Endangered Animals
Imagine you are in a jungle, and you don’t hear a sound, would this be right? If you think it is, then there is a problem. Because if there is no noise, then it means that there are no living things around. According to the IUCN red list, there are over 44,000 endangered species on earth; 38% of the planet's animals are endangered. To protect animals, we must change our actions otherwise they will become endangered and go extinct. The loss of animal life will affect the planet’s ecosystems and eventually affect human life. In this essay, we will discuss the importance of understanding how animals are becoming endangered and why it is our responsibility to help them. If we like animals, want to protect our ecosystems and make sure that species survive, then we must do something to protect them.
The biggest reason that animals become endangered is due to human choices. According to WWF (The World Wildlife Fund) wildlife crime is a big business. Run by dangerous men, wildlife and animal parts are trafficked like illegal drugs. It is almost impossible to obtain reliable people to stop the illegal wildlife trade. The illegal trade is estimated to earn billions of dollars. Some examples of illegal wildlife trade are well known, such as the poaching of elephant tusks and rhino tusks for ivory, and tigers for their skins and bones. However not all wildlife trade is illegal. Wild plants and animals from tens to thousands of species are caught or harvested from the wild and then sold as food, pets, ornamental plants, leather, tourist ornaments, and medicine. Wildlife trade increases rapidly into a crisis when an increasing proportion is illegal and unsustainable, directly threatening the survival of many species in the wild.
Wildlife activist Thomas Kelly once said, “individuals who hunt for sport do so because they like the feeling it gives them. They feel empowered — in control. I really do understand the appeal. But there are ways of obtaining that feeling that do not involve killing…” One thing that the public can do to help stop poachers from hunting and killing animals, is to stop buying wildlife products. If the poachers and hunters cannot make any money from the items they want to sell, they will go out of business and will need to stop their illegal activity, because they won’t make any money and it won’t be worth it.
Another way that humans contribute to animals becoming endangered is by being involved in deforestation. Deforestation is chopping down trees in forest. Many forests have been destroyed and flattened to make way for agriculture and livestock (farming), and to harvest wood for fuel, manufacturing, and construction (building things). When this happens, animals lose their homes, their families and food source. According to https://www.greenpeace.org/ (a charity which aims to protect the planet) “people can make a difference in the fight to save forests by making informed daily choices. By consuming less, avoiding single-use packaging, eating sustainable food, and choosing recycled or responsibly produced wood products, we can all be part of the movement to protect forests.” If we protect the forests, as a result, we also are working to protect the animals that live there from becoming endangered.
When most people think about endangered animals, they think about large land animals such as, the Asian Elephant, Polar Bears or South China Tigers. However, many endangered species live in the seas and oceans. You have probably heard a lot about ocean plastic pollution before. Humans often use plastic too much. After human use, the plastic becomes trash and often ends up in the sea. Marco Lambertini the head of the largest and most respected nature conservation organization (WWF) said: “Not only are plastics polluting our oceans and waterways and killing marine life – it's in all of us and we can't escape consuming plastics.” This means that not only is plastic pollution contributing to endangering marine life, but it is also harming humas too. Humans think that plastic is easy to make, so they throw it away without thinking about the consequences. Some people think all plastic that gets put in the recycling, gets reused, but this is not true! According to National Geographic, 91% of plastic isn’t recycled. It often ends up in the seas and oceans. The sea creatures can eat it, get tangled in it, suffer and die. This puts many marine creatures at risk of becoming endangered.
Many animals are becoming endangered or are already critically endangered. This means they are in threat of becoming extinct, so we need to change our actions to ensure their survival. The giant panda, for example, successfully came off the endangered animals list and became a non-endangered animal. This was a momentous success! This told us that if humans make choices to protect certain creatures, we can increase their numbers, and repopulate the species. If it is possible for Giant Pandas, it is possible for others.
In conclusion, we can help endangered animals by making sustainable and positive choices, such as recycling, when possible, not buying single use products and avoiding buying wildlife products-especially ones from endangered animals. In the words of Loretta Lynch “We all have a responsibility to protect endangered species, both for their sake and for the sake of our own future generations.” What will your choices be?
