.
Unfortunately, their existence isn’t enough to give pause to delinquents who’d rather a charred graveyard to a thriving (even if severely limited) natural world.
By sharing footage and images of wonderful creatures, I hope that more people will care, that we’ll have less roadkill, and people will worry about the ever decreasing space left for these animals.
I believe that if we can protect these animals more, it’ll be the beginning of a positive feedback cycle where their protection means their numbers grow, their spaces expand, and gradually people come into contact with them more often.
With each new person who experiences our ecological neighbours, I hope another empathetic door is opened, and yet another person who cares appears to bring these animals to the attention of their human neighbours, friends, and family.
Imagine how the world would change if an appreciation for nature truely permeated all of our society, from child, to student, to CEO.
I’m betting it would be a more beautiful world.
For now though, there are still people who will deliberately light fires in the pathetically meagre spaces that have been handed off to wildlife.
If you take into account what some of my friends like have seen, people will even attempt to eliminate survivors that spill into suburbia. Not from fear or misunderstanding; simply for sport.
If you can make one more person meaningfully include wildlife in their circle of empathy, please do. It’s one more person that could change the mind of yet another, and another.
The need is urgent.
