Christmas present for self =P

Yes, I am a dog person. Not a cat person. I love dogs... And I don't like small (house/pet) cats. But I do love big cats(!) like lions, tigers and snow leopards! Oh, and I love brown bears, too! They all look very cuddly! =) (Although I know that's not an easy thing to do in real life - giving them a cuddle, I mean! =))

Anyway, after visiting Taronga Zoo every so often and being reminded about the real dangers that these big cats are in... after installing and displaying the Endangered Species box in my facebook profile for a while... and after visiting the Wildlife Photography Exhibition at the Australian Museum on Wednesday... I finally decided to make two symbolic adoptions - of Amur Leopard and Grizzly Bear - through WWF website.

It's called symbolic adoptions, because:

World Wildlife Fund helps endangered animals by working on immediate threats to animal conservation and saving the environment in which the animals live. WWF does not single out individual animals, or families, for adoption. Your donation is directed to field programs to support science, research, and animal study. The adoption is symbolic in the sense that many animals benefit from your generous support.

And so now, I can really display the Endangered Species box on my facebook profile without any conscience issue! =P

I know some people might think why support conservation efforts like this instead of supporting gospel works around the world etc. And I have actually spent some time thinking about this... I might post an entry about it a bit later in my other blog though - since it might be a more worthwhile post to be shared with a wider audience. =P

P.S.: I know that since it is symbolic adoption, it doesn't actually made much difference which animals I chose. But I decided to adopt Grizzly Bear because it's one of my favourite animals - SO cute! And Amur Leopard to help raise awareness of their plight - as even though their status is actually critically endangered, they are not as popular or well known by the wider public as snow leopards.