As bird nesting season settles down for the year, the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay is ramping up with a new project aimed at budding environmentalists.
I Can Change the Planet, a book illustrated by wildlife artist Samantha Dormio in traditional watercolor, targets children ages 5 to 12 with specific behaviors that can make a difference in the lives of cartoon characters like turtles, manatees, bald eagles and alligators.
Otto the Otter asks kids to make sure that people don’t throw their trash in rivers because it chases away the fish and frogs he eats. Sky the Skunk and Pete the Possum ask kids to get their parents to slow down and quit using cell phones while they’re driving, and Diamond the Snake wants kids not to hurt anyone just because of the way they look. Octavia the Octopus – who has nine brains and three hearts – wants people to protect coral reefs because her favorite hiding spots are disappearing.
“Humans ‘otter’ know better than to throw their garbage in the river,” says Otto. “Speak up and help us by letting your parents know that it is dangerous to be on the phone and talking,” adds Pete. And Ollivander the Owl wants people to stop using rat poison. “When people poison rats, they end up poisoning the owls because we eat them.”
The goal, says Nancy Murrah, president of the Raptor Center, is to persuade kids that they can make a difference and their parents will follow along. “Kids don’t always understand the big picture, but they totally get how important the little things can be, like reusable water bottles and cutting up six-pack rings so they don’t choke turtles and other wildlife.”
Writing a book came from years of experience doing puppet shows for kids at events, then meeting Dormio, whose work beautifully illustrates the issues. “We’ve also done months of focus groups with kids, asking them what words they understand and what themes resonate to make this project as impactful as possible.”
Getting kids – and their parents – motivated to protect wildlife is especially critical this year, Murrah adds. “We rescued 634 animals last year, but we’ve already rescued 670 through July 2024. All of the nestlings have been so emaciated that we couldn’t renest any of them – they couldn’t go back to a place where there wasn’t enough food in the first place.”
Adults don’t necessarily equate lawns treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides with sick or starving birds, but kids catch on pretty quickly when they’re told that killing bugs means that other creatures that depend upon them for food will soon be hungry.
Speeding cars hitting sandhill cranes is also at an all-time high—another area where kids can persuade parents to slow down, and then join neighborhood cleanups to pick up trash and discarded fishing line that have injured many other sandhill cranes this year.
A fundraiser for the book, with Dormio and the creative team behind the puppet show that became a book, will be held Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Firehouse Cultural Center in Ruskin. Admission will be $25 per person to an event that also includes live music and food from Three Bulls Tavern in Valrico.
RSVP to nmurrahfirefly@gmail.com
Originally published August 20, 2024