Oliver recently returned from 6 weeks travelling and taking photos in Europe.Arriving back with over 40 rolls of films, and quite an array of photo's I was struck by this portfolio; of an Emu living in a metre of snow (without shelter), in a private zoo.
Those of you that know about Australian wildlife, are probably quite familiar with the conditions emus usually live in... i.e. NOT SNOW!
They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and you don't have to be a wildlife guru to see that this Emu is visibly distressed. Speaking with Oliver about this shoot, he also returned equally upset by the conditions he saw the Emu living in.
We thought we had to act, and raise some awareness... So one thing led to another, and we began talking to the people that are 'the animals' voice' in Australia.
Maryland Wilson, President of the Australian Wildlife Protection Council, and Pat O'Brien from the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia sent us some very interesting information. We started a dialogue as to how we can help, using our photos.
The same day the Sunday Herald Sun (an Australian national newspaper) contacted us to publish the photos, and journalist Adrian Tame got on board, and wrote a great article.
We thought how incredible the power of the photo and one little email was. But then all you have to do is look at the photo of the poor Emu to realise, bad news sells, and hopefully also helps Australia's precious wildlife living overseas.Early next month I am meeting with Pat, who is coming to Melbourne, to meet and discuss how we can work together using our wildlife photos to develop strategies and improve public awareness of wildlife issues.
Is seems that everyone we speak to has a few ideas, please post yours!
