None just like me

Commended Entry: "None just like me" by Kaleb Veal from the USA

This article was submitted in the Kids World Travel Guide Essay Competition 2023 in the Junior Category 8 - 11 years.

None just like me

Whiz, I made it. I barely missed that tree. Zoom, I zip between branches.

I am Pouākai, later known as the Haast’s Eagle. I rule over the creatures of Aotearoa because I am the biggest hunter of all. No one can hunt me. I hunt them.

I weigh twenty to twenty-six pounds, that is a lot for a bird. Equally impressive is my wingspan. It measures eight and a half to ten feet. That is as tall as one of your modern single story houses. This size wingspan helps me to glide through the dense forests of my scrubland home. It gives me the advantage of speed. My enormous sharp claws are three inches long! They can grab and pierce my prey.

I see my prey now, coming down for a drink from the river. It is a large brown Moa nine feet tall. I know the Moa is fifteen times my own size, but they are so yummy. If I attack as my parents taught me, I will be able to defeat my prey. Suddenly some humans appear from the trees and kill my moa. Ever since they came to the island we’ve had less and less food. They do not hunt my kind for food instead some of them want our bones to make into tools and weapons. Creepy!

These humans, called the Maori, have been trampling my homeland. This is the only place in the world where we live. Based on how we have been treated I believe the Pouākai (Haast’s Eagle) will vanish in a matter of years. In your time the only way you might see us is by looking at our fossils in a museum.

I hope other animals will not be treated like this. I also hope that humans will stop messing up our lives. Leo Tolstoy once said, "One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken."

Maybe humans can find a way to save other animals from extinction and live in unity with nature. The world still has amazing animals, none are quite as excellent as me, but they are pretty interesting in their own way.

Congratulations on your essay "None just like me", Kaleb! Thank you! We learnt something new about the extinct Haast's Eagle or Pouakai! Your essay was a very strong contender for the award. Well done!

Kaleb Veal attends Golden Valley Charter School in California/ USA. English is his First Language.