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Australia has lost the most mammals to extinction of any other continent in the world. One of those species was the Tasmanian Tiger, officially extinct as of 1936, and a continued source of mystery, sadness, and sometimes hope, for citizens of Australia. To this day, there are reports of Tasmanian tiger sightings, all of which are proving to be unfounded, but there is such a fixation on the Tasmanian tiger and its supposed existence. This begs the question however, why does it seem like we always care when it's far too late?
The Tasmanian Tiger is the perfect example of too little, too late. Our relationship with the other living beings who also inhabit our planet is so warped. We constantly take from the planet in our continued search for resources, destroying habitats and ecosystems along the way. We put hundreds of thousands of species at risk every day as we continue to grow, because with our growth comes the need for more land to inhabit, more land for animal agriculture, and more forest and land decimation in search of resources. Combine this with perils like poaching, wildlife trafficking, and legal hunting, and we're pretty much responsible for every peril that endangered animals currently face in the wild.
On the complete other end of things, you have advocacy groups that fight tirelessly for the protection of these species and the land they inhabit. Despite the efforts of advocacy groups around the world, animals are still going extinct. This can be attributed to the fact that unfortunately, not every person on our planet feels as strongly about animal welfare, conservation, and the survival of these species. This is too little, too late, but in a much grander scale. You see, without global cooperation and a shared vision for what animal welfare and the importance of our planet's conservation is, we are fighting a losing battle. We have poachers running around, shooting and killing endangered animals for their parts to sell for exorbitant amounts of money. We have the incredible value of tiger blood, bear bile, ivory, pangolin scales etc., fueling the motivation to slaughter endangered animals. We have legal hunts, supposedly aiding in conservation while the very same animals they shoot face the possibility of extinction within 30 years. This clash continues to drive species on our planet towards extinction. There is just such a divide between those of us who want to see a future for all living beings, and those who will only care when these species have gone extinct. This divide has, and will continue to fit our narrative of too little, too late when it comes to extinction. HAPPY VEG
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Former President Donald Trump, made it his mission to work against the survival of animals on our planet. His administration made numerous attacks on animals and their well-being during his tenure and gray wolves are one of those species. In the final months of his presidency, Trump shockingly removed Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves leaving them vulnerable once again to being hunted or in this case, hunted by the hundreds.
I think the most alarming aspect of this story is that the state of Wisconsin appears to be so desperately in need of sport hunting that barely a month after the gray wolves lost their protections, it's full steam ahead with contests that slaughter them. To be so adamant that gray wolves must be shot and killed for sport so soon after their Endangered Species Act protections were lifted, indicates to me that animal welfare is likely not a priority for people in this area. It's absolutely sickening that in less than a month of their protections being lifted, contests to slaughter them by the hundreds are already taken place. It's shocking and frustrating how quickly years of conservation can be undone for some stupid sport hunting contest. If our relationship with the animals on our planet doesn't change, we will see continued extinctions of our planet's most recognized and vulnerable. Every day, we're fighting against our own conservation efforts because collectively as a planet, we are not on the same page when it comes to animal welfare. Without 100% support for conservation, species will continue to suffer. We are working against our own efforts around every corner, When you look at elephants for example, we fight tirelessly to protect them & their habitats while simultaneously promoting trophy hunting. We advocate for the survival of giraffes but allow their body parts to be imported as trophies. We have to address our contradictory approach to conservation because it is not working.
As I said, our relationship with animals needs to change so that we're all on the same page here. Animals are dying rapidly despite our best conservation efforts and that is wholly attributed to the other half of us who don't seem to care whether a species survives or not. Time is of the essence when it comes to extinction. This contest is simply another example of our lack of empathy towards the perils wild animals endure to their survival. It's absolutely shameful and will help along the reintroduction of gray wolves to the Endangered Species Act in no time. We will be right back at square one after 40 years of tireless efforts. It's despicable.
Click the link at the top of this post for the original story and information on whom to contact to voice your displeasure over the Wisconsin hunt of gray wolves. HAPPY VEG The Jane Goodall Act was recently introduced in Canada, and if it moves through Senate approval, it will become one of the strongest animal welfare laws passed in history. It is imperative that Canada approve this bill, improving its animal welfare standards exponentially, and setting an example for the rest of the world. Elephants, Great Apes, Dolphins, and other wild animals that require immediate protection will all benefit from the Jane Goodall Act.
The Jane Goodall Act would look to increase protections for some of the planet's most endangered animals while tackling animal captivity and trafficking. Let's look at some of the main components of the Jane Goodall Act;
The Jane Goodall Act MUST pass in Canada. We must take a stand for our planet's most vulnerable and make true commitments to their rehabilitation. As I said, numbers don't lie & extinction is permanent. We are running out of time.
HAPPY VEG I recently stumbled across an article that was speaking out against animal activists for not truly understanding how trophy hunting affects African communities. (I can't find the article now, otherwise I'd link it for you guys) In the article, the authority speaking, claimed that activists have blinders on and don't truly understand how African wildlife is managed nor do they understand how trophy hunting aids in both community support and conservation efforts. Activists were blasted for drawing attention to matters that not only did not concern them, but that they did not wholly understand. The authority claims that only African authorities truly understand about the country's wildlife management and that trophy hunting is a vital part of their conservation. Instead of arguing, let's take a look at the statistics in this case. What is the current population of 3 of Africa's most endangered animals versus 30 years ago.
The proof is in the numbers y'all, each of these species has seen their populations sharply decline in the past 30 years despite international efforts to aid in their conservation. It's time to stop arguing in defense of trophy hunting like it's some kind of saviour for the survival of endangered animals in Africa. Shooting and killing endangered animals DOES NOT aid in conservation. Should I repeat that?
Enough with the trophy hunting nonsense. These animals are being shot for sport while they continue to fight for survival, plain and simple. The only living creatures benefitting from trophy hunting are the wealthy folk shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for the opportunity to slaughter one of these animals. How can we argue that our efforts are working when the facts tell us that these animals are headed towards extinction in our lifetime? We need a ban on trophy hunting. HAPPY VEG A damning report by the Born Free Foundation has shone a light on the struggles captive Giraffes face as opposed to being free in the wild. The report comes on the 7th anniversary of the death of Marius, a young, healthy giraffe, from a Copenhagen zoo. Marius was culled and subsequently dissected in front of the public; his body parts were fed to various carnivores throughout the park. These actions were justified by the park as they claimed Marius' genes were already represented in the captive giraffe population. This story makes it abundantly clear that giraffes do not belong in captivity, along with most other wild animals.
We would be incredibly naïve to assume that these perils apply only to captive giraffes. In almost every case of wild animals in captivity, they are deprived of much of their natural instincts when forced to live in enclosures. This undoubtedly leads to mental and emotional traumas that cause these stereotypic behaviours. The Born Free Foundation is asking zoos to funnel these funds otherwise used for giraffe captivity towards true conservation efforts. These funds could be allocated to helping protect endangered habitats and forests, restoration of landscapes, and community awareness & education. Ultimately, it's my honest opinion that if these zoos are not housing and breeding wild animals for the purpose of rehabilitation of the species, they really shouldn't have these animals at all. There are many zoos that are currently working on panda or polar bear conservation, which is money that I support being funneled into these zoos. Simply having and breeding wild animals for the purpose of exploiting and capitalizing on them is simply unacceptable. I will update with more information as it becomes available. HAPPY VEG Dallas Safari Club's annual trophy hunting convention runs from February 10th - 14th, this year going virtual due to the pandemic. The convention's purpose is to auction off opportunities to slaughter innocent and often endangered animals to the highest bidder. Along with these horrific auctions, there are a plethora of hunting / animal related products available for purchase including polar bear rugs, lion / elephant trophies, guns & ammunition, and fur products from animals like leopards. The convention's goal is to raise 3.5 million dollars for the Dallas Safari Club. The photos from the convention are both frightening and saddening, indicating that there is still so much work to do when it comes to conservation and animal welfare.
Photos taken from World Animal News. Looking at the pictures provided by World Animal News is horrifying. These "trophies" are nothing more than the actual heads of the endangered animals slaughtered during one of these auctioned hunts. Looking around and seeing men, women, and children admiring the beheaded remains of endangered animals is so disturbing, not to mention the ease of access to hunting weapons and ammunition. It's honestly like looking at a scene from a movie; so utterly unbelievable that so many people are desensitized to what they are surrounded by. Each and every animal I saw in the photographs provided was endangered including snow leopards, lions, and rhinos. The blatant disregard for the possibility of extinction to fulfill one's own sick desires is astonishing. Among the opportunities auctioned off were;
Let's look at how endangered some of these available animals truly are;
To put this in perspective, my hometown of Windsor, Ontario has an estimated population of 300, 000 people. We are a small city in comparison to Canada's much larger and recognized cities. Our population totals more than all of the animals listed above combined. Our teeny, tiny city has more inhabitants than all of these animals combined remaining in the wild. This needs to be alarming because the fact is, these animals are dying and rapidly. Their habitats are being decimated, their populations are being fragmented, they are losing access to water and food, and continue to have conflict with local communities that results in their deaths. All of these factors considered and yet we are witnessing auctions to slaughter them for astronomical costs? This is an utter disgrace and a complete disregard for the actual struggles these wild animals are facing. Trophy hunting is disgusting. It's a sickness, one that condones the need for salacious murder. This is not a sport, it is not aiding in conservation, it is simply wealthy people with such overwhelming desires to kill. Putting a bullet in the head of an unsuspecting, endangered animal, should not be considered anything other than murder. It's abhorrent looking at these photos of the heads of animals that were shot and killed, displayed as nothing more than hunting trophies. Forget that they were once alive and facing unimaginable perils in the wild because all they are is trophies. We are in the midst of an extinction crisis, like it or not. It is wholly hypocritical to claim that a country is committed to conservation while simultaneously promoting trophy hunting. There is only one solution, and it is to ban trophy hunting permanently. You might have some butt hurt wealthy people who cry out because they can no longer shoot unsuspecting animals but at this rate, they won't be able to anyways in the next 30 years because each and every one of these hunted animals will be extinct. Extinction is permanent. Ban trophy hunting. HAPPY VEG Spain is on track to ban the hunting of wolves in an effort to help rehabilitate the species. Currently, there are anywhere between 1, 500 and 2, 000 Iberian wolves remaining in the wild in Spain and until now, only those in the south were protected, leaving those in the north susceptible to being hunted and killed. This ban, if signed off, would effectively end the hunting of Iberian wolves and would allow the species an opportunity to rehabilitate itself in the wild.
South African customs intercepted 3.5 million dollars worth of rhino horns that were headed to Malaysia. The suspicious packages labelled as "HD Cartridges Developers" were deemed suspicious by customs employees who decided it needed to be sent for X-Rays. The X Rays determined that there were rhino horns evident, buried within clothing in the 3 suspicious packages. That's when they discovered 18 rhino pieces, totaling approximately 3.5 million U.S. dollars.
I've spoken out about this before many times, but it's time to devalue some of these items that continue to fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market. First of all, we need to be shutting down ANY markets that sell ivory, legal or not. We must strip value from any item that is stolen from an endangered animal. Ivory, pangolin scales, tiger blood etc., if we collectively as a planet strip all monetary value form these items, there is less motivation to continue to slaughter these animals. The black market will always be there, but if we've devalued these items so exponentially that the gain no longer outweighs the risk, maybe we can continue to curb these illegal poachings.
I don't have all of the solutions, but I do know that this problem is persistent and we must continue to come up with new ideas to protect vulnerable species from extinction. The fact is, there are roughly 27, 000 rhinos left on our planet and even one being poached is too many. Rhinos are already relegated to National Parks for the most part because outside of the parks, they are poached for ivory. 27, 000 individuals is next to nothing when you consider the population of Africa. As I said, even one being slaughtered is too many when you consider extinction as a reality. I'm forever grateful for the tireless efforts of anti-poaching units and the work the South African customs does every day to intercept these illegal shipments. While it's cause for celebration that this shipment was intercepted, it's also a very real wake-up call that despite all of these efforts, poaching remains a serious threat to the survival of endangered animals. There is still so much work to do to protect our planet's most vulnerable species. HAPPY VEG On January 20th of this year, President Biden issued a broad review of the Trump administrations wildlife policies which included the decision to strip gray wolves of their Endangered Species Act protections. In under a week, the US Fish & Wildlife Services responded, stating that the previous administration's decision to strip gray wolves was still valid. Protections were stripped from gray wolves in October of 2020, despite concerns raised from the peer review.
Gray wolves occupy a mere 10% of the land they historically roamed and their populations have dropped over 90%, even after recovery is considered. Removing their protections now will plunge them back into desperation. Conservation requires years and years of tireless effort, and considering gray wolves have been listed under the ESA for over 50 years and we're talking about fewer than 10, 000, I can't imagine removing their protections is a wise decision. In fact, I can envision gray wolves ending up back on the list within the next 10 years at the rate in which we are helping along the mass extinction currently plaguing our planet.
I have lost all faith in the US Fish & Wildlife Services. After having reported on their failures over the past 5 or 6 years on this blog, I simply don't have any faith in this organization. The same organization that takes years and several lawsuits to actually function, expects us to believe that they conducted a review of the gray wolf management in under a week. It's incredibly alarming how quickly the USFWS conducted their review and came to the decision that gray wolves no longer require protections, and I fear that this rushed review of their survival will only hurt their chances of continued population growth. Gray wolves still require protections. The USFWS has failed them by pandering to the former President and making the survival of gray wolves political. So many species on our planet face the possibility of extinction, now is not the time to be stripping them of much needed protections. Gray wolves deserve a future on our planet and without these protections, their future is in jeopardy. HAPPY VEG An orangutan named Boncel, was once again translocated back to the forest in Indonesia after wandering into a local village in search of food. Orangutans like Boncel are in grave danger of extinction because of habitat loss, logging, and the palm oil industry, which is devastating forests in Indonesia. This relocation of the same orangutan indicates that while conservation and wildlife restoration efforts are effective, they are fighting against the clock and will require the cooperation of locals when it comes to logging and reparation of habitats.
There are fewer than 120, 000 orangutans left in the wild and they have a designated "Critically Endangered" status on the ESA. Critically endangered indicates that if aggressive measures are not taken, orangutans will undoubtedly go extinct. When it comes to endangered animals, time is of the essence. Extinction is a permanent outcome, there is absolutely no coming back from it which is why it is imperative that all efforts are made to prevent that outcome. Orangutans are in grave danger as we decimate their habitat and climate change continues to fuel aggressive and widespread forest fires. We are witnessing a mass extinction occur around us. I'm grateful to all f the people who helped Boncel and returned him safely to a denser part of the forest, but this is only temporary. These temporary solutions are preventing immediate human conflicts but the real issues still need to be addressed. Logging is destroying the forest. Climate change is destroying these forests. The palm oil industry is destroying their habitat. We have to address these areas of concern before orangutans go extinct. I've attached a link to the World Wildlife Foundation's page on Orangutans. Learn about them and the perils they currently face and if you can, learn how you can help save orangutans from extinction! www.worldwildlife.org/species/orangutan HAPPY VEG
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