Текст на английском про животных

I love animals. There are pets and wild animals.

Pets live with people. Cats, dogs and hamsters are pets. I have got a cat. Her name is Murka. She is grey and very soft.

Wild animals live in forests, fields and rivers. In Russia there are bears, wolves, foxes and hares.

Some animals live in hot countries. Elephants are very big. Monkeys can climb trees. Giraffes have got long necks.

My favourite wild animal is the fox. It is red and clever.

My name is Lena. For years I asked my parents for a dog, and last spring they finally said yes. We went to an animal shelter and chose a small brown puppy. We called him Bublik.

At first Bublik was afraid of everything: the vacuum cleaner, the lift and even his own reflection. But soon he became braver. Now he is the happiest dog in our building.

Having a pet is fun, but it is also a big responsibility. I walk Bublik twice a day, before school and in the evening. My brother feeds him, and my dad takes him to the vet.

Bublik is cleverer than our cat, Sonya, but she is more independent. They were not friends at first, but now they often sleep on the same sofa.

This summer we are going to take Bublik to the countryside. I think he will love running in the fields!

People have lived side by side with animals for thousands of years. Dogs were probably the first animals which humans tamed, and since then they have helped us to hunt, guard our homes and herd sheep. Later people domesticated cows, horses, goats and chickens, which gave them milk, meat, wool and transport.

Today many animals are kept simply as pets. Cats and dogs are the most popular, but some people prefer parrots, rabbits, turtles or even snakes. Pets make us less lonely, and scientists say that stroking a cat or walking a dog can actually reduce stress.

Russia is home to many wild animals. Brown bears, wolves, elks and lynxes live in the taiga, while polar bears and walruses can be found in the Arctic. The Amur tiger, which lives in the Far East, is one of the largest cats in the world. However, it is rare and is protected by law.

Wild animals face many dangers, and most of them are caused by people. Forests are cut down, rivers are polluted, and some animals are still hunted illegally.

I have volunteered at a local animal shelter for two years. If you want to help animals too, you can start by giving a home to a cat or a dog from a shelter.

Few questions divide animal lovers as sharply as the debate about zoos. To some, a zoo is a place of wonder where children see a living tiger for the first time; to others, it is little more than a prison, however comfortable its cages may be.

Critics have a point. Animals that roam vast distances in the wild, such as elephants or polar bears, often show signs of stress in captivity, pacing the same path for hours. Kept in a small enclosure, even the most carefully fed animal is deprived of the challenges that shape its natural behaviour.

Modern zoos, however, argue that their role has changed. Rather than simply putting animals on display, the best of them now run breeding programmes for endangered species, some of which would otherwise have disappeared altogether. Przewalski's horse, for instance, survived largely thanks to zoos, and it has since been returned to the steppes of Mongolia.

Education is another argument in their favour. Watching a documentary is one thing, but seeing an animal breathe, move and react is quite another. It is precisely this kind of experience that turns many children into future biologists and conservationists. Moreover, the money paid for tickets often funds research and protection projects far beyond the zoo's walls.

On balance, I believe that zoos are justified only if the welfare of the animals comes first. Were all zoos to follow the example of the best ones, offering large natural enclosures and supporting conservation in the wild, the debate would probably lose much of its sharpness.