Forests Temporary or Permanent?

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Deforestation may seem like a small problem, but the environmental and animal impacts are vast and potentially devastating. According to National Geographic, deforestation is clearing Earth’s forests on a massive scale often causing damage to the quality of the land and subsequent habitants. Although, thirty percent of the land is still forest, 46-58 thousand square miles of forest per year which is the equivalent to 48 football fields per minute every minute is lost every year. At this rate, there will likely be no forests in one hundred years.

The postmodern view has a skewed definition of reality, which has humans believing they are the only living beings that matter– the idea that humans are dominant over all natural resources, animals, and plants. This impacts wildlife because as humans are cutting down forests for urban development in an attempt toward human greatness, animals are being displaced, threatened with extinction, and some are killed.

So why does this all matter for animals? Deforestation not only drives climate change, but it also snatches land from nearly seventy percent of the Earth’s animals and plants that otherwise cannot survive.

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Climate change is linked to a change in greenhouse gas emissions as well as lack of protection by the sun which affects the water cycle and soil erosion. Greenhouse gas emission rise with deforestation and at unprecedented rates. To put it succinctly, trees provide shelter for animals, but they also help regulate the temperature for certain species and control the water cycle, keeping runoff water from polluting drinking water.

Deforestation also affects the larger cycle of animal life including birth and death rates. As animal habitats are wiped out, some species become smaller and live shorter lives which disrupts the food chain and animal ecosystem.  With the loss of their habitat, animals are forced to live in smaller areas and the smallest natural disaster can mean the end of their species.

The epidemic of deforestation demonstrates that when we consider wildlife conservation, it’s easy to see and advocate for big and beautiful animals like lions but everything is interconnected. We simply cannot discuss the illegal killing of one animal without also recognizing the environmental aspects.

 

 

 

Cubs After the Loss of a Parent

We always hear about adult wild animals being killed, but we never hear about what happens to their children after the parents are killed by hunters. When Cecil the Lion was killed, everyone was up in arms about his death and rightly so, but no one stopped to think about what was going to happen to his cubs. Luckily for them Cecil’s brother, Jericho, was around to protect them from other lions. If Jericho wasn’t around then Cecil’s cubs would’ve either been killed or driven away from their home by other lions.

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According to Douglas Main in his article for livescience.com, once lions reach a certain age they are kicked out of the pack and forced to make it on their own. This is the natural way of doing things in the lion’s world, but when the children are left to fend for themselves before they reach this age, they are not equipped to protect themselves from hunters or other animals.

There are only 20,000 lions left in Africa and that number is rapidly declining due to trophy hunters, killing specifically males. The majority of trophy hunters are American, killing an average of 700 lions per year. The hunting of male lions is such a problem because they are the protectors of their family. If they are killed and the mother lives the cubs are still protected but are more in danger because another male lion could overpower the mother. When a male lion takes over another family he will most likely kill the cubs so that there is room for his offspring.

Through the natural order of life, lions will kill other lions but humans do not need to be helping with the decline of the lion population by killing them for sport. We are disrupting the hierarchy of these animals and the world by killing for sport.

Interests and Passions: Why Protect Wildlife?

We know that wildlife extinction is a growing problem. National Geographic reported in 2014 that we are in a unique time where animals are facing extinction at a rate of 1,000 times faster than in previous centuries.

What is happening? As the global human population grows at astronomical rates, the effects on the natural resources becomes increasingly threatened. Humans consume, consume, consume without considering the depletion of resources and how these depleted resources are affecting the lives of animals. As Mother Nature Network notes, it would take one and a half Earths to regenerate all the natural resources humans consume annually.

So, we know that this is an increasingly important problem we are facing. This is precisely why we want to explore the how, the why, the what, and who behind issues like extinction, deforestation, relocation, and the rights animals are due.

We have limited experience with this topic, BUT we have a great passion and desire to learn more as we journey into this area. It is our belief that the planet our feet are grounded on matters, and that we can no longer treat it like our own personal trash can without having serious consequences to the demise of the human race and of this planet we call home.

We are also concerned with the inevitable nature of how one species affects other species. For example, the forced relocation of one species has vast effects on the lives of not only other species but also the habitat and ecosystems that animals live in. We know that the leading cause of wildlife decline globally is due to loss or change of animal habitat. It serves as a sort of domino effect to the ecosystem, if we don’t preserve the animals and their habitats together. Simply put, we cannot make concerted efforts to preserve animals without also preserving their habitats.

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In our culture, we know that the topic of animal restoration is sometimes controversial. Some see hunting as a right and a trophy that they can brag about. They see killing an animal illegally and taking the tusk (or some other animal part) as a notch on their belt. Perhaps you saw the trending hashtag #Cecilthelion which demonstrates the polarizing nature of this topic.

We are excited to jump into this topic and explore not just these areas but also areas of animal rights and welfare- the humane treatment of animals.