Posted on by anngeretysmyth

MAJOR THREATS TO WILDLIFE IN IRELAND AND AREAS TO FOCUS CONSERVATION ACTIONS

(A study I did in 2022 while studying for the MSc in World Heritage Conservation at UCD, still relevant in 2025)

INTRODUCTION
This report will endeavour to introduce the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and the IUCN Red List they established to identify the species in danger of extinction in the world and the threats that they face while also being a tool for conservation action. It will then examine the threats to species in Ireland as per the IUCN Red List, identify which are the major threats for Ireland and suggest what areas to focus conservation actions on.
IUCN
The first International organisation established with the protection of Nature in mind, in 1922, was the establishment of the International Council for Bird Preservation and later renamed Birdlife (Holdgate, 2013). Then the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUPN) was established in 1948 with the backing of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) with very few resources and was initially set up as a meeting space and support for its members rather than an agency (Holdgate, 2013). It aimed to share information among members and in that way make a strong nature conservation movement. It later became the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), sometimes referred to as the World Conservation Union (Holdgate, 2013). The IUCN is a unique entity in that the purpose of advancing sustainable development with the hope of creating a just world that conserves and values nature has given this institution the important role of bringing governments and civil society together with one purpose (Our Union, 2022). It has over 1,400 Member Organisations spanning States, government agencies, NGOs, scientific and academic institutions, indigenous groups, and businesses. Over 15,000 scientists and experts, in the UCN expert Commissions, provide knowledge and policy advice to its members (Our Union, 2022).
IUCN REDLIST
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was established in 1964(The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022). It is more than a databank of species, it is the information source on the global extinction risk of these species which include animal, fungus, and plant species (The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022). It is a critical indicator of biodiversity health and a powerful tool for change in policy and conservation action and is used across the globe by governments, NGO’s, environmental groups, educational organisations, business communities, and more to monitor population size and range, habitat and ecology and threats, actual and possible actions (The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022). It is compiled by the IUCN Global Species Program staff, experts, and organisations in the IUCN Species Survival Commission and partner networks (The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022). The aim is to create a more complete ‘Barometer of Life’, increasing the number of species assessed to at least 160,000 in order to assist the world in reversing the decline in biodiversity (The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022).

IUCN REDLIST IRELAND
The IUCN provide guidelines to produce RED lists at regional level and Ireland has
adopted these guidelines (Publications – Red Lists, 2022). The National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) has also published a national standard for producing Ireland’s Red Lists. These lists are prepared with the guidance of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in the Republic and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) in Northern Ireland. So far thirteen lists are available (Publications – Red Lists, 2022). These lists don’t necessarily match with the IUCN Red List, which is based on Global Data, what might be critically endangered on a global scale may not be on a national scale and vice versa so using both as guidance for conservation actions would be ideal however for the scope of this report the actions recommended will be based on the IUCN Red List for Ireland. As per Figure 1, the search used was limited to Critical Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU) species of Ireland resulting in 113, with a breakdown in the taxonomy of 21 from the Fungi Kingdom, 8 from the Plantae Kingdom and 84 from the Animalia Kingdom.

MAJOR THREATS TO WILD SPECIES IN IRELAND
To identify the major threats to wild species a table was created from the search of all the data for each threat listed and the Animalia Kingdom was categorised in more detail into Mammal, Bird, Amphibians, Fish, Reptile, Mollusc and Insect (Table 1).
Table 1: Analysis of Threats to Species on the Red List, Ireland.

From this information it is evident that there are a significant number of threats to several varied species but that groups of species and sections of threats could be extracted from it to focus on for consideration of conservation actions as one threat affected many species and many of the sub threats were affecting the same species.
For example, taking pollution, or agriculture & aquaculture with all the sub threats under those headings and addressing them would benefit species across the board. Reviewing the results from the search based on this information it was noted that the mammals were all sea mammals that would be impacted by actions decided on for sea fish except for the European Rabbit which is currently not endangered in Ireland though it is on mainland Europe and while they should be monitored there may be other areas to concentrate on that will have a higher impact. It was also noted that while Amphibians have no endangered listing on the Global IUCN Red List for Ireland the Natterjack Toad is listed as Endangered on the National List (King, Marnell, Kingston, 2022). Once conservation actions based on information from the IUCN Red List are established it may also be beneficial to examine the 13 Red lists completed nationally. It will also be beneficial when detailing actions to have the sub threats and to note which ones are the most significant and therefore more urgent, but the main information is easier to identify in the compacted Table 2 which has the larger numbers in red.
Table 2: Threats to Ireland’s Species on the IUCN RED List.

In Figure 2 we can see that some species are faring worse, birds (orange), fish (yellow) and fungi (brown), with five main threats standing out – Biological Resource Use, Pollution, Agriculture & Aquaculture (between Energy Production & Mining and Residential & Commercial Development on the chart), Residential & Commercial Development and Climate Change & Severe Weather. Concentrating on Biological Resource Use alone would have a huge impact, however given that Fungi live in so many different environments and are so essential in protecting plant biodiversity and soil health concentrating some actions towards them would impact many other species too and they are heavily impacted by the other main threats identified (Mommer, L., Cotton, T.,Raaijmakers, J.M., 2018).

Figure 2: Threats to Ireland’s Species on the IUCN RED List. (Modified from Source:
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022)
Having identified five main threats a chart (Figure 3) and table (Table 3) were created
focusing only on those to further identify which impacts what the most.

Figure 3: Largest Threats to Ireland’s Species on the IUCN RED List. (Modified from
Source: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022)

These show that fish are mostly affected by Biological Resource Use and Pollution, the threats to concentrate on for Fungi are Residential & Commercial Development,
Agriculture & Aquaculture, and Pollution, and looking at conservation actions in the areas of Biological Resource Use, Pollution, and Climate Change & Severe Weather would benefit the bird population most.
Table 3: Largest Threats to Ireland’s Species on the IUCN RED List.

NECESSARY CONSERVATION ACTION TO ALLEVIATE THREATS TO WILD
SPECIES IN IRELAND
Based on the above assessment of threats the most important areas on which to focus conservation actions for Ireland, are reducing the five threats in table 3 for the 3 species groups of Fish, Fungi, and Bird. It is assumed that the many other species also affected by these threats would also benefit from conservation actions taken based on the spread in Table 1. Reducing the search criteria to just include these main threats on an individual basis gave access to further stats on the IUCN Red List Search (Figure 4) which will assist in the analysis and actions needed process as it shows us the main focus points in each threat, the reference number are as per their references on the IUCN Threats listing:

  • 5 – Biological Resource Use
    Per Figure 4, page 11, there are four substantial threats under 5.4: Fishing and
    Harvesting Aquatic resources as follows in order of severity.
    o 5.4.4 Unintentional effects: (large scale) harvest
    o 5.4.3 Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) harvest
    o 5.4.2 Intentional use: (large scale) harvest
    o 5.4.1 Intentional use: (subsistence/small scale) harvest
  • 9 – Pollution
    Per Figure 4, page 11, the two largest pollution threats are under 9.3 Agricultural and Forestry Effluents.
    o 9.3.3 Herbicides and Pesticides (24)
    o 9.3.1 Nutrient Loads (18)
  • 1 – Residential & Commercial Development
    There are three subcategories on the IUCN Red List under this and all are relatively high.
  • 1.1 Housing and Urban Areas (31)
  • o 1.2 Commercial and Industrial Areas (24)
  • o 1.3 Tourism and Recreational Areas (17)
  • 2 – Agriculture & Aquaculture
    Per Figure 4, page 11, two threats are substantially larger than the others in this category.
    o 2.1.3 Agro Industry Farming (22)
    o 2.3.3 Agro Industry Grazing, Ranching or Farming (20)
  • 3 – Climate Change & Severe Weather
    Per Figure 4, page 11, one threat stands out among the many climate change threats.
    o 11.1 Habitat Shifting and Alteration (25)

Just by focusing on the results shown from Figure 4, page 11, as outlined above there are clear areas to focus on but with 113 listed species of vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered just a few were assessed in more detail given that many face the same threats and the same conservation actions could be applied :

  • Fish
    o Biological Resource Use – There are intentional and unintentional threats during the harvest of fish inland and at sea, both at the commercial level and the subsistence level, however, there is a small hierarchy of threats with
    unintentional threats over intentional and also with commercial over
    subsistence so the initial focus should be on the practices and reducing the
    unintentional threats.

Reading through some of the fish on the Red List lessons can be learned and actions that worked used for others. The Common Blue Skate is Critically Endangered Globally, and the population is still decreasing however there have been a number of fishery-independent trawl surveys since EU fisheries regulations listed it as a prohibited species which may be allowing population growth. Therefore, if all the fish that are Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered were listed as prohibited the “unintentional” harvest should in theory decrease as more care is taken (Ellis, McCully-Philipps, Sims, 2021).
Proposed Conservation Action: Regulation, listing species as prohibited.

Using the same example, it is a general practice among recreational anglers in the UK and Ireland to return live skates. Many also recording, tagging, and releasing their catches (Ellis, McCully-Philipps, Sims, 2021) .

Proposed Conservation Action: Educate and Inform Recreational Anglers and encourage their participation in the conservation process of recording and tagging.

Using another example from the Red List, the Freshwater Pearl Mussel shows how so many threats can be there at one time, it faces most of the threats outlined in Figure 4 and more besides. While it is an extreme example, the threats it faces affect the other listed fish and species and the conservation actions that could be taken for it will apply also. (Cordeiro, Seddon, Moorkens, 2017). Sediment accumulation in the riverbed seems to be the largest threat and that can occur from agricultural practices, residential and commercial development, pollution and climate change. It
reflects what is now becoming more and more apparent in Ireland, more than half of our waterways are not well. According to the Sustainable Water Network of Ireland (SWAN) there are a number of causes, which tie in with the threats to fish from the Red List and Industrial Agriculture is the most significant – fertilisers, slurry, drainage and the destruction of habitats. Residential and Commercial Development adds to that with dredging, drainage and waterside development and so on (SWAN, 2022).
Proposed Conservation Action: Increase the number of designated Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Education and Awareness, Encourage reporting of pollution, Visible action and enforcement of laws already in place, incentivise more sustainable agriculture practices.

Fungi
o Most of the Fungi listed are listed as vulnerable but more study is needed. They also come from varied habitats, those near waterways are susceptible to many of the same threats as fish and much of the same conservation actions are required. The Felted Pinkgill is found in semi -natural grassland to subalpine areas of Europe and Russia and is a good example for a wider selection (Jordal, 2019). The intensification of industrialised agriculture practices, development projects, and pollution (airborne nitrogen deposition have impaired the habitat of this fungi and the population is decreasing (Jordal, 2019).
Proposed Conservation Action: Many of the actions proposed regarding the Pearl Mussel would apply and as suggested on the Red List site payment for conserving should be considered an option and site management is also key (Jordal, 2019).

Birds
o The European Turtledove was chosen as an Inland example because it is not obscure as some other examples may be and is antidotally spoken about with love and nostalgia so could be used as a mascot species perhaps. It is vulnerable and undergoing rapid decline due to similar threats mentioned in previous examples (Hermes, 2019). The change in agriculture practices has impacted this bird, and many more, mainly by the loss of habitat, hedgerows and areas of scrub being destroyed in the name of larger pasture and monocrop land. Spraying of herbicides have added to their decline. They have reduced food supplies and nesting grounds. Less hedgerows and trees in urban areas have also seen their decline there (Hermes, 2019).
Proposed Conservation Action: Many manageable actions have been outlined starting with further gathering of information, mapping migration routes, manage known habitats, educate and encourage farmers and others to maintain hedgerows and breeding grounds and scrubland for wildlife (Hermes, 2019).

A seabird that is much loved by all and very recognizable even more so perhaps than before due to a creature in the StarWars movies being inspired by it and an animation program, Puffin Rock, being built around its “cuteness” is unfortunately also meeting the criteria for being listed as Vulnerable, (Birdlife International, 2018). This bird is being threatened by some of the aforementioned threats but is in particular vulnerable to climate change; changes in sea temperature, loss of food, changes in hunting habits of marine and terrestrial predators, extreme weather all of which reduce breeding and increase mortality rates (Birdlife International, 2018). Humans are adding to the risks with overfishing of the prey of the Puffin, introduction of invasive species predators such as mink, windfarms, oil spillages. Deaths have been caused by other pollutants and garbage (Birdlife International, 2018).
Proposed Conservation Action: Increase the number of Special Protection Areas and monitor the buffer areas. In the recommendations one that is very achievable is developing codes of conduct for activities such as tourism. Developing regulations and laws, manage fishing and continued monitoring. (Birdlife International, 2018).

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CONSERVATION ACTIONS

Payment for conserving.

Regulation and Laws.

Listing species as prohibited for fishing and/ot hunting.

Educate and Inform.

Encourage participation in the conservation process of recording and tagging.

Increase the number of designated Special Areas of Conservation (SAC).

Monitor the buffer areas.

Encourage reporting of pollution,

Visible action and enforcement of laws already in place.

Incentivise more sustainable agriculture practices.

Site management.

Develop codes of conduct for activities such as tourism.

Further gathering of information.

Mapping migration routes.

Manage known habitats,

Encourage farmers and others to maintain hedgerows and breeding grounds and
scrubland for wildlife.

(Source: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2022)

CONCLUSION
Based on the advanced search carried out on the IUCN Red List for Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered Species in Ireland 113 were listed in various
taxonomy, The search included all 12 categories of threats and all habitats to catch as many as possible. An analysis of species against the threats was performed to narrow the examination. Five major threats across the three species of Fish, Fungi and Bird were found and a short examination of these found many similar threats and impacts and possible conservation actions that could be recommended. In order to understand what actions could possibly be undertaken some sample species were looked at on the Red List of 113. It was noted that the Global Red List does not always match the national Red Lists and both should be reviewed when considering actions. The common thread of most of the threats was an underlying lack of consideration or understanding of nature in residential, commercial, agricultural and aquacultural practices. Humans are “Doing without Considering”. There also seems to be a lack of understanding of the links between the natural world and our own human world. Knowledge in biodiversity, ecology, permaculture, sustainable living, working and farming and a holistic view of the world would remedy many of the illnesses of this world and should be part of every decision making process. Many of the actions identified reflect a holistic approach and where they are not applied regulation, legislation and monitoring are needed. The IUCN Red List is not complete, in order to be more effective more research of species is required and if the general public, commercial bodies and agricultural entities are encouraged to take part in completing some of that work they will be more connected to the Barometer of Life and mindful of its fluctuations.

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Sleeping Beauty and Climate Change

(Image : Sweet Dreams by Mary Smyth Art, https://www.facebook.com/marysmythlongford/, https://www.behance.net/marysmyth )

What if….. everyone has interpreted Sleeping Beauty wrong and it was about climate change all along? Hear me out, this came on a walk on Brí Leith so it must be true.😂 Midir! 🤔😂

What if Sleeping Beauty walking towards the spinning wheel pricking her finger is all of us sleepwalking into climate change?

What if Maleficent is Capitalism wooing us towards our demise? We know it is wrong, we all do but we want the shiny thing, we believe the lies, we are mesmerised, we are under the spell of sell, sell, sell, buy, buy, buy, take, take, take, profit, profit, profit and it is so strong we can’t fight it.

What if the fairies who change the spell to 100 years sleep instead of death are representatives of nature trying to save the planet? Flora, Fauna and Merryweather….. ahem!

What if 100 years is all it will take to correct the wrongs we did and save the planet and all we need to do is go to sleep… as in “stop”, just “stop”? Stop over farming and let the land rewild, stop over fishing and give the ocean a rest, stop over producing and produce and buy local in small communities, stop over travelling and stay where we are or go in a slower, more environmentally stable manner, stop exploiting nature and people and be a community that cooperates instead of competes. This paragraph could keep going but my train of thought is racing by and I need to catch the next carriage.

What if the briars were a reminder to let Nature do the work and just stay away from her while she does it because you’ll get hurt or maybe dead so just let her enclose you and keep you safe and warm while you “stop”?

Briars regenerate the land.

What if when the 100 years are up we will be fine as long as we all sleep (“stop”) and as long as the right way of being gets through the briars to wake us up and work with us to create a better world for us and our people?

What if they knew this? The Grimm Brothers, in the middle of the century of the industrial revolution and they thought about it and didn’t want others to figure it out…. just yet… so they twisted the tale to make it about women and men and oh dear me, here we go on another century of Patriarchy and more intense Capitalism.

What if they knew? Walt Disney, at the beginning of the age of cinema and wrong messages and people falling asleep in front of a screen, lapping it up as “Gospel”, “The American Dream”, “the innocent child”, ” the evil witch”. There’s only two types of women right? Innocent and waiting to be rescued and led or evil bitches tearing the innocent one to shreds. Nothing to see here, carry on buying and selling and taking and raping the world and her people. Look, there’s a shiny thing! Ignore the message that was just “Stop!”

What if they knew? The 1%, bankers and capitalists all, those who tore at the land that was never theirs and plundered her essence, those that murdered her people with war, famine, slavery, every brutality they could think of because they knew and didn’t care and just keep wanting more for themselves.

What if they know it takes 100 years for her to recover and they’re setting their own up to be on top again to start the ball rolling again while we all walk mesmerised to prick our finger on the spinning wheel and sleep? What if the race to space was just a distraction to stop us looking over there at the real rulers in the banks?

What if all of them are going to be ready to sit it out on the land they are grabbing? They are grabbing more than enough to sustain them and theirs, on their islands they purchased. They will slow down behind their walls of briar and wait for the rest of the planet to recover and instead of saving us all, the people, they’re leaving us outside the walls of their kitchen gardens and hunting grounds to die of famine and war and whatever horrors are to come.

Are we going to be left outside the wall or do we tear it down and create a better way before it is too late? We do know there is only a small kingdom of the few behind the wall right? They’ve no intention of letting us by their dragon no matter how successful we think we are in this imaginary world we live in.

This happened before, it will happen again. Empires fall, leave destruction behind, small groups of people survive and others who have been planning all along for the next “pyramid” scheme begin more brutal than before, each time grabbing more, in the end it is a pyramid scheme within a pyramid scheme within a pyramid scheme and the percentage at the top gets smaller and smaller until eventually it will be one who most likely will declare themselves a god and off we go again… as I did on another train of thought…. for another day, let’s dismantle Cinderella next..

The message Nature is giving is clear to me and to many, we need to stop and let her breathe, give her time without us “doing”, and she will be alright but it is up to us whether we will be. If we don’t stop, she’ll take us down and make us stop, virus, plague, not so merry weather, diseases in the flora and fauna we need to survive. It doesn’t matter, it will happen. This planet needs to live and if we continue to destroy we will be destroyed in the end so just “Stop”.

This is what happens when you walk on Brí Leith with family and the forest trys to take you and yours. 🤔😉 Midir destroys the fairytale on you. ❤💚🌹🦋

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When will it all stop?

My baby girl cried herself to sleep last night. I held her as she spoke of all her fears and her observations of the the world we live in.

She sobbed as she talked of how we are killing each other and the world and kept asking

“What is wrong with us?”

She talked of how we hurt each other, animals, the rivers land and sea, the very air we breathe, the little babies dying, she talked of all the hunger in the greed.

“When will it all stop?”

“Will it only end when humans have destroyed everything and everyone? The world must hate us so much. We hurt her so much. She is in so much pain. It hurts so much.”

Her sob hurt me.

“This is why God doesn’t answer any prayers anymore, because we are just horrible.”

I held her tighter.

I let her download all her fears, her thoughts onto my shoulder which is already aching from the weight of all my other babies’ fears and mine.

She spoke and sobbed for over half an hour of her short 9 year old life. She spoke of all the horrors of the world that I didn’t even know she knew about.

I whispered to her of the things we must be grateful for. I talked of flowers and the chicks, our demon cat and loyal dog who snored at our feet. Our family, the sun, the moon, the stars, the perfume of our roses, the tiny things living in the garden, ice-cream, stories of leprechauns and fairies.

“I want to meet a fairy. We probably killed them too along with unicorns and dragons. We probably killed them all. Why can’t our leprechaun do something? He wants to do good, he sees it all too, but his hands are tied, they don’t let him, they won’t let him do the good he wants to do!”

I didn’t know who she spoke of and then I realised she meant our president. “Don’t call him that, that’s not nice he wouldn’t like that.”

“How do you know? He really is a Leprechaun, he’s where he is to do something about it. He really wants to help, but his hands are tiny” She looked down at her own.

I let that be. She needs some magic, we all do and if thinking he’s a Leprechaun who might do something with his tiny hands then…I let it be.

I told her there are so many good people in the world, that the good outweigh the bad, there are more of us, all the while wondering was I right…

Today I saw a tweet about babies washed up on the beach because their families were trying to get them out of the hell they were living in and bring them somewhere safe but the somewhere safe didn’t want them so the babies drowned and I don’t think I was right…

Why did that not stop the last time we saw a baby washed up on the beach? Was the image of him in his red and blue not enough?

Why are there more?

“What is wrong with us?”

I think my baby girl who sobbed herself to sleep is right and I don’t know how to make it better. My heart is broken.

“When will it all stop?” 💔

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Have your say on Ireland’s Climate Action!

Fill in the Questionnaire below before Tues 18th May 2021. The government say they want you to but do they really?

https://climateconversations.citizenspace.com/decc/climateactionplan2021/consultation/

The Irish Environmental Network have kindly given some guidance on how to fill it in and are happy for that to be shared widely:

https://www.stopclimatechaos.ie/news/2021/05/12/have-your-voice-on-climate-action-heard/

This FF/FG/The Greens questionnaire is meant for “all the people” to fill in and return to them so we can have our say on Climate Change Policy. 

This questionnaire is due on Tuesday, 18th May 2021 and is all worded to blame the individual. 

There isn’t even a section on Agriculture. Use the food section. Find somewhere in it to put your thoughts on European and Irish Agricultural Policies.

They say this climate change consultation is so our voices can be heard yet only over 16s are allowed partake in it. It is up to us to fill it in with our children in mind.

They say this climate change consultation is so our voices can be heard yet it was not sent to marginalised and rural communities. It is up to us to fill it in with these communities in mind and to share it with them.

It is completely focused on individual action which is unbelievable. Was it made to make you feel guilty?

Are you not completely disillusioned with this government for not telling the truth about the crisis and for still pandering to big business as if there is no crisis?

We all know the ordinary person is doing the best they can and how unaffordable it is to do so.

We all know fossil fuel companies, airlines, billionaires and multinational corporations are to blame for most of it.

This questionnaire  has multiple choice questions. The link is up there for you for easy access because on the consultation hub it takes 17 buttons to press to get into it!!

It is wise to prepare your answers on a document elsewhere first as many have lost theirs doing it online. Almost as if they don’t want people to do it!

Push this back to the FF/FG Green government and use the headings ‘want to/not able’ in the questionnaire as you see the need.

In the broad open boxes you could spend ages on it but try to put key things in the boxes as this consultation will probably be put through a database and they will pick out key points.

The IEN suggest three key things to emphasis : 

  • emissions reduction reduce dependence on fossil fuels
  • work with nature
  • leave no one behind

We need system change, government action and social justice. We need cooperation not competition. We need Socialism!

If you have more to say, or are in a group that does, put it in the call for evidence which is for longer submissions.

This consultation is awful and insulting and was put out there with no publicity. It has been done before with the Citizen Assembly and ignored. There’s no truth in it. There is NO carbon budget, working to 2050 and the smaller pledges for 2030 is nonsense. 

This FFFGGreen government are happy to pay billions in Catbon Fines rather than do anything worthwhile. 

Leo Varadkar is busy pushing CETA on us which will give big multinationals, who want to rape our country of resources that should stay in the ground, the right to sue us if we don’t let them.

Michéal Martin is happy to belittle and ridicule the very boards set up to protect our Heritage and Environment in the Dáil. We all saw what he and his cronies think of An Taisce.

Eamon Ryan is only interested in bicycle paths and not the real, radical system change we need.

The Climate Crisis is real and here and now. Have your say. Fill in the questionnaire and give them the answers they need not the answers they want! 

We are living with a Timebomb and no one in power is hearing the ticking. It is up to us to make them wake up!

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Before the Monsters came

Image by https://www.facebook.com/marysmythlongford/ and can be purchased here: https://www.creativeardaghcraftshop.com/shop/p/quirkytalescoverart?rq=art

This was written for a children’s story competition. An author decided the shortlist and then children voted for their favourite. It came 3rd. What was more special was on the day a 5yr old came up to me and whispered “I voted for yours, I know it is about Climate Change, it is so important, I like the ending.” ❤ That’s enough for me.❤ It is included in an anthology by other Longford writers that you can buy here: https://www.creativeardaghcraftshop.com/shop/p/quirkytalesbook?rq=quirky%20tales

Once upon a time, before the monsters came, we lived in peace and all were happy. Plants grew, flowers bloomed and filled the air with perfume. Food was growing everywhere and no one went hungry. Animals, big and small, lived side by side and all was good.

The monsters came in flying machines from the sky and landed everywhere, all over the small round planet we live on. No one knew they were monsters because they looked harmless enough with their two wobbly legs and two skinny arms and big smiling faces. Their shiny ships were beautiful and reflected back the sun and we could see ourselves in them too which made us laugh.

The curious little monkeys wandered over first to examine these creatures. They were always brave but stupid. The monkeys followed them into their ship and everyone waited patiently for them to return but they didn’t. If they did, they were so changed, that we, their friends, no longer knew them. They were bigger and they were angry. No one had seen anger before and didn’t know what it was but we all suddenly felt fear and some ran while others hid. Others looked on, not knowing what to do as no one had ran or hid before in fright. All was joy and fun in this world before the monsters came.

The monkeys ran after those that had fled in fear and chased them, shouting and screaming, making big loud noises that no one liked and the elephants raised their trunks and blew hard to cover it up with their own sound. The noises grew and the fear grew and the monsters stood in their flying machines looking out at the chaos they had created and they were very pleased with themselves. Now that everyone was looking at the monkeys they could take the gold and silver from the world and all the precious jewels that sparkled in the waters for themselves, they even sucked the black oil from the ground. No one noticed, no one cared because the monkeys were chasing them all.

A monkey caught a cat and bit her on the back and the cat released her claws she used to climb the trees and scraped the monkey. Their anger grew and others joined the fight and then the first creature in this world blew out like a candle but its spirit stayed to watch the show and I’m here still. A wolf howled at the sky and the sun hid behind the moon. Everything went dark. Nothing would ever be the same again because the monsters came.

The plants closed up their leaves and hid their food and animal began to eat animal and the monsters laughed as they took what they wanted and left this world to do the same on other planets. Some monsters stayed and ruled over all the creatures and the plants that had remained. The plants and creatures changed to fit this darker, scary world where winds blew strong now that there were no sparkles to distract them from their racing flight. The monsters built themselves houses, towns and cities around the planet and continued to take and never give.

Our planet vomited up lava because no longer was the gold and silver in her belly keeping her tummy cool from all the heat of her warm coal. Sometimes she trembled in rage at the memory of the beauty she had been and cracks grew across her skin and swallowed up whoever happened to be passing by. The blissful life her creatures and plants had lived had changed because the monsters came.

But just as the monsters changed our world, our world changed the monsters too. Not all, but many of them noticed how the plants gave generously of their fruit and healed their wounds when they were hurt. More noticed how despite the fear and anger they had brought that creatures still approached and gave them love. Some monsters saw how the beauty of our world could make them smile and love and feel the Joy that once was everywhere before they came. They felt sorrow and regret and cried and asked our planet to forgive them for the pain and she gave them singing birds and butterflies, daffodils and roses, bees and beetles too. She showed the monsters all the good that they can do within this world, how to give instead of take and love instead of hate, how to fix instead of break and the monsters learned and so can you.