"Anthony Wall - The Eden Mission (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wall Anthony)

the rows of attentive faces. "This is the most urgent project of our time. A
matter, literally, of life and death. The Eden Mission must succeed.

"And Sea Shepherd's role in the global operation? Crucial. The ship serves as
an ocean-going headquarters - gathering data, via satellite, about the
mission's many activities and acting as a link between the various task
forces."

Besides that, Bellingham explained, the experts aboard Sea Shepherd were
conducting their own research and protection programme ... "a programme our
younger passengers can help with." Gary caught Susan's eye and grinned.

"Sea Shepherd sails in an hour," Ben announced. "She'll be gone for a year.
First stop Florida, then on to the Amazon, then Antarctica."

He crossed the platform. "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to show you some slides
which illustrate why The Eden Mission cannot be allowed to fail. First,
though, we'll take a short break ..."

Susan's cheeks were flushed, Gary noticed. He felt it too--exhilaration.
They'd soon be off!

The dark-haired boy, a few months older than his blonde friend, tended to make
rather a point of appearing cool. Unlike Susan. Her blue eyes shone now as she
enthused. The voyage, Ben Bellingham, the other teenagers travelling with
them, the cabin where her luggage had already been stowed ... it was all so
exciting. Gary nodded eagerly, swept along by Susan's happy chatter.

A journalist in front of them mumbled to his colleague: "Why's it called The
Eden Mission anyway?" Susan, who had just finished a sentence, answered before
she could check herself. "Easy. After The Garden of Eden. The perfect place
for people and animals and plants--living together." The journalist didn't
respond.
Suddenly the lights in the lecture hall dimmed. "Your attention, please."
Bellingham again. Time for the slides. Up on the screen came a picture of a
spotted ocelot fur coat, an elephant-ivory ornament, an ostrich-feather hat, a
striped zebra rug, a crocodile-skin handbag and snake-skin shoes.

"A few of the frivolous luxuries we make from wild animals," he commented.

The next slide showed a selection of poachers' weapons: rifles, machine-guns,
poison arrows, wire snares. "An arrow can kill an elephant in twelve
hours--but sometimes death takes months. Poachers may even poison the beast's
food with sulphuric acid from car batteries, causing slow and agonising
torture. Wire snares often catch large antelope. If they do break free, the
wire cuts into their flesh and they die later of infection."

The screen went blank and a spotlight fell on Ben. "We should all be ashamed
of ourselves for letting this happen. More than a thousand animals--including
leopards, gorillas and rhinos--face the threat of extinction today because of