Listening test: Dogs

Listen to two friends talking about the fear of dogs one of them has. Choose the option A, B or C which best completes each sentence.

source: Podcast in English

1 Tricia chose to live in Jordan because
A. the dogs are not aggressive.
B. there are no dogs in the country.
C. there are very few dogs on the street.

2 Tricia has been afraid of dogs since
A. her family left England.
B. she moved to Asia.
C. she was eight or nine.

3 Africans keep dogs as
A. guard dogs.
B. pets.
C. working dogs.

4 Tricia clearly remembers
A. hearing the dogs in the distance.
B. the day she was attacked by a dog.
C. walking near the dogs.

5 When Tricia goes for a walk with her cousin in Britain, she feels
A. nervous even if the dogs are on the lead.
B. okay because the dogs are always on the lead.
C. terrified when the dogs are free.

6 Both Jackie and Tricia think dogs can
A. jump very high.
B. run very fast.
C. smell very well.

7 Jackie thinks the best think for Tricia to do is
A. lose her fear of dogs.
B. stay away from street dogs.
C. stay in Jordan.

I’m talking to Tricia, hi.
Hello, Jackie.
And Tricia works here in Jordan and I understand that she… one of the reasons she chose to work in Jordan is because there are very few dogs on the street, is that true Tricia?
It is, Jackie. It sounds a bit ridiculous but ever since I was a child I’ve had a fear of dogs, and so, perhaps, one of the reasons why I’m enjoying my time in Jordan is because there are so few dogs on the streets.
So what… what was it… what, what happened to make you frightened of dogs then?
It ’s… it ’s an interesting question. I think, very possibly my first experience or memory of dogs really is from when I was a child of about eight or nine. And my family were living in Southern Africa and a lot of families around the area where we lived kept dogs as guard dogs.
For security.
For security reasons, yes, and I have very vivid memories of, for example, walking home from school, you know, thinking about my day at school, thinking about going swimming in the afternoon and in my own little world and suddenly loud barking and ferocious, fierce dogs rushing to the gates of various gardens as I walked past . And I remember feeling terribly shocked and frightened. I mean, there was no way really, the dogs could get out of the gardens and attack me but I think it was just the… the surprise of the noise and the fierceness...
No, but that’s…
…of their faces.
Yeah, no that sounds horrible. So has… has this affected your adult life now?
In a way, I suppose it has because when I go home, when I visit the UK, one of the things I love to do is go walking.
Right.
And my cousin also loves walking but he insists on bringing his three dogs with him.
Right.
And that always, to an extent, spoils my enjoyment of…
Are the dogs, sorry, are the dogs on a lead?
They are, he’s… he’s always very careful about keeping them on a lead because he knows that I have this fear of dogs. He will occasionally let them off the lead, really hoping that they’ll sort of run into the fields and chase each other and enjoy being dogs but what tends to happen, strangely, is as soon as they’ re off the lead, they go for me.
They… they can smell, can’t they, that you’re afraid of them?
I think that’s right. I think dogs have a… a real capacity to sense and smell fear.
So you’ve come to Jordan where there are hardly any dogs but may be in a way, that’s actually not helping your… your fear, is it?
I should probably go and try, you know, get a job in a… in an animal hospice or…
Or I think you should go and live in Thailand, there are street dogs on every corner there.
It might be an interesting experience. Perhaps I’ll… take you up on that suggestion, Jackie, and learn how to overcome my fear of dogs.
Great, thanks a lot Tricia.
Thanks, Jackie.

KEY: 
1C 2C 3A 4B 5C 6C 7A

Extensive listening –Why bees are disappearing

Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse?

Bees pollinate a third of our food supply, they don’t just make honey!, but colonies have been disappearing at alarming rates in many parts of the world due to the accumulated effects of parasitic mites, viral and bacterial diseases, and exposure to pesticides and herbicides.

Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota professor of entomology and 2010 MacArthur Fellow, tries as much as possible to think like bees in her work to protect them. They’re “highly social and complex” creatures, she says, which fuels her interest and her research.

Spivak has developed a strain of bees, the Minnesota Hygienic line, that can detect when pupae are infected and kick them out of the nest, saving the rest of the hive. Now, Spivak is studying how bees collect propolis, or tree resins, in their hives to keep out dirt and microbes. She is also analyzing how flowers’ decline due to herbicides, pesticides and crop monoculture affect bees’ numbers and diversity. Spivak has been stung by thousands of bees in the course of her work.

You can read a full transcript of the talk here.

The granny who lives with two bears and a tiger

A 62-year-old Texan grandmother shares her life with three unconventional pets - two bears and a tiger.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.



1 What does Bonnie Heart do for a living?
2 How did Bonnie get Anushka, the tiger?
3 How much does she spend on the animals every month?
4 What kind of food do the bears enjoy the most?
5 What weapons does she have to protect herself in case of an attack?
6 Who’s allowed to see and interact with the animals?
7 What are the benefits of owning and looking after animals for Bonnie?

Well, let’s put it this way. They are exotics, they are dangerous animals.
62-year-old truck driver Bonnie Heart keeps two grizzly bears and a white tiger in her back garden. With a combined weight of over 600 pounds, Pebbles and Bam-Bam have lived with Bonnie since they were cubs, and if that wasn’t enough, six-year-old white Bengal tiger, Anushka, lives in the pen next door.
These bears have been around a lot of people. They don’t know tricks, they don’t know to sit, lay down, stand-up on a box. But you can get in there, you can love on them and you can pat them and I’ve socialised them a lot. Me and Anushka are, you know, I’m momma and she is baby. And, I mean, I can hand feed her, I can pet her, I can do whatever I want with her.
Anushka was given to Bonnie as a gift, when she was just a cub. But surprisingly, it was her dog that one day brought the two bears into her home.
And I’m sitting on the porch, drinking coffee one morning, and I look out there by the pond, and here comes my black dog, just trotting, little trot, going across, and right him is two little black things following him. And I thought they were other dogs, and as they got closer, I went holy-moly, they are bears.
Looking after these animals is an expensive business.
You’re looking at probably $1,000-1,500 more a month, just to feed these animals. I feed her probably between 14 and 20 pounds a day and she eats beef, pork, chicken, stuff like that.
There you go. You want it? There you go. Feed the bear.
These bears, I’ve tried, I’ve tried fish, I’ve tried salmon. They don’t want it. They want their berries, their watermelons, their cantaloupe, their candy. They love cookies, marshmallows, they love anything that is sweet and they will almost mug you for honey.
Despite her close relationship with the animals, Bonnie has always been aware of just how dangerous they could be.
I have tranquilliser guns, so we can tranquillise them if we have to. Nobody is going to get hurt, not unless you just climb into the pen and be stupid. Pebbles can get a little cantankerous at times, and she’d slap me with her claws and has bit at me a couple of times, but nothing like attack me. I have the taser, I only have that if I’m out here by myself and I can’t get help.
Bonnie also lets her grandchildren interact with them.
I think it’s a little bit crazy that she likes having tigers and bears.
I think it’s really cool, I mean it’s definitely a different experience. Bears are my favourite animal, like overall. I don’t go in the tiger pen, because, you know, it’s a tiger.
Bonnie regularly has people over to see her animals.
My neighbours, the love it. They bring their families over.
But if someone tried to take them away, it would be a very different story.
I would shoot them.
Point blank?
Point blank! Come on my property and try to take my animals, I don’t care if it’s tigers, bears, horses or dogs. Somebody is gonna get shot. There isn’t one out here that I don’t care for. It has changed me. I mean, I’ve been doing this since I was a little girl. It makes you have responsibility, it makes you realise that life is precious, and you should enjoy every moment of it.

Key:
1 She’s a truck driver
2 It was a present
3 Between $1,000 and $1,500
4 Anything sweet, especially honey
5 Tranquilliser guns and a taser
6 Everybody, family (grandchildren, neighbours and their families
7 It makes you have responsibility, it makes you realise that life is precious, and you should enjoy every moment of it.

Talking point: Pets

This week's talking point is pets. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

Look at the photo and discuss the questions.
Why do you think the prisoners were given a dog?
Do you think letting prisoners look after dogs is a good idea? Why (not)?
For what other groups of people can having a pet be specially beneficial?

Have you ever had a pet? If so, what and why?
If not, why not?
What are some of the problems of having a pet?
And the benefits?
What kinds of problems can pets cause to people other than their owners?
What is the law in your country about…?
-having the dog on a lease/with a muzzle on in public places
-pets travelling on public transport
-dog mess on the street

Do you know anyone who is afraid of dogs or cats?
Which of the animals below do you like? Why?
Are you scared of any of these animals? Why?
Would any of them make good pets?

squirrel

lizard

eagle

cockcroach

crow

wolf

wild pig

rat

mouse

budgie

Have you ever been attacked by an animal?
What pet charities do you know? What is their job?
Would you be willing to volunteer and lend a hand?

Extinction warning for Africa's rhinos

Africa's rhino population could face extinction, animal welfare experts warn.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.



1. How many rhinos are illegally killed in South Africa daily?
2. What are the horns used for?
3. When could rhinos be extinct if the situation doesn't change?
4. What are private rhino owners setting up to deal with the problem?
5. What sex are the members of the team?
6. How does the anti-poaching team raise awareness about the importance of wildlife conservation?
7. When was rhino orphanage opened?

Another brutal year for the rhino population. The onslaught has taken a turn for the worst and authorities are struggling to contain the carnage. There is no indication that rhino poaching is under control here. At least one rhino is killed by poachers here in South Africa every day. And that has devastating effects on their population.
One private game farmer lost six rhinos in just the last three years. The animals were slaughtered for their horns, which are used in traditional Asian medicine and regarded as a status symbol. The horn is worth more than the animal, even more than an ounce of gold, and there are fears that the rhino could be extinct within ten years.
I think there is a very real chance that the only place our children will see a rhino is in a zoo. Unless something changes quite dramatically. And that, unfortunately…, you know, all the efforts that are on the table now from demand reduction to better global law enforcement to community projects, are long-term projects, these are not things that can be solved overnight. There are no easy answers, there are no easy solutions.
Private rhino owners are setting up security groups to tackle the problem. The Black Mambas anti-poaching unit is an all-female team which patrols private game reserves.
So barely an hour patrolling with the Black Mambas and we have already come across snares, which are traps that have been set up by poachers. This may be a small group for now, but it is hoped that their eyes and ears will play a powerful role in anti-rhino poaching.
What I'm here to teach you about is...
The anti-poaching team visits schools to teach children about wildlife conservation in the hope that the next generation will take conservation seriously for the sake of the environment and the economy.
The most vulnerable victims of poaching are rhino calves. Many of them are taken to a rhino orphanage which was opened three years ago. Humans play their surrogate parents. The calves which have been brought here usually witnessed their mothers being slaughtered by poachers.
They all come in very traumatised, very shaken up, they have lost their mothers, they’ve been betrayed by our species, humans, and now we have to work to gain that trust back.
Three-month-old Gavello sets out on his morning walk with the one person that he trusts. For now, he is protected, but once released back into the wild, his safety is not guaranteed.

Key:
1. one
2. for traditional medicine and as a status symbol
3. in ten years 
4. security groups 
5. female
6. by visiting schools 
7. three years ago

Reading test: For the first time in a century wild tiger numbers go up

In this week's reading test we are going to practise the 'insert the word' kind of task. To do so, we are going to use the Huffington Post article For the first time in a century wild tiger numbers go up.

Read the text and choose the word (A to O) which best fits in gaps 1 to 10. Four of the words are not needed. 0 has been completed as an example.

For the first time in a century wild tiger numbers go up

For wild tigers, the numbers have not been kind.
In 1900, an (0) … 100,000 tigers wandered about free on our planet. Yet within a hundred years, that number gone down by more than 95 percent — the result of uncontrolled poaching and (1) … habitat loss.
But it seems the tide may finally be (2) … for the majestic cat. On Sunday, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced that wild tiger numbers were on the (3) … for the first time in over a century.
There are now about 3,890 tigers in the wild, up from about 3,200 in 2010, said WWF, citing national tiger survey numbers.
The increase could partly be attributed to growing tiger populations in India, Russia, Nepal and Bhutan as well as better protection of the (4) … species globally, the organization said. The improved count could also be the result of other factors, (5) … better survey methods.
(6) … still cautious, conservationists regarded the new global count as a positive (7) … forward for the world’s tigers.
“More important (8) … the absolute numbers is the trend, and we’re seeing the trend going in the right direction,” Ginette Hemley, WWF’s senior vice president of wildlife conservation, said.
Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF, added in a statement: “We’ve watched tigers (9) … for decades and have dreamed of bending that curve in the other direction. In a sea of bad news on the environment we are (10) … significant progress on one of the greatest comeback stories in conservation.”


A - as
B - decline
C - doing
D - endangered
E - estimated 0 Example
F - increase
G - like
H - making
I - rise
J - step
K - than
L - that
M - turning
N - while
O - widespread

Photo: AlexTurton via Getty Images

KEY:
1O 2M 3I 4D 5G 6N 7J 8K 9B 10H

Dog Whisperer Trainer Walks Pack Of Dogs Without A Leash

Augusto de Oliveira can walk huge groups of unleashed German Shepherd dogs. The dog trainer, 23, is a web sensation and turns heads wherever he goes.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.



1 What is Augusto doing differently today?
2 Where did Augusto grow up?
3 What does Augusto have, according to Cynthia?
4 Why does Augsuto walk the dogs on their leash at first?
5 What does the woman say about her own two dogs?
 

Leader of the pack Augusto de Oliveira became an internet star after uploading this video of himself walking unleashed dogs through a quiet town, showing an amazing bond with his animals. But today, he's raising the stakes by attempting to repeat the feat on busy city streets.
Augusto grew up on a farm in Brazil with dozens of dogs and he learned from a young age to communicate with them. Today he lives, breathes and even sleeps with his pack, as part of his work, running Griffin Shepherd Kennels.
My dogs know me as part of the pack. I spend a lot of time with them.  I feed them, I let them out, I exercise them. I do everything with them.
Augusto’s landlady, Cynthia, is amazed by what she sees every day.
I believe Augusto has a gift, and his dogs, all dogs, not only his, respond amazingly to Augusto.
To test his training, Augusto has decided to try the unleashed pack walking in a busy environment the dogs aren’t used to.
Today I’m taking my pack for a walk in Boston, Massachusetts. I have Hannah, Jenner, Harmony, Griffin, Brazil and Savannah today. I start with my dogs on the leash, get them used to the position they have to walk in and to stay by my side before I start to let them off-leash.
And then, one by one, Augusto lets the dogs off their leash, keeping each one under control in a distracting environment.
And as they can see they have to remain the same position unless I change them.
Eventually, all six German shepherds successfully walk into Hill and the dogs are proving a big hit with the Bostonians.
I would love to have a dog as well behaved as those. I have two dogs that are horribly behaved and this would be amazing but I don't think I can ever replicate what he does. You can tell that these dogs are amazingly well trained, they’re calm, he has complete control of them.
I love spending time with my dogs. I just feel like there's so much I can do with them, I can spend time training them. I can spend time just taking them places. I can spend time playing with them. I never get tired of it.
After a hard day's work, the pack grabbed the first chance they can for a well-earned nap.
Dogs they had fun?
Yeah, they’re all tired, as you can see.
Time for bed!
Key:
1 Walking with his dogs in busy streets. 
2 On a farm in Brazil.
3 A gift
4 To get them used to the position they have to walk in
5 They are horribly behaved

Woman shares her home with cats

Lynea Lattanzio has given up her large home to more than a thousand felines. 

Self-study activity:
Watch the video clip and answer the questions below.



1 How many cats has Lynea lived with throughout her life?
2 How many cats are currently living in her home?
3 How big is the house where the cats live?
4 When did she discover her love for cats?
5 What did she do to help keep the animals’ medical costs down?
6 What is the cost of running the cat sanctuary?
7 How often does the vet visit the sanctuary?
8 How did Lynea manage to expand the grounds for the sanctuary?
9 What's Lynea's main aim?

I’m gonna say that I am at the top of the list of the eccentric crazy cat ladies.
I like cats because they are independent, they are beautiful, they are just graceful, and I enjoy watching them. I have taken in and lived with 28,000 cats. That’s probably a record.
The Cat House on the Kings is California’s largest no-cage sanctuary for feral and abandoned cats. Founded by Lynea Lattanzio in her home, the sanctuary currently houses around 800 adult cats and 300 kittens, and the sheer numbers have forced Lynea to move out of the main house.
This is my boy.
There wasn’t a room for me anymore. I ended up with 60-something cats in my bedroom, with dogs, and I just said that’s it, and I moved out. We had a rental on our property, and I moved to that rental. I went from 4,200-square-foot 5-bedroom home with a pool, and a wet bar and a view of the river to a 1,600-1,800 sq foot mobile home with a view of a rusty metal shed. I’ve come up in the world. This is my cat free zone. Ha! Ha!
In 1992, Lynea’s father had asked her to help him find some new cats. She went to an animal shelter and brought home 15 kittens. By the end of the year, she’d rescued and re-homed 96 cats. It was then that she realised she’d found her calling.
When I first started this endeavour, I was out of my own pocket for seven years. I spent my retirement, I sold my car, I sold my wedding ring.
He is so fat.
In 1993, she became a veterinary technician to help keep the animals’ medical costs down, and the number of cats continue to grow. The sanctuary is now so big that Lynea has staff and a team of volunteers to help run it.
Currently for food, litter, maintenance, staffing, vet, medical, we are at 1.6 million US dollars a year.
We come in about 4 o’clock in the morning and, you know, we start by feeding. It usually takes us, like maybe like thirty minutes to an hour to feed everyone.
I first started here, I wasn’t really a cat person but after that, you know, you work with them five days a week, you get attached to them. Everybody has different characteristics, and you get to know them, and they get to know you. They kind of wait for you when you walk in the gate. It’s pretty cool, man.
This is our ICU. We have a hospital and an ICU, a kitten quarantine, a senior quarantine, but that is where our critically ill cats stay. We have a vet that comes once a week to check our animals. We take animals into him every day for check. And we have seven vet techs on staff.
When a generous donor left Lynea her estate in 2004, the profits from the sale allowed her to buy the neighbouring land and expand the grounds to twelve acres and install cat-proof fencing around the perimeter, meaning all the cats could roam freely.
See, under the trees, all those are cats over there. There is one on the straw. There is, that’s their feeding station, and their bedding, and their heater back there but, see there is a cat over there.
As much as Lynea loves the cats, her aim is to find them new homes; not to keep them for herself.
If you are interested in adopting, you would go to our website and fill out the adoption form. There is five hundred up for adoption that are friendly and ready to go.
I must be allergic to cats.
Bless you.
Thank you.

Key:
1 28,000
2 1,100
3 4,200-square-foot 5-bedroom home
4 In 1992, when her father asked her to find new cats
5 She became a veterinary technician 
6 1.6 million US dollars a year
7 Once a week 
8 Thanks to a generous donor, who left Lynea her estate in 2004
9 To find new homes for the cats

Heather Sandford: Farmer Brings Home The Bacon

Heather Sandford is growing a sustainable business that raises and "harvests" animals respectfully.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.



1 Heather Sandford has loved meat all her life.
2 Animal raising runs in the blood for Heather.
3 Heather has a degree in biotechnology.
4 Heather and her husband have been an item since college days.
5 Heather gave up smoking when she started growing things in San Francisco.
6 Heather compares animal raising to vegetable growing.
7 Heather and her husband have expanded their business.
8 Paperwork is an ordeal.
9 The good thing about the business is that they are making a fortune.

Are you being a rock star, huh? You showing everyone how cute you are?
I was a vegetarian for 17 years and I was vegan for a while. So it’s been kind of a full circle process for me, but I know that my animals have a good and positive, like, life cycle. And I know people are gonna eat meat, regardless if I close shop tomorrow. And I at least would like people to have the option to buy, you know, meat that was well respected and well cared for.
We are self-taught farmers and we're self-taught butchers. We made a lot of mistakes. It's interesting 'cause we know exactly how to farm now. And we also know, like, how we can get better and we're always working on it.
Yeah? Where are they?
When I was growing up, I did not wanna be a farmer at all. I did go to Cornell and I graduated with a bioengineering degree. And at that time, I still didn't have any inclination that I was gonna be a farmer. I was actually really interested in music.
What I really need is Andrew to give us more beans.
I met my husband Brad my senior year at college. We were friends for a very long time before we started dating. And we're still good friends now.
Brad and I started going to the farmers’ markets. We started growing things in the back of this little cottage we rented outside of San Francisco. We started smoking our own meat. We started like, breaking down our own animals.
We were truly just interested in moving back here and homesteading. In that process in the first two years, we found out that we loved pigs. They're smart. They're cute, you know, we can pet 'em.
This is really nice. This is the stuff that Brad found on Craigslist.
We all fit together in this like, little ecosystem on the farm. You know, I care for these animals, we grow them up just like you plant corn, just like you plant vegetables and at some point you're harvesting it for nutrition. We can talk about they go to slaughter, we kill them, but you know, we are harvesting them for — for protein.
This turkey I’m really excited about. I think that’s coming really well.
Me too. GreenStar wants some yesterday.
GreenStar wants it yesterday?
The margins in farming and meat cutting are just whisper thin so we had to work really hard to try to figure out how to cut the carcass every week.
The Irish bacon turned out really well.
The Irish bacon looks nice.
It’s not just the tenderloin, it’s not just the porkchop, and if you’re gonna sell the animal you have to sell the rendered lard, you have to sell the pork cheeks if you can.
Uh, this is our, our, our ham, our deli slice ham we make, and on the far side is actually our bologna, um, and our pâté over there.
Ooh, that looks nice.
We wanted to look at building our business out a little bit further for higher volume and to go into the wholesale market so we could stay in business long term and be a sustainable business.
That was quite a big change. A lot of refrigeration. A lot of new equipment that we needed to enter the marketplace and stuff and also build out our new retail room. So there’s so many challenges, so many late nights, so many long hours.
It feels really good now that we've kinda re-launched, and we just got our USDA license. That is a gigantic deal. It's very dense, the amount of, like, paperwork and things that you do need to do to keep your license active. So I have an inspector at my shop every single day, you know. He looks at our facility, to control any possible contaminations or issues. It's very, very intense. We have to be good every day. Every day we have to be good.
Farmers have so many challenges against them and to overcome them over — all the time is — kind of remarkable. All of us joke like, why do we do this? This is crazy. It's hard, it's long hours, none of us make any money. You know. But it's a labor of love.
Hi! Thank you so much for letting us come and see you. I really appreciate it.

Key:
1F 2F 3F 4F 5F 6T 7T 8T 9F

Listening test: Bangladesh

In this week's listening test we are going to practise the kind of multiple choice sort of task.

Listen to a girl talking about her holiday in Bangladesh and choose the option A, B or C which best completes the sentences below.



1 When the girl visited Bangladesh
A not many people used to go there.
B there were no tourists whatsoever.
C the place was already a popular tourist destination.

2 She wanted to visit Bangladesh
A and she went there with another friend.
B to admire the wildlife.
C to see the famous forests.

3 The girl stayed at the hotel because
A it was a holiday and everything was closed.
B she didn’t feel like going out.
C women aren’t allowed out on Fridays in Muslim countries.

4 The guide they finally managed to find
A took them to his private villa by boat.
B was a guest at the hotel.
C was the owner of a travel agency.

5 While they were on the boat the girl
A changed her mind about what she really wanted to do.
B got frightened of the mangrove trees.
C got sick.

6 On the boat ride the girls
A could see a tiger swimming.
B didn’t see any wildlife.
C sang non-stop.

So, my first question is where did you go?
Well, I was backpacking through Asia, so the story takes place in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh. That's a really cool place to visit I'm sure.
Yup. It is. And their tourist slogan is actually “come before the tourists come.”
So you got in there before the rest of the tourists?
Exactly. It was a really cool experience because there weren't a lot of tourists and people were really curious and really friendly.
That's awesome. So what did you do while you were there?
Well, actually the reason we picked to go to Bangladesh was ‘cause we wanted to go see a Bengali tiger in the Sundaraban Forest.
Wow. Yeah, that would be amazing.
Yup. I've been obsessed with tigers since I was a kid, and I thought this is the perfect opportunity.
OK. So you went to go see the tiger. How were you going to see the tiger? You weren't just going to walk into the forest by yourself.
That's the funny story because we arrived, and we were four. But two of us weren't feeling well. I was just sick, and I didn't wanna go look for a tour guide. So I stayed in the hotel lobby all day with my friend, and our other two friends went looking for a tour guide. They went to all these different tourist offices and other hotels to try to find a guide. But what we didn't plan for was first it was Friday, so most of the offices were closed.
Really? On a Friday?
Yup. Bangladesh is a Muslim country and so they take Friday as their day of rest.
OK. I see.
And also it was some sort of national holiday for the next couple of days, so we couldn't find any tour guides.
Oh yeah. That would be really hard to book a trip during that time.
Yes. But the lucky thing was that because we were feeling sick and we were hanging out in the hotel lobby all day, we kinda became friends with the staff there. And they found out what we were doing and what we were trying to find, and they hooked us up with a tour guide.
Wow. That's great.
Yeah. It was really cool. It was actually the owner of the hotel who has a tour agency on the side, and he took us to his private villa where had a boat that took us to the Sundaraban Forest.
Wow. It's crazy that that hook up happened. That's very convenient.
Yeah. It was completely by chance, but it was such an amazing experience because we went to this beautiful home in a small village, and we actually got to go meet a lot of the villagers. And then we took this small boat, and we went deep into the forest. And I have to be honest though, once we got into the Sundaraban Forest, it's got the mangrove trees, which have their roots in the water, so you’re…
Yeah. I was just going to ask. I was a little bit confused. You were taking a boat into the forest. How does that work?
It's beautiful. I'll try to post a picture with this episode. But basically it's the mangrove trees that their roots go into the water. So you're going in this boat through these small passageways with big trees, and you're really close and it's small passages, and I started singing because I didn't want to see a tiger.
You didn't want to see a tiger?
I got scared. I didn't realize how close you were to the trees and how close a tiger really could be to you.
Yeah. And do these tigers swim? Could it come up to the boat? I guess tigers do swim, don't they?
They do. And they could have come, so we got a bit scared by talking to some of the villagers, so we sang a bit during the boat ride.
I'm curious, what song did you sing? Do you remember?
We actually sang “Oh Canada” over and over again because we couldn't think of the words to any other song.
That's hilarious. OK. Good. So in the end, did you see a tiger?
No. But it was still an amazing experience, and the Sundaraban Forest is absolutely amazing. So beautiful.
Did you see any other animals?
We saw a couple of different birds, but I don't remember the names of any of them.
OK. Cool. That's a great story. That's sounds like a really interesting experience.
It was amazing and one of my favourite travel stories.
Cool. All right. Good, well thanks for sharing with us.

KEY:
1A 2B 3B 4C 5A 6C

Extensive listening: Cats v Dogs Which is Best

Cats v Dogs Which is Best is a two-episode BBC documentary series.
Based at one of Britain's largest cat and dog veterinary centres, reporters Chris Packham and Liz Bonnin test different aspects of each animal in different rounds.

Round one begins with intelligence as Chris and Liz find out whether either species can understand numbers.
In Vienna, Chris is astonished to discover that dogs can discriminate between higher and lower numbers of dots and in a UK first, Liz tries out the test on cats with surprising results.
Round two tests their sensory powers to work out which animal has the better vision, sense of smell and hearing. Our cats and dogs have to negotiate a maze in the dark, but which one will find their way through in the fastest time? Chris challenges top sniffer dog Boris to find him in a distracting busy city and discover which species has the widest range of hearing.
The final round looks at whether cats or dogs are the most physically agile by testing which can jump the highest, which is the fastest sprinter and which the best endurance runner. With so many groundbreaking tests, who will be in the lead at the end of episode one?
On their search for answers, Chris comes face to face with a pack of wolves, whilst Liz confronts an Arabian wild cat to discover how the relationships between cats and dogs and humans have evolved. Together, they put our favourite pets under the microscope to see what really makes them tick and crucially, how they compare with each other.

Bella and her Great Dane George

The story of Bella went viral some weeks ago.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and complete the blanks in the transcript.



Meet Bella and George. Bella is (1) ... and a fifth grade, 43 lbs. George a Great Dane (2) ... lbs.
He acts really small. He acts smaller than he actually is.
Bella was diagnosed with Morquio Syndrome when she was 2 ½, a rare genetic disease that attacks the (3) ... . There is no cure.  Before George, Bella couldn’t walk on her own, she relied on crutches or a (4) ... , but this year that all changed because Bella met George at the Service Dog Project in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The connection, immediate. Since getting George, Bella has put away her crutches. He helps her get from class to class on her own.
How you doing, Bell?
Good!
Good.
She gets to her desk and he gets some (5) ... .
When I had crutches I couldn’t walk at all but now I can.
Even at lunch he’s right beneath her. Then it’s off to gym as he guides her through those (6) ...   ... .
Oh he helps me walk. I lean on him like a crutch.
Sledding last winter. (7) ...   ... in the spring. Vacation at the beach.
I think it’s given her more energy and more (8) ... .
And every night it’s bed time together before they do it all again.

Key:
1 eleven 2 131 3 bones 4 wheelchair 5 sleep 6 gym doors 7 Bike riding 8 strength

A giant panda gives birth to twins in Washington Zoo

Giant panda Mei Xiang has given birth to a pair of cubs at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington.

Self-study acvtivity:
Watch this short news clip and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 1 and Intermdiate 2 students.



1 What time was the first cub born?
2 And the second one?
3 Where was one cub placed after the birth of the second panda?
4 What happened in 2005 and 2013?
5 What are the names of the new-borns?
6 How many giant pandas live in the wild?


Double the panda cuteness. Giant panda Mei Xiang has given birth to a pair of cubs at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington.
Mei gave birth to (1) her first cub at 5:34 p.m. after her waters broke about an hour beforehand. And about four and one-half hours later, (2) at 10:07 p.m., a second cub arrived and both appear to be healthy.
Zoo officials said Mei picked up the cub soon after giving birth and is being "a great mother". After the second surprise birth, one cub was placed (3) in an incubator in line with protocol when twins are born.
(4) Mei has previously given birth to two surviving cubs: Tai Shan in 2005 and Bao Bao in 2013. She was artificially inseminated with frozen sperm from a panda in China, and fresh sperm from the National Zoo's male panda. The gender of the cubs and which of the sperm donors is the father will be determined later.  (5) No decision has yet been made yet about naming the cubs.
With a very low reproductive rate, particularly in captivity, panda's natural home is in a few mountain ranges in central China. There are (6) around 1,600 giant pandas known to be living in the wild and some 300 in captivity, mostly in China.

10 Questions for Ingrid Newkirk

Ingrid Newkirk is the co-founder and president of PETA, the world's largest animal-rights organization. She answers questions from Time magazine readers in this interview.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false. The activity is suitble for Advanced students.

Note:
In the course of the interview the name Michael Vick comes up. Michael Vick was a quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons football team, who was discovered to have a dog fighting ring with over seventy dogs, some of which showed signs of injuries. The case drew publicity to the issues of animal abuse and dog fighting. It also drew attention to unlawful gambling and drug activities which authorities claim often accompany dog fighting.



1 Our diet makes a great difference to animals.
2 PETA advocates for human milk to be used in the making of ice-cream.
3 Michael Vick feels sorry for what he did.
4 Ingrid claims that people at PETA have a good time doing their job.
5 Not all PETA members agree with the campaigns.
6 Baboons and pigs are still used by car manufacterers in car-crash tests.
7 PETA approves of both cloning animals for meat and using an in-vitro technique to get meat.
8 In-vitro meat is healthier.
9 Some people have a wrong idea about PETA.


I’m Albert Cruz here for Time.com and we’re here with Ingrid Newkirk, president and co-founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of animals, otherwise known as PETA. Ingrid has a new book coming out called One Can Make a Difference, and she’s here to answer questions from Time readers. Thank you for being with us today.
My pleasure.
Our first questions is from James Dodds in Katonah, New York, and James asks, is there an effective, fairly simple way that people can help animals in their everyday lives?
Everybody can make a difference. If you just change to one vegetarian day a week, that’s a wonderful step that will save animals’ lives. If you just choose clothing that isn’t made from animals, that makes a difference. There are alternatives to dissection if you’re in school or you have a child in school, so yes, you can just choose one thing and that one thing means the world. It means you’ve chosen something kind instead of something cruel. That’s fanastic.
PETA recently tried to advocate for the use of human breast milk in Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream as opposed to cow milk, and Erica Cole from Westford, Massachusetts asks that… or she says that doesn’t seem very feasible. What was the point of this…?
It isn’t feasible at all, but it’s great fun to suggest that the Ben and Jerry’s, who also knew it was a joke. But the thing that was serious is that television stations listened to why we said that making anything out of cow’s milk is unkind, and that’s because they take the calves away from their loving mothers when they’re just a few hours old, winch them away with a chain and a tractor and put them in a stall for veal. We drink the milk that’s meant for those little calves and as a result those little calves suffer greatly. So we were very glad when people started to come to the website, watch the footage and actually show the footage on television.
Bobby Mullins from Norfolk, Virginia, asks if you think that the punishment that Michael Vick received was fair.
I can’t really comment on the punishment. I do… have spoken to Michael and I do know that he’s contrite. And I still talk to him. He came to our office, he didn’t have to, it wasn’t going to get him anywhere with the judge and I told him that and I told the judge that, and he attended an empathy class. And I do believe that he learned a lot about dogs and other animals that no one had ever shown him as he grew up. And his eyes were opened, and I believe when we see him emerge that he’s going to have strong message for inner city youth, for anyone who’s dog-fighting, that that was not the way to go.
Sidney Jorgenson from Ridgefield, Connecticut, has a question about fun versus seriousness. He wants to know if you ever have fun fighting for animals’ rights.
Oh, Sydney, come and look at our website, peta.org. At the moment, we are repositioning fish as sea kittens so that children will wonder why it’s all right to eat them. But, of course, at the heart of it, it’s a very sad situation for animals. But yes, we would all probably have jumped off a ledge if we hadn’t had fun along the way.
Max Wilson from Seattle has a question about some of the campaigns that you were on, and he wants to know if you think any of them have been counterproductive.
I don’t think so. Honestly, I think that they haven’t… they may have caused many of our members to leave us and they may have caused people to dislike us, but we’re not here to win a popularity contest. We’re here to get people to find out the facts about various ways in which animals suffer and the choices they have to make. Because when you rile people up, when you antagonise people, they have to come and look for more, and that’s when they think, oh, maybe these people have a point.
Laura Sanders from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and she wants to know what you would say has been PETA’s greatest victory for animals to date.
It’s probably the most intangible, which is changing people’s outlook and putting animals’ rights on the map. But really I look back on things like stopping car-crash tests on baboons and pigs. Whenever you see the mannequins on TV, think PETA. We stopped all the car companies in the world from car tests on animals. They were crude, they were cruel, didn’t need them.
We do have a question here from Eric Myers from Scranton, Pennsylvania, who wants to know what PETA standing on cloning animals for food or in-vitro meat is.
Well, cloning animals for meat is just rubbish. The animals suffer greatly in the cloning process and who wants it anyway? We’re all suspect of it. But we do… We have offered one-million-dollar reward for the first scientist to come up with in-vitro, which is tissue-culture meat. And that will mean you take just a couple of cells from animals and you grow meat in a laboratory. And that process has already begun. The first conference has taken place. And if someone can market it by 2012, the first in-vitro chicken, it will taste and look and have texture like chicken, then we’ll give them a million dollars.
So you would be able to grow a steak in a dish without having to kill an animal?
There will be lines and lines of dishes, and you can eliminate diseases like salmonella and campylobacter because you’re growing it in culture. You can make it clean meat. So there’s no suffering, no disease. You can even make sure that the cholesterol level is reduced.
Will in-vitro meat even come close to approximating the taste of a good sirloin or…?
There is no reason to believe that with our scientific prowess today, that we can’t a meat that if you want it to taste exactly like the decomposing corpse of a small tortured animal.
What would you say is the biggest misconception that people have about PETA?
I think they think that we want to give dogs the right to vote or giraffes the right to ride a car or something. I’m not really sure why they’re so upset when all we’re asking for is consideration for the basic interests of animals. Animals don’t need very much. They need a little air. They need fresh water. They need patience and understanding. They need some nutritious food. Well, they need to be left alone in peace. Is that really too much to ask?

Key:
1T 2F 3T 4T 5T 6F 7F 8T 9T

A Chinese woman has saved over 3,000 dogs from being killed for food

Renowned Chinese dog rights activist Yang Xiaoyun has saved thousands of dogs from the slaughterhouse, and continues to raise them.

Self-study activity:
Watch the clip and anwer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 students.



1 What did Yang Xiaoyun use to make for a living?
2 What does 'twenty' refer to?
3 Why are so many pets sold and killed?
4 How does Yang Xiaoyun get the funds to help the animals?
5 Why do many Chinese people support the idea of killing animals?
6 Why do animal rights groups oppose Yang's project?

Pensioner Yang Xiaoyun has gone from (1) school teacher to one of China's most well-known and controversial animal rights activists, lauded and vilified for her direct approach to rescuing pooches in distress.
(2) Over the past twenty years Yang has saved thousands of dogs from the slaughterhouse and the streets, and continues to raise many of them in her home.
The former teacher is just one of many members of China's growing middle class now beginning to fight what they see as a barbaric abuse of man's best friend, in a country where pets can be rounded up and (3) sold for meat and an animal protection law has yet to be introduced.
For 20 years she has woken up at the crack of dawn to take care of hundreds of stray cats and dogs. (4) She has sold her home and remortgaged her son's home. She is in 800,000 yuan worth of debt buying the 200kg of food needed every day to feed the animals. Now that she has sold her home, Yang lives in a shack next to one of her dog compounds.
She had originally hoped to set up a home for the rescued dogs but was given a frosty reception by (5) locals, most of whom fiercely support what they see as a cultural tradition no different to consuming turkeys at Thanksgiving.
Some within animal rights circles also worry that by buying up dogs en masse (6) Yang is simply encouraging more people - be it lazy owners or dog snatchers - to sell their animals to activists.
The day Yang visited Yulin's dog market, many there said they had come with the explicit hope of selling their dogs to Yang and her helpers. Although countless dog lovers and volunteers are constantly at Yang's side to help her and her dogs, Yang has on occasion found herself at odds with some other animal rights groups.
Yang said that such clashes between volunteers and activists have become more common in recent years in China but she will continue her fight to save the helpless animals from ending up on someone's plate.

10 Questions with Jane Goodall

Some time ago Dr Jane Goodall was interviewed by Time Magazine for their '10 Questions with' section.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 and Advanced students.



1 Dr Jane Goodall feels the same empathy for people as for chimpanzees.
2 Chimpanzees are brutal animals that sometimes show compassion and love.
3 Dr Jane Goodall had stopped following the first chimpanzee she talks about.
4 The second chimpanzee, Flo, didn't trust Dr Goodall with her baby.
5 Dr Goodall feels that her feelings help her in her research.
6 Dr Goodall objects to chimps being kept as pets.
7 In general, an animal doesn't destroy the environment it lives in.
8 In Dr Goodall's opinion, money is the root of all evil.

I’m Andrea Sachs, from Time Magazine. We’re here today with Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist, who’s known worldwide for her studies of chimpanzees in the Gombe Reserve in Tanzania. Dr Goodall has written a wonderful new book, Hope for Animals in their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink. Dr Goodall, nice to see you.
Good to see you.
Kantesh Guttal in Pune, India, asks, how can you be so empathetic with the chimps?
I think one is either an empathetic person or not. Some people are very non-caring to other people and some people just seem to care about animals and not people. Unfortunately, I realized learning from the chimpanzees how we are a part of the Animal Kingdom. Chimpanzees teach us that there isn’t a sharp line dividing us. And so the kind of empathy that I feel for people is the kind of empathy that I feel for chimpanzees. Okay. Do they have a dark and brutal side to their nature? Yes, so are people, and it comes out in the most unexpected situations. But by and large, chimpanzees show far more frequently tendencies of compassion and empathy and love than violence and brutality.
Which do you like better, chimps or humans?
Chimps are so like us that I like some chimpanzees better than some humans and some humans much better than some chimpanzees. There’s no question.
Hyeok Kim in Seoul, Korea, asked, What was the most touching that… in your time with the chimps? Is there a particular…?
Well, there are two. One was when I was following the first chimp to lose his fear, following him through the forest in the very early days. And he suddenly veered through a very tingly, thorny clump of vegetation, I was crawling after him and, you know, getting thorns and like catching my clothes and everything. So, I gave up. I thought that he had disappeared, but when I got through, he was sitting there waiting until I sat near him. And there was a ripe red palm nut on the ground, picked it up because chimps love them, handed out towards them. He turned his face away, so I put my hand closer and he turned, he looked directly in my eyes. He reached out, he took the nut. He didn’t want it. He dropped it, but he very gently squeezed my hand, which is how chimpanzees reassure each other. So, that was like a communication that probably for us predates words. And the other one was when Flo, who also lost her fear quite early on, she has this little infant who’s just learning to walk, he’s about five months old, and she trusts me so much that when he totters towards me and reaches out she doesn’t snatch him away like he used to, but she keeps a hand protectively around him and she lets him reach out to touch my nose, and this was just so magic.
Specialist McKinzie Baker at Camp Taji in Iraq asked, how do you work with so many animals and not get overly attached to them?
Well, I’ve always been very attached to the animals I work with. And although a scientist is supposed to be subjective and lack in empathy, I’ve always felt this is wrong. Fortunately, there’s a growing number of other scientists who feel the same and it’s the empathy that you feel with an animal, not a subject but an animal, a living individual being that really helps you understand. The science comes in when you say, okay I think, because I feel this empathy so that behaviour must mean something. And then you can use your scientific training to ask the questions and find out if your intuition is correct.
What’s your position on people who have chimps as pets given the implications for violence such as the woman in Connecticut whose chimpanzee attacked her neighbour.
It’s absolutely wrong to have a chimpanzee as a pet or any of the primates for that matter, and most other exotic species, too. Chimpanzees, yeah, when they are little they’re cute and people have them as surrogate children, but by the time they reach early adolescence, they already are as strong as a human and chimpanzees are completely unpredictable. You cannot predict what will trigger a sudden anger or rage. And so, we’re… actually the Jane Goodall Institute is fighting very hard for legislation that will prohibit people owning other non-human primates as pets. Very rare can they give them a good life. Why should we sell our closest living relatives as a pet. It’s not a pet. It’s an individual. It has its own way of living and it’s not suited to live in our houses.
Now, Chet Kim in Birmingham, Michigan asks, you’ve chosen to spend more time with animals, yet you have hoped for humanity. What do you see in animals you don’t see in us?
Well, that’s a kind of loaded question, isn’t it? Animals, by and large, are not destroying their environment, although some of them would if they could, but they’ve developed a natural balance and typically when an animal species starts overpopulating an area something happens, as it used to with humans, to bring that down, to be in balance with the natural world. But now, because of modern medicine, human populations are spiralling, mushrooming out of control. So, the question I always ask is how does this most intellectual species that’s ever walked the planet, how is it that we’re destroying our only home, and I think that there’s a disconnect between the clever brain and the site of love and compassion, the human heart. And what we have to do is to link the heart with the brain again. And let us move forward, understanding that this life is about a lot more than just making money and we should not be living for money. We need money to live. So, that’s why I’m working so hard with youth, to create a critical massive young people with his philosophy. That’s my hope for the future.

KEY:
1T 2F 3T 4F 5T 6T 7T 8T

Extensive listening: Chaser, the smartest dog in the world

CBS 60 Minute Reporter Anderson Cooper meets Chaser, a dog who can identify over a thousand toys, and the scientists who are studying the brain of man's best friend. This is the way he introduced the segment:

"Human beings have lived with dogs for thousands of years. You'd think that after all that time we'd have discovered all there is to know about them. But, as we first reported last fall, it turns out that until recently scientists didn't pay much attention to dogs. Dolphins have been studied for decades, apes and chimps as well, but dogs, with whom we share our lives, were never thought to be worthy of serious study. As a result, we know very little about what actually goes on inside dogs' brains. Do they really love us, or are dogs just licking us so they can get fed? How much of our language can they understand? Before you answer, we want you to meet Chaser, who's been called 'the smartest dog in the world'."

You can read a full transcript here.

American tourist regrets shooting Zimbabwe's famous lion Cecil

American tourist Walter Palmer says he regrets shooting Zimbabwe's famous lion Cecil.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Intermediate students.



1 What does the tourist who killed Cecil do?
2 How old was Cecil?
3 What weapon was used to kill the lion?
4 What piece of technological device did Cecil have on?
5 How much did the tourist pay to kill Cecil?
6 What is the market value for this lion?
7 What will happen to the two men arrested if they are found guilty?
8 Why does Zimbabwe issue hunting permits?

(1) A US dentist who killed a lion in Zimbabwe says he regrets shooting the well-known animal. In a written statement Walter Palmer insists that he thought he was on a legal hunt and that he deeply regrets his actions.
Cecil, the lion, known for his black mane, was about (2) 13 years old and a famous attraction for wildlife tourists in Zimbabwe. But earlier this month it’s understood that the cat was tempted outside a national park using bait and allegedly (3) shot with a bow and arrow, by Palmer.
Cecil was collared. You may want to know what that means. (4) Collared is an animal which is under surveillance and a GPS system which is being used for research for different things.
Wildlife officials accused Mr Palmer of killing Cecil, without a permit, after paying (5) $50,000 to two people who lured the beast to its death.
The person involved, or the offender, is a gentleman, was an American called Walter James Palmer. Walter James Palmer is the guy who came into the country around the beginning of this month of July and was enticed, [although] we're not quite sure yet, to harvest this particular lion. The proper market value for this lion, which is a big treasure, would be (6) around $100,000.
Police in Zimbabwe say two people have been arrested and that Mr Palmer may also face poaching charges. If convicted, the two men would be required to (7) pay $20,000 in compensation but the court may impose an additional jail term.
According to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority investigations show that the killing of Cecil was illegal because the land owner was not allocated a lion on his hunting quota for
2015.
Lions are not a protected species in Zimbabwe - the country issues annual permits allowing foreign hunters to kill wildlife like elephant, buffalo and lion, and say doing so allows it (8) to raise money for conservation.

Listening test: Animal conservation

You are going to hear some extracts about animal extinction and conservation. Match each of the extracts  1–6 with their corresponding heading A–I. There are two headings you don’t need to use. 0 is an example.

listen to ‘Animal conservation’ on audioBoom

A- Individual efforts make a difference
B - Many also dying because of human activity
C - Miraculous recovery
D - No natural space for them to live
E - Raising awareness
F - The problem is getting worse – 0 Example
G - Too late for some of them
H - Unprepared for new challenges
I - Victims to illegal hunters

Many animal and plant species have become extinct and many more are in critical danger. Finding ways to protect the earth's wildlife and conserve the natural world they inhabit is now more important than ever.
Extract 0 – Example The problem is getting worse
Extinction is a natural process. Many species had ceased to exist before humans evolved. However, in the last 400 years, the number of animals and plants becoming extinct has reached crisis point. Human population levels have risen dramatically in the same time period and man's predatory instincts combined with his ruthless consumption of natural resources are directly responsible for the situation.
Extract 1 Unprepared for new challenges
The Dodo is a classic example of how human behavior can cause irreparable damage to the earth's biological diversity. The flightless Dodo was native to the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It lived off fruit fallen from the island's trees and lived unthreatened until humans arrived in 1505. The docile bird became a source of food for sailors and lacked the ability to protect itself from animals introduced to the island by humans such as pigs, monkeys and rats. The population of Dodos rapidly decreased and the last one was killed in 1681.
Extract 2 Raising awareness
In 2002 many animals remain threatened with extinction as a result of human activity. The World Wildlife Fund works tirelessly to raise awareness of the predicament facing these animals and find ways to protect them. By focusing on a number of high profile, 'charismatic icons' such as the rhino, panda, whale and tiger, the WWF aims to communicate, 'critically important environmental issues'. The organization's ultimate goal is to, 'stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature'.
Extract 3 Victims to illegal hunters
The Rhino horn is a highly prized item for practitioners of Asian medicine. This has led to the animal being relentlessly hunted in its natural habitat. Once widespread in Africa and Eurasia, most rhinos now live in protected natural parks and reserves. Their numbers have rapidly decreased in the last 50 years, over half the remaining rhinos disappeared in the 1970s, and the animals remain under constant threat from poachers.
Extract 4 No natural space for them to live
The future of the WWF's symbol is far from certain. As few as 1,000 remain in the wild, living in small isolated groups. These groups have been cut off from each other as a result of deforestation and human expansion in to their natural habitat. The Chinese government has set up 33 panda reserves to protect these beautiful animals and made poaching them punishable with 20 years in prison. However, the panda's distinct black and white patched coat fetches a high price on the black market.
Extract 5 Many also dying because of human activity
The International Whaling Commission meets every year. The agenda covers ways to ensure the survival of the species and the complex problems arising from countries such as Japan, wishing to hunt certain whales for 'scientific' purposes. Despite the fact that one third of the world's oceans have been proclaimed whale sanctuaries, 7 out of 13 whale species remain endangered. The plight of the North Atlantic Right Whale is particularly serious. Hunted for their rich supply of oil, their numbers have dwindled to just 300. Collisions with ships, toxic pollution and becoming entangled in fishing nets are other major causes of whale deaths.
Extract 6 Too late for some of them
The last 100 years has seen a 95% reduction in the numbers of remaining tigers to between 5,000 and 7,000 and The Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers are already extinct. The South China tiger is precariously close to disappearing, with only 20 to 30 still alive. Like the Rhino horn, tiger bones and organs are sought after for traditional Chinese medicines. These items are traded illegally along with tiger skins.
 
KEY
A- Individual efforts make a difference
B - Many also dying because of human activity – extract 5
C - Miraculous recovery
D - No natural space for them to live – extract 4
E - Raising awareness – extract 2
F - The problem is getting worse – 0 Example
G - Too late for some of them – extract 6
H - Unprepared for new challenges – extract 1
I - Victims to illegal hunters – extract 3

10 Questions with Gene Baur

While some may say Farm Sanctuary Co-Founder Gene Baur doesn’t do enough for Farm Sanctuary, many  think he’s someone who’s drawing attention to what  humans choose to eat. Through his organization he’s working to save the lives of so many animals, while educating people about compassion, love and health.


10 Questions with Gene Baur from Pablo Arroyo Ruiz on Vimeo.

Hi I’m Belinda Luscombre from Time Gene Baur is an animal activist and athlete and a one thousand percent vegan and he's here to talk with us today. Mister Baur, thank you for coming.
It's great to be here.
So your organization Farm Sanctuary, is it a farm in the sense that it produces anything?
It's a farm in the sense that it is barns and pastures and fields. We grow hay for the animals but it's primarily a sanctuary, a place where the animals get to live out their lives, they’re never exploited like animals are on most farms.
So it's like a retirement home for animals, sort of for animals?
I would call it… well it's a refuge its kind ever retirement but most farm animals who are raised and slaughtered in the US are killed when they're just a few weeks or a few months old, so it’s retirement in the sense that they retire being retired and removed from the industrial food system but they're usually pretty young animals when they first come to us.
You have explained pretty well the problem with factory farming, it’s inhumane, the animals are treated really badly. The upside of factory farming, of course, is that the food is cheap and we have 46 million people living in poverty in the United States. What do you say to the argument that we want those people to be able to afford food?
Just because a hamburger is cheap at the fast-food restaurant doesn't mean that they're much greater costs associated with it such as health, such as environmental destruction, and also the fact that taxpayers subsidize this cheap factory farming food. So the factory farming system is actually quite costly when you look at all the various consequences of it.
I think we can safely say if you'll forgive me that most people prefer to eat meat.
Well I think most people have the habit of eating meat but they don't really think about where it comes from. We have habits like people might like to smoke or do a lot other things that aren’t necessarily the healthiest.
Alright so most people are in the habit of eating meat and are disinclined to change, would you still considered a victory if they, if the meat that they ate was humanely raised until its death.
I think that any step away from the factory farming industry and towards treating animals with more respect is a positive step, but I would also say that a lot of the meat that is now being marketed as humane isn't really coming from animals are treated very well, and at the end of the day we need to examine whether the terms humane and slaughter fit well together. You know, slaughter is an inherently violent bloody act and it is something that is bad for the animals and I would also say that it's bad for the people engaged in it, you know. Can you imagine what, what it would be like to have a job where for eight hours a day all you’re doing is cutting throats of animals. I mean, it's a violent bloody business and it's not something that I would wish to do, and I don't think most people would wish to do it, and it's something that we don't have to do. That's the good news, we can live by eating plans without killing any animals.
Where do you think it’s the next frontal battleground for animal rights?
In the marketplace we are now seeing food companies and entrepreneurs that are developing alternatives to our animal-based food system. There is a company called Beyond Meat, for example, that's developing alternatives to meat. And the New York Times food critic Mark Bittman did a taste test between Beyond Meat and chicken he couldn't tell the difference. There are now entrepreneurs who are developing products that can compete head to head with animal foods and when they will be cheaper to produce they will be healthier and they will not come with the guilt associated with killing animals.
Don’t animals eat other animals?
Yes, carnivores eat other animals…
Aren’t we, I think, can’t have the carnivore teeth?
We have very little carnivore teeth. If you look at our bodies we have primarily teeth for grinding, we don't have claws for tearing into flesh. If we were natural carnivores, and we saw an animal who is bleeding or dead, we would tend to salivate, which a carnivore will do, but we don't tend to do that. I think naturally we’re best suited to eat more plant foods. Now it is true that humans have, over the course of our history, eaten animal foods to survive and I think we're omnivores, we are capable of doing that but we don't have to do that.
So in your mind it's just impossible to have an ethical egg?
I think it may be possible to have an ethical egg as long as the chicken is a part of the family and not just seen as a production unit, and so if somebody has a hen and they allow that hen to live out her life and if that hen gets sick they provide veterinary care, if that hen is treated like a cat or a dog, for instance, and if the hen is laying eggs, I don't see that as being a big ethical problem. At Farm Sanctuary we do not eat the eggs because we don't want to set an example.
No eggs, no dairy, no meat, no honey, what is your guilty pleasure food? What do you eat when you're super-depressed?
Well I try not to get depressed and then when I, when I don't feel great, I think eating healthy food actually helps get you out of a bad situation but like a lot of people I have a weakness for sugar, I really like sweets, but I try to eat well and I try to eat greens, I tried eat whole foods  they I try to…
Everybody tries to do that, and I'm saying, you know, so it's a sugar thing. So you’ll eat what can you have? Boiled lollies?
Well, well um like almond milk is oftentimes very sweet so I like almond milk with chocolate chip cookies, that would be one of my guilty pleasures, which I really quite enjoy after a long day, you know, sort of late at night, you know, milky…
Milk and cookies. Is wine allowed?
Wine is allowed yes.
And I do occasionally…
And beer?
And beer is allowed. Yes I enjoy both those.
And pretty much your hard liquors, right, ‘cause it all grain.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Mr Baur, thanks very much.
Thank you.