For this year's entry to the procession we decided to become endangered species for the day, highlighting the massive human made species extinction that is going on all around us. Cheryll became an Amur Leopard, and Pete a Gorilla; just as last year the float was bicycle powered, so we wheeled out the colourful tricycle and Cheryll's new second hand bike.

We had been inspired by a theatre group called "Restless Natives" who we saw at the Radical Routes Gathering at Keveral Farm. Their show brought home the realities of our effect on our environment - we are responsible for the planet's sixth mass extinction. As the procession placard said, 82 species go extinct every day, and that is a conservative estimate.

So we fished out all our animal print clothing, and covered our bikes in foliage - we've found a use for bracken - and joined the carnival. The bracken soon caused problems with gear cogs... We mounted signs on the tricycle's trailer saying '7 species will go extinct during this procession'.

This year we actually had some competition in the bike category, another local entry called buttons and bows. The judges seemed to like our educational float, and we came away with the first prize again. We then joined the parade around Moreton, following aliens, sea creatures, a foot in mouth float, Noah's Ark and about twenty shiny Elvis impersonators. The weather held out, and the dancing in the Square carried on until late in the night.

For more information on species extinction and its repercussions, try these links:

The Sixth Extinction by Richard Leakey

Rainforest Action Network Factsheet