Author Michael Morpurgo has written a lot of books about animals and the environment. But few can claim to hold the same level of poignancy and relevance as his 2009 children’s novel, Running Wild, which was recently adapted into a stage play in the same vein as one of his other great novels, War Horse.
When his beloved father is killed in the Iraq War, nine-year-old Will and his mother travel to Indonesia for a holiday that turns into a nightmare when the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami strikes their beach resort. Miraculously, Will is saved when Oona, the elephant he is riding, senses the incoming wave early and takes off deep into the nearby jungle with him. Now orphaned with little chance of rescue and only Oona for company, he is forced to rely on her and his own wits to survive in this hostile but beautiful environment. In doing so, he encounters and grows to love some of the rainforest’s most endangered inhabitants from Sumatran tigers to orangutans, learns of the horrors inflicted by those who exploit them for their own profit, and is sent on a life affirming quest to protect this extraordinary corner of Earth.
Morpurgo has described Running Wild as a story with a need to be told, and it shows in his vivid, brutally honest depictions of Indonesia’s real world environmental problems. The sheer ecological horror of palm oil and poaching is far greater than many children, even ones who are aware of these issues, probably realise and this book makes no attempt to shield them from that. Through Will’s eyes you witness first-hand as orangutan mothers are gunned out of the trees and their babies are torn screaming from their bodies by hunters. You weep as he does when the tiger he has befriended is turned into a lifeless rug by a millionaire wildlife trader. And the journey through a blackened, polluted patch of land stripped bare for mining and palm oil is so hellish it might as well be a scene from Dante’s Inferno.
But at the same time, Morpurgo also recognises the need for limits on doom-and-gloom environmentalism and makes a point of also showing what is being done to protect the rainforest, mainly the orangutan rehabilitation work of a woman who has spent her whole life in the jungle trying to save them. Through this and a series of informative fact files at the end of the book, a call to action is sent to readers to do whatever they can to defend orangutans and their home by reducing their palm oil use and supporting conservation efforts.
Of course, education through entertainment is only really effective when the reader has an emotional connection to what is happening. That is to say, a compelling character they can identify with to go on the journey with, which Running Wild definitely provides. In spite of his extraordinary circumstances (and to some extent, because of them), Will spends much of the first third of the book in a place of grief that all too many of us can relate to, particularly those who have lost loved ones in armed conflict or natural disasters. His initial uneasiness with his new surroundings is also very relatable too. But through holding on to happy memories of his past and his friendship with Oona, he is able to not only overcome his grief but also to focus his mind on the everyday tasks of survival. This in turn gives him the strength both to face the many, many trials that it and man throw at him, and to keep fighting for his animal friends and the forest they depend on.
Speaking of rainforests, if Morpurgo has never been to one before he gives little indication of it here. His descriptions capture perfectly all the physical attributes of the rainforest, good and bad. The energy sapping heat, the drenching but refreshing rain showers that come out of nowhere, the constant hum of ever present insects. It’s all here. Where his research does seem to have skimped somewhat however is on the actual wildlife of Indonesia, which is ironic for a book about wildlife conservation. Amongst all of Running Wild’s accurate depictions of tigers, orangutans, elephants, gibbons, sun bears and crocodiles, there are also cases where it confuses native animals with non-native ones (i.e. hornbills with toucans) or includes species that shouldn’t be there at all (there are definitely no lemurs in Indonesia, Mr. Morpurgo). Definitely a minor source of irritation for those us familiar with the biodiversity of this region.
On the whole however, Running Wild is a moving, immersive and timely must-read for any budding conservationist.
Anecdote: Many of the animals written about are currently being rehabilitated in Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Centre and the Sintang Orangutan Centre. Both Centres need all the help they can get.
The cost of food for the animals at Tasikoki alone is more than Euro 4,830 a month (approx. HKD42,000).
Please donate and mark the donation ‘Food for Rescued Wildlife’.
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