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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet
Aired July 13, 2002 - 09:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you watch Animal Planet, you know about Jeff Corwin. He brings the world of wild animals to all the kids out there, including a few in my household.
He is joining us this morning from outside the San Diego Zoo -- apparently there's a security snafu there, he can't get in there, no, just kidding that was Suzanne Malveaux, our Washington correspondent, White House correspondent -- to talk about a campaign to encourage kids to write. And that is a noble cause indeed.
Jeff, good to have you with us.
JEFF CORWIN, ANIMAL PLANET: Good morning, Miles, how are you?
O'BRIEN: Very well, very well. Tell us about the campaign.
CORWIN: Well, basically Papermate and Animal Planet have partnered together for this program that's Papermate's Wild About Writing. And the objective is to get young people excited about writing. And kids from the ages of 6 to 15 can write an essay of, like, 100 words from stuff they're seeing on Animal Planet, for example, my show, get into Papermate by October 7, and there's over 55,000 different prizes, including a chance to be on Animal Planet.
But it's just to show the fun and the reward which comes from writing.
O'BRIEN: And, and just to be clear for kids who might be out there, or their parents who might be interested in encouraging this, you want them to just write anything that they think about animals...
CORWIN: Well, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
O'BRIEN: ... or...
CORWIN: Ex -- yes, it has to be focused on natural history, on wildlife. It could have issues of conservation. It should be fun, and it should be connected to what you're experiencing when they watch Animal Planet, for example.
It's not really a winner or loser sort of thing. Participants will be randomly selected. So...
O'BRIEN: Yes. Random, though, I'm sorry... CORWIN: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
O'BRIEN: ... the winners will be randomly selected, or the...
CORWIN: The winners will be randomly selected.
O'BRIEN: So there's no, there's no judging.
CORWIN: There's no real judging per se.
O'BRIEN: OK.
CORWIN: Just -- it's getting -- because it -- you have such a wide range of ages.
O'BRIEN: I understand. All right, and how did this all come to be? Was this something that had (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with you?
CORWIN: Well, it -- you know, it came to be because Papermate has a concern and an issue with making sure kids stay connected with the challenges that come with writing. And I'm a wildlife biologist, and I use television, as you do, as my medium for sharing information. But still, writing is an important part of my life as a scientist for sharing information. And it's just a skill we all need.
And sometimes in the age of technology, we lose an interest in one of the most simplest, purest, but most rewarding ways of sharing information.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's...
CORWIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the campaign.
O'BRIEN: ... let's talk a minute about you and your show. What's next for you? Who are you going to -- what are you going to bag, and I say that figuratively?
CORWIN: Well, I just got -- I just came back from Morocco, where I traveled across the Sahara on camel caravan with Berbers. And we were looking for Fennick (ph) foxes and snakes. And then...
O'BRIEN: Wow, cool.
CORWIN: ... we were off to Spain. And then I'm off to Colombia, I'm very excited, I'm going to Colombia, to South America, to film the things we never think about about Colombia, wildlife and scientists and highlight some of the positive conservation stuff that's happening there.
O'BRIEN: It sounds exciting. Do you ever find yourself running out of good places to go and thing to do, or is there always another animal and another place?
CORWIN: Well, that's what's great about our planet. We have a planet that's filled with wonderful creatures, lots of habitat to explore. So I'm not -- right now, I'm not worried about not having places to go to and finding creatures to discover. You can always go back. I mean, we've done shows in Arizona and Florida and Alaska. And you -- there are, you know, many animals. We don't do all the wildlife to be in a one-hour show.
So right now, we're not running out of creatures. That's not to say that there are creatures out there that aren't running out of time, and that's another story we tell, the plight of extinction that many creatures face today.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jeff Corwin, host of "The Jeff Corwin Experience," and spearheading a campaign called Wild About Writing, joining us from outside the San Diego Zoo, trying to get that ball rolling. And we encourage youngsters out there, if they're interested, to put 100 words together and see what happens. You might end up on Jeff's show, who knows?
Thanks a lot, Jeff, for being with us. We appreciate it.
CORWIN: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right.
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