KidLit Forum

I have just watched a short video made by National Geographic and distributed via Social Media which explains the fact that scientists are concerned about the release of the animated movie "Finding Dory", a sequel of "Finding Nemo". Why? Well, because such movies increase the demand for exotic or rare pet animals, such as the blue tangs- the exotic blue fish (Dory) in the movie. This leads to them being "unsustainably harvested" (I would just call it kidnapping) from their natural habitat, drastically decreasing their numbers and endangering the species. The video gives as an example the fact that the demand for owls increased while the Harry Potter movies appeared, clown fish (Nemo's species) sales increased up to 40 % after "Finding Nemo" was released and a few other such examples.
You can find the full video here: https://www.facebook.com/natgeo/videos/ ... 971233951/

I wrote this here because I believe the same thing could happen if we read animals tales to children. If they get attached to a certain type of animal in the story (a rabbit, a horse, a mouse, etc.) they will be inclined to want it as a pet and we need to pay attention to what would be the consequences of them getting what they want. I have never thought of this from this perspective, but it makes sense and I believe this would be an interesting topic to discuss in the future courses of Animal Tales.