Excess Baggage - 16/05/2009

Human beings and wild animals do not live easily side by side, and the larger the animal the bigger the conflict. John McCarthy talks to two winners of the Whitley Awards for International Nature Conservation who have been tackling the problems. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a wildlife vet working with mountain gorillas in Uganda and has started a project to prevent the spread of diseases between the animals and humans, especially now that tourists are encountering gorillas at much closer quarters. Jittin Ritthirat works in Thailand trying to reconcile the needs of the wild elephants with those of the human residents of and visitors to the monsoon forest. Tourists have also had a big impact on Corfu, and none more so than the British. John talks to a long-time regular visitor to the island about its appeal to us, our influence on it, and ginger beer.