We are very proud – our wildlife and nature conservation workshop programme, which now in its fourth year, has surpassed the milestone of 1000 young participants. While we are happy to have raised awareness of the importance of preserving Velebit among such a large number of children, we are aslo looking forward to new encounters.
The nature of Velebit is a wild treasure, an exceptional area of animal and plant life, a mountain pearl of the Mediterranean. To preserve it as such and improve areas where Velebit’s nature is threatened – whether by humans or climate change – it is necessary for all of us to be rangers and contribute to rewilding efforts.
It is for this reason that we launched the “When I grow up, I want to be a Ranger” workshop about wildlife and those who protect it, intended for preschool and primary school children. The aim of the workshop is to bring the richness of Velebit closer and begin to develop awareness of the need for its preservation, with an emphasis on wildlife. We created short and fun educational videos about wildlife such as bears, wolves, lynx, chamois, deer, snakes, roe deer, and woodpeckers. We also produced an informative and educational picture book about wild animals, as well as puzzles with wildlife species, so that children can “touch” the wilderness with their little fingers.
We have now conducted the workshop four years in a row, holding it in many places such as Lika and on the Velebit coast – Gospić, Otočac, Gračac, Senj, Karlobag, Starigrad, Obrovac, Udbina, Srb, Rakovica, Korenica, Lovinac, Mukinje – and we also responded to kind invitations from Šibenik and Petrinja. This spring, we surpassed the figure of 1000 participants. Curious children who have taken part have asked many questions about animals and their behaviour, and a good number had already enjoyed encounters with them. Since a large number of them live very close to the wilderness or visit it with their parents, we also taught them about the right way to behave in nature, as well as how to act if wild animals are encountered.
Children truly are future rewilders, professionally or privately – this is something we realised after being told by them many times that they want to be rangers. We have even been asked how to become a nature guardian.
Participation in these workshops is also a pleasure for the professional rangers of the Rewilding Velebit Foundation.
“I enjoy our workshops every time because I pass on knowledge to the children, and it’s also nice to get out of the woods for a change and go to kindergartens and schools,” says our ranger Igor Blažević. “Sometimes I’m surprised at how much children know about animals. I hope that at least some of the first 1000 workshop participants will end up as my successors.”
We celebrated our first 1000-participant milestone in the very pleasant company of the Medo/Little Bear Kindergarten in Lovinac.
“We were happy to host the nature protectors from the Rewilding Velebit Foundation in our kindergarten,” says director Tea Borovec. “In a very simple, child-friendly, interesting, and educational way, Kruno, Igor, and Jelena conveyed to our children the most important things about the animals on Velebit that need to be cared for and protected.
“The children now know what all these animals are, what they look like, what makes them special, and the role they play in nature. What they eat, what they like and dislike, and perhaps – most importantly – that we should not be afraid of them and how to behave if we ever encounter them. I hope you guys can continue with your exceptional work!”
We are happy because we have conveyed our message about the rewilding of Velebit and nature in general to 1000 children, and, indirectly, to their families. But we won’t stop here. We will continue to bring our workshop to new places and new generations of children – the Velebit rangers of the future!
Text: Kruno Bošnjaković