It seems you can hardly turn on a radio or listen to some popular beat combo performing live without the unique sound of a banjo or ukelele insinuating itself into your mind and causing your fingers to twitch and shoulders sway.
Now. Thanks to Flatfoot Johnny of south London, you too can get to grips with a four string and save Asia's vultures from extinction. They're currently vanishing faster than the dodo ever did.
Flatfoot Johnny - or John Deller - is a craftsman. He grows gourds which he then treats and turns into amazing instruments. He also uses recycled materials such as old cigar boxes or tins. You can win one of these handmade gourd banjos, normally retailing at some £450, for the small investment of a fiver. In return, you get a funky sticker and the chance of being drawn as the winner of this beautiful and fully functional object. It may well change your life.
One thing's for sure, buying a sticker will change the lives of Asia's vultures. Four pounds out of every five will go towards the project based in India which has already done so much for these weird, vital and ... yes.. ugly birds. They're not much to look at, but they did help keep rabies down and other diseases that affect people. They are nature's undertakers and without them, dead animals are often left to rot where they drop, encouraging the spread of packs of wild dogs and rats which feed on the corpses. It's an unpleasant world, but those brilliant vultures were expert cleaners.
The vultures disaperance has had religious impacts too. Zoroastrans [Parsis] used to leave their dead on 'Towers of Silence' so the bodies wouldn't contaminate the earth, water or air. Vultures were integral to that way of life. Now there aren't enough vultures and the ancient religion has been forced to find other ways to deal with the remains of supporters.
Please buy one of Johnny's stickers and help restore a broken, but essential, part of Asia's natural eco-system.