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Morgan Currier

English 1201

Professor Adrienne Cassel

29 July 2019

Helping Save Endangered Species

Does it ever make you sad to think about a world without Asian Elephants trumpeting

around, or without the Bengal Tiger roaring in the wild, or without the Blue Whale swimming

about? These are just a small ratio of endangered species racing extinction these days. Animals

do a lot more for us than we can even imagine. In some cases, species become endangered due to

natural causes, such as climate change or reduction in food supply. On the other hand, humans

have a large part of why species become endangered. People take down homes that the species

live in, like trees, and the machines used to take over the wildlife area are all harmful to the

species. People need to do more to help save endangered animals because the littlest thing can

help save a whole population of species and the environment.

Let's start with the basics. What is a species? Any animal, tree, coral, fungus, insect, or

other life form on this planet, like humans, is a species (“Worldwildlife”). Being an endangered

species means that an animal or herb is in jeopardy of extinction, whether it be their whole

population or a notable part of its society. To be considered imperil, a species must have a future

where their population is plummeting fast. There are way too many species in the world to count,

but some think there are millions. New species are always being discovered and studied to see

how healthy and beneficial to the world they are. Biodiversity, the different aspects of life on

earth or in a certain habitat or ecosystem, and overall health and longevity of a species varies

from one to another. For example, the brown bear, who is on the edge of endangerment, is not in
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impending danger, while others, like the Javan rhino, cling to survival. The International Union

for Conservation of Nature keeps a worldwide assembly of animals, plants, and fungi and

records if a certain species is still living and the probability of that type of animal approaching

extinction in the time ahead (WWF). To know what species needs immediate help, the Red List

of Threatened Species exists as a foundation for conservation and helps to recognize what people

can do to protect those species. Some factors causing endangerment to species would be

demolition, exotic species, hunting and fishing, urbanization, mining, deforestation, and

contamination.

Fig. 1. This photo was taken of the Giant Panda Bear habitat in China. Humans are destroying

their habitat, which is the number one reason that species is endangered (Gillespie 1).

Another issue that is happening are humans taking advantage of a species that ends in a

hazardous decrease of inhabitants numbers. They use them for trade, pleasure, or technical and
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scholarly purposes. Some reasons are of natural causes, like competition between species and/or

being replaced by invasive species, illness, or being prey by multiple animals to the expanse that

populations shrink remarkably (Klappenbach). The International Union for the Conservation of

Nature is the international dominance on endangered species resolution. The IUCN gathers

details that comes from a system of conservation companies to assess which species are at a

higher risk for most endangered, and these statistics are produced in the IUCN Red List of

Threatened Species. IUCN Regional Red Lists examine the danger of imperil disappearance to

species in more than 100 countries and regions globally. In the United States, the US Fish and

Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service labor jointly to recognize species that

are in the most required care of the defense given by the Endangered Species Act. The

Endangered Species Act protects and recovers endangered species and the biosphere in which

they count on. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce

Department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The organization has main authority

for earthly and freshwater creatures and on the other hand, the leadership of NMFS are mostly

salt water animals like fish and sharks.

Below the ESA, species may be recorded with the title endangered or threatened.

"Endangered" is given to species that are nearing extinction within either their whole population

or a significant portion of it. "Threatened" is given to species that are more likely to become

endangered in the time to come. Every species of plants and animals, except pest insects, are

entitled for being recorded as endangered or threatened. For the intent of the ESA, Congress

determined species to involve subspecies, diversity, and, for vertebrates, clear population

segments (Leon). Right now, on the IUCN Red List, there are about 41,415 species entered and

of those, 16,306 of those species are listed as in danger of extinction.

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Now that the audience is informed about what endangered species are, they should be

informed about the different ways to help. One thing that humans neglect at doing is seeing how

everything works together as a whole. They do not see how everything connects together to

support life. The food chain, which consists of the smallest microorganisms all the way to the

enormous beasts in the world, help maintain peoples’ lives. If orangutans, marine turtles, or

elephants become extinct, people may then begin to see that saving these creatures help save the

animal’s life and humans’ lives as well. The human population has to step up to help save these

predominant connections on the food chain since the contemporary law-making and

administration departments that defend untamed species from dying out are not only being

restructured, but they also are not getting enough funding to uphold their organizations (Dobson).

A couple ideas to fulfill this task would be educating your peers, recycling, growing

native plants, etc. Educating any friends or family or keeping them up to date on current events

about endangered species within their area is very important. It is one thing to know about snow

leopards being endangered in China, but a whole other thing to know what is going on in a

backyard. Teaching peers regarding fauna, fowls, amphibians, and trees that live close is a

critical step. Doing everyday things at home and during the day can cause harm to the annelids in

a plot or the bats that inseminate and manage the mosquitos. Another way to help is to reuse and

purchase sustainable products. Local populations threaten the environment with the development

to produce new goods and that creates the natural world to follow. To help save rainforests or

endangered trees, steer clear of purchasing furnishings constructed from timber because that

would just be endangering those trees even more. To save gorilla habitat, reuse any old cell

phones. There is a certain mineral used in the making of electronics and that is mined in gorilla

habitat to keep making more of them. So, if phones are thrown away, more mine production will
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be made in gorilla habitat, harming the gorillas. People are cutting down tigers’ habitat, the

woodland, to plant palm plantations, so do not use palm oil. Native species depend on native

herbs, so plant more local plants. That provides nourishment and safety for local wild animals

and water is being reduced at the same time. Also, flowers are being pollinated when domestic

greenery entices insects such as moths and ants. Cleansed water is a worldwide issue for

undomesticated creatures, so reducing water consumption is very important. Do not ever pour

bactericides or pharmaceuticals into toilets, storm drains or down bodies of water. Cars create a

lot of damage to the air pollution, so driving less and walking more can also help. In order to do

that, supporting superior popular transport, using decomposable products, and eating organics

that are sold at a farmers market will help. When buying products, try to steer clear of buying

anything with plastic in it and take a reusable bag to shop with. Microorganisms that are helpful

to the Earth are being killed off because species are getting tangled up in plastic products, which

puts them in the ocean where small fish are ingesting them.

If people are still not able to complete those actions, then speaking to and towards peers

can be something everyone can do. Anyone that speaks to the public or is a customer needs to

reprimand and step up by writing letters or donating. Volunteering is something easy and doable.

Wildlife shelter, playgrounds, and other places have been increasingly lacking funds and will

take any help they can get. To get involved with volunteering does not always mean hours and

hours of hard labor, but might just mean educating others on the problem or picking up litter.

Any ounce of time anyone puts in for helping a cause will make a big difference.

Some things to watch for would be known polluters, hunting, and traveling.

Contamination of the air is a huge problem right now. Whether it be from streams that contain

toxic chemicals from industrial processes or rivers that have been overflowing with nutrients
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from farms. Even tiny pieces of trash blowing away from landfills and city skies covered in

smog. Landscapes that people think are immaculate can experience the effects of pollution

sources even when they could be numerous miles away. When companies are known polluters,

do not buy products from them. Numerous manufacturing companies contaminate natural water

assets and pressure others intensely so that they are not the ones having to fix the mess they

made. Another way is when hunting, it is important to update hunting licenses every so often and

get connected to a local WFG for updates of what populations are okay to kill and which

populations are under threat. Hunting can actually maintain wild populations like ducks and

birds, if instituted properly. When traveling, look out for souvenirs like reptile skins, feathers, or

quills because buying those would be supporting the market in illegal wildlife and endangered

species. There is so much we can be doing to protect these animals from extinction, but these

changes must be made now (Almaneih).

One example of an endangered species is the sea lion. Sea lions gather together and lay

out in large quantities at a time on rocks and shores on the Islands. When they work up enough

heat, they dip into the water and refresh when they like. They live in the ocean around the

Galapagos. Exotic species, for example, rabbits, can contain diseases that the sea lions can catch.

Sea lions are affected greatly by climate change on ocean currents, like their fish prey

abundance. They are also vulnerable to bycatch in fisheries. They tend to rest aside fishing boats

and if too many are on the same boat, it sinks. This makes fishermen angry and causes them to

align their boat with barbed wire as a barrier. Obviously, this would cause harm to the sea lions,

so, WWF helped support a project on San Cristóbal Island where two bloating bases were

positioned for the sea lions to lie on and it also created a “primary care nursery” for sea lions and

other species. There were also meetings set up about habitat awareness and transmission
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education to express how important sea lions are. Since the floating bases were installed, sea

lions are now using those instead of fishing boats, which is causing less sea lion injuries and not

as many complaints from boat owners on the island (“Worldwildlife”).

Another endangered species is the Bengal Tiger. There are over 2,500 tigers still roaming

the wild, with the Bengal Tiger being the largest tiger subspecies. They are mostly found in India

with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. Bengal tigers are

more at risk now since poaching has been a growing demand in Asia.

Fig. 2. This picture shown is an example of poaching. One of the biggest reasons why Bengal

Tigers are endangered (“Alarming Tiger Poaching Crisis in India.” 2).

The mangroves of the Sundarbans are the only mangrove forests where tigers are found.

Over the recent years, the Sundarbans have been at a higher risk due to climate change because

of the sea level. China also recently informed their country that it will now permit hospitals to

utilize tiger bone from captive-bred animals for conventional medicine, which has been a huge

setback for wildlife conservation. China’s resolution goes against a decades-old veto that had
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held together the prevention of extinction of endangered tigers. The Bengal tiger is at the

summit of the food chain in the wild. They are also a very important connection to keeping the

abundant variety of nature. When tigers are protected, so are the forests. For example, protecting

one tiger helps save 25,000 acres of forest. These ecosystems supply both nature and people with

fresh water, food, and health. Ever since the 1940s, the human population has increased

dramatically, which has resulted in major loss of tiger habitat. Domains are increasingly broken

because of farming and deforestation for evolutions like buildings. This coerces tigers to make a

living in tight and cramped habitat blotches. Despite the ban on tiger trade in 1993, the unlawful

request for tigers as status symbols, ornamental things, and folk cures has risen, creating a new

poaching catastrophe. Another problem tigers suffer from, is natural prey loss. Wild pigs and

water buffalo numbers decrease because of the direct poaching for meat and trade. Numbers also

decrease because of competition with livestock over food, and habitat degradation because of

excessive wood removal for fires. Now, as tigers lose their prey and homes, they have been

recorded attacking domestic animals and sometimes humans, which they are then killed by angry

people (Dobson).

Many people may wonder why it should matter to us if we have a few less species? To

put it straightforward, everyone is dependent on other species. From the pollination of crops, to

carbon storage by our forests, and even the bacteria in our mouths. People rely on biodiversity to

survive. Some people think that species are kept purely on their beauty and cultural importance,

or just for their own sake. Instead of depressing predictions jolting people into action, it tends to

paralyze them. People also believe that extinction is evolution. That weaker species need killed

off by the stronger ones. They also think that we live in a world with technology, sentience,

industry, and agriculture. Therefore, the world we live in should consist of animals that can
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adapt. They think that unless every living cell on Earth is destroyed, there will be extinction then

recovery, extinction then recovery, and so on. “The Paris Accords aim to hold the temperature to

under two degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, even though the temperature has been at

least eight degrees Celsius warmer within the past 65 million years. Twenty-one thousand years

ago, Boston was under an ice sheet a kilometer thick. We are near all-time lows for temperature

and sea level; whatever effort we make to maintain the current climate will eventually be overrun

by the inexorable forces of space and geology” (“Dynamic Biogeography and Conservation of

Endangered Species.”).

Death is unavoidable and many people look at extinction as normal. Well, for the most

part, that is true and looking back at history, the majority of all species that have ever lived have

already gone extinct. People believe that eventually, Europe will collide with Africa to form a

new supercontinent, which will then demolish species by ruining their habitats. It is common and

normal to have an entire ecosystem go extinct in the history of life. They think that the extinction

of dire wolves or the wooly mammoth made the world no better or worse of a place. Diversity

can be harmful to human health. Infectious diseases are common in the most diverse tropical

areas. Not many people donate to campaigns to save HIV, Ebola, or malaria, but these are very

important parts of microbial biodiversity as well. Just like humans, animals also mold their

environment in order to survive. For example, beavers make dams to create calm water so their

home can stay afloat and not be washed away. While they build their dams, they cause

population decline of many river species that cannot adapt to new lakes. When humans bring

invasive plant species, sometimes the native diversity suffers as a result, but productivity often

increases. Invasives have been recorded that they are better at decreasing coastal erosion and
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storing carbon than native vegetation in some areas. People think that there is no need to save

endangered species and that extinction is part of evolution. (Dobson).

Every 50 to 100 million years, huge extinctions occur where 95 percent of all species are

just wiped out. Scientists tend to agree that a sixth extinction is already taking place and is being

caused by humans (“Endangered Species”). It is important to remember to take care of the

animals we have today, and their environment. Humans are a huge cause of extinction, as they

destroy species homes’ just because an industry ran out of paper or the city wants more money so

they build more houses. Even worse, people keep killing endangered animals for money and

show.

There are a lot of ways to help endangered animals today such as volunteering or

donating. Some organizations that give credible information are: World Wide Fund, Wildlife

Conservation Society, African Wildlife Foundation, and the Animal Welfare Institute. They help

endangered animals by finding them a new home or taking care of them temporarily if they are

hurt. People need to do more to help save endangered animals because the littlest thing can help

save a whole population of species and the environment.

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Works Cited

“Alarming Tiger Poaching Crisis in India.” Wow Amazing, 4 Feb. 2016,

www.wowamazing.com/animals/endangered/indias-alarming-tiger-poaching-crisis/.

Almaneih, Susie. “12 Things we Should all do to Protect Endangered Species.” HuffPost,

HuffPost, 14 Mar. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/12-things-we-should-all-do-to-protect-

endangered-species_b_58bd9c87e4b0abcb02ce2067?

guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_

sig=AQAAAGnj9D0OW3vhg6U5DYmfsNlYnVp9korl2o4B8ZwP-

T9EoDBXsD_CbmqfU9v2r1FNacW9BaNCb7ay5hvQorFdJelmMAyBJvm5nhSucNw38

WiHgVA6TlcELtW8DaOQq-Edx19R-

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Channell, Rob, and Mark V. Lomolino. “Dynamic Biogeography and Conservation of

Endangered Species.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 2018,

www.nature.com/articles/47487.

Dobson, A. P., et al., “Geographic Distribution of Endangered Species in the United States.”

Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 24 Jan. 1997,

science.sciencemag.org/content/275/5299/550.

“Endangered Species.” Animal Planet, 16 July 2017, www.animalplanet.com/wild-

animals/endangered-species/.

Gillespie, Alexander. “Confronting Habitat Loss in the 21st Century.” OUPblog, 4 Oct. 2013,

blog.oup.com/2013/10/habitat-loss-in-the-21st-century/.

Klappenbach, Laura. “Endangered Species: A Closer Look.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 25 Mar.

2018, www.thoughtco.com/what-are-endangered-species-129927.
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Leon, Sarah. “Find Endangered Species.” Official Web Page of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, 2019, www.fws.gov/endangered/.

The World Wildlife Fund. “Protecting Species.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, July 2019,

www.worldwildlife.org/initiatives/protecting-species.