Don’t Let Them Vanish

SENARIE MERCADO & HANNAH MASANGCAY Don’t Let Them Vanish A SHORT STORY ABOUT ANIMAL EXTINCTION

DON'T LET THEM VANISH K alix is a 15-year-old boy who loves animals, he loves reading books about it like what he is doing right now, reading a book about animals. “Kalix, go to your room and sleep,” his mom said. He turned the tv off and went to his room, and closed his eyes. He heard some birds chirping, leaves rustling, and the sound of the wind. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying down in his bed, but he was in the middle of an unknown place. “Where am I?\" he asked himself. “Hello? Anybody there?” he shouted but no one answered, instead, he heard some big footsteps approaching.

SENARIE MERCADO There he saw, a gigantic elephant. Kalix noticed something, the elephant lost both of its tusks which caused the animal to bleed. The boy hurriedly approached the elephant. “What happened to you…,” he whispered but the elephant took a few steps back from the boy, fear was visible in his face. “You humans are the cause of this because you elephants are slowly losing their tusks!' \"Not only that but you guys are also the reason why we are slowly losing our habitat!\" the angry elephant exclaimed. The boy felt guilty, it’s true, we are the reason why elephants are going extinct. Humans get the elephant’s tusks in order to make ornaments and pieces of jewelry. “I’m not here to hurt you so don’t worry…” Kalix explained his side. “Then why are you here?” the elephant asked, tilting his head. “I’m here to help…”

DON'T LET THEM VANISH The elephant guided the boy. Kalix wanted to know the current situations of the animals. “Are there a lot of animals suffering?” the kid asked. \"Yes, and that animal is also going extinct,” said the elephant and went to the animal near the lake. It was a Rhinoceros. “Oh what brought you here my friend?” the rhino asked the elephant. “You even brought a guess with you”. The kid saw the similarity between the two animals. They both don’t have their horns. “What happened?” Kalix asked the rhino and carefully held the rhino. “Oh well, I guess humans needed my horns again.” The rhino let out a laugh. “Aren’t you hurt?” the kid asked. “Of course I’m hurt, but it’s okay since humans use my horns to make medicine,” the rhino smiled.

HANNAH MASANGCAY “I feel so accomplished,” the rhino said before closing its eyes. “Oh, my dear friend” the elephant couldn’t bear to see his friend die in front of him so the elephant turned around and cried. The elephant walked away and the kid followed. “I can't believe this…” the kid whispered. He saw a bunch of tigers on the ground, they were all dead. His heart could not take it and he couldn’t contain his tears anymore so he cried on the spot. “Mr. Elephant, what happened to them?” Kalix asked. \"Habitat destruction, human population growth, and a demand for tiger parts threaten the tiger's survival” the elephant answered. “That’s not all...” the elephant added and continued walking.

DON'T LET THEM VANISH Pandas!” the kid gleefully said and quickly approached the pandas. “Kid…what brought you here?” the mommy panda asked. “Mr. Elephant did!” the kid answered and pointed at the elephant. “I’m sorry to ask you but, do you have any food with you?” the panda asked and the kid shook his head. “I’m sorry but I don’t” the kid felt bad because he does not have any food with him. He suddenly remembered what he read about pandas ‘pandas' habitat getting taken over by development, pushing them into smaller and less livable areas. Habitat destruction also leads to food shortages. “It’s getting late, we need to find a shelter,” said the elephant so they left.

MERCADO & MASANCAY The next morning the boy woke up because of a sound. He stood up as soon as he identifies the animal that made that sound. It was a gorilla. Gorillas are also endangered because of habitat loss because of the continuous cutting of trees to result to it. He sadly looked at the gorilla happily playing with his friends. “I wish I can help” he whispered to himself. “You can,” the elephant said and smiled at him. “But how?” he asked the elephant. “You can answer your own question, Kalix. But now, it’s time to say goodbye. Please save us” that was the last thing he heard from the elephant when everything went black.

“So everything was just a dream?” he whispered. “But everything feels so real,” he added. He started to remember the words of the elephant and the animals. “What can I do to help?” he spent a few hours thinking before actually starting to fulfill his promise to the animals. He created this article about endangered animals and animals that are suffering. He shared it with his friends and his friends helped him spread this article. “I’m just starting, I will keep my promise. Mark my words” Don’t Let Them Vanish - END -