Natalie Mitchell / Staff reporter
Animal endangerment is a global issue that is often not given enough attention. There are many threats that contribute to the increase of endangered species, but nothing contributes more than humans. In Canada, conservation approaches are only addressing one threat at a time causing large reductions in animal populations. Does Canada just need to change their efforts or does the whole world?
Presently in Canada, the populations of species that are at risk of global extinction are declining by an average of 42 percent in the last 50 years according to a wildlife organization. The belief is that Canada isn’t putting in enough effort to protect its endangered animals. The many threats in Canada include habitat loss, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports that the reason why Canada’s large reduction in animal population is that the “conservation approaches are only being tackled one threat at a time.” Instead, there needs to be a conservation strategy that takes most if not all threats into account.
Habitat loss is the primary cause of higher extinction rates. Humans are the biggest contributors to 85 percent of animal endangerment and extinction through the destruction of habitats. Clearcut logging is when all trees from one area are cut down. It destroys the habitats of many species and can create problems for forest-dependent ecosystems, such as the rivers that run through the forest. The Amazon rainforest, which holds about ten percent of the world’s wildlife, is now being clearcut. Clearcutting, along with residential and commercial development are the number one threat from humans today.
The effects of the loss of habitat can result in more frequent encounters with humans which can then kill them through pesticides, car collisions or because they are considered a danger for being too close to us.
Animals are hunted every day for food and other resources, but they are also trophy hunted for the pure purpose of entertainment. Sadly, it has been revealed that over 200,000 endangered species are killed each year to be shown off as trophies.
Canned hunting, like trophy hunting, is done for entertainment. According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, there are canned hunting ranches that hunters visit to kill threatened or endangered animals. These ranches make their money off the importation or breeding of exotic and endangered animals by charging people to kill them for entertainment.
The rate of animal extinction is rapidly increasing more than it ever has before. Historically per year, about five species went extinct due to natural extinction. Now, as reported by the Endangered Species Coalition, “The Earth now loses species at a rate of 1,000 to 10,000 more”. They also indicated that we would lose around 30 to 50 percent of the Earth’s species by the time it’s 2050. If the world should prevent the endangerment and ultimate extinction of almost 50 percent of Earth’s species by 2050, the effort and focus on animal endangerment and extinction needs to also increase dramatically.
Cites:
https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/stats
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/endangered-species
https://petpedia.co/endangered-species-statistics/#included%2030,178%20species
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/wwf-at-risk-species-decline-in-canada-1.5709093 https://www.endangered.org/endangered-species-making-a-comeback-and-giving-hope-for-the-future/