This is “Dream”, a short animation created by Zombie Studio for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in 2016. The video is making rounds again on the internet due to its powerful and heartbreaking message about the possible extinction of animals.
The video features four critically endangered animals – a blue whale, a brown pelican, a baby harp seal, and a rhinoceros – singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. The video shows the animals enjoying their respective habitats before humans arrive and destroy their homes, causing them to suffer a cruel fate under human hands. Take a look at the video below and you’ll see why it’s pulling at the heartstrings of so many people.
The singers behind the animal’s voices are Natalie Bergman, Ryan Merchant, Keenan O’Meara, and Tal Altman. About 360k blue whales were killed in the Antarctic since the start of the 20th century, the WWF state. That is a devastating fact considering they are considered among the most endangered great whales due to habitat loss and pollution. The animation emphasizes the harm humans are causing to the environment and wildlife, with the aim of inspiring viewers to take action to protect global biodiversity.
The video was posted to Reddit with the caption, “When you’ve got a minute, here’s a short video I’ve just found from the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival. It’s well worth a watch…and a share!” Amongst the comments, Reddit users said, “Was not prepared for how sad that was”, and “Wow, that was a tough watch.” The animation clearly is hitting the heart string of many people online, probably what it was designed to do.
Videos like this are an engaging way to keep people aware of the effects we, as humans, have on our beloved planet. Hopefully, with entertainment art such as this circulating the internet every few years, we can keep education about our environment in the mainstream and forefront of people’s minds.