Endangered Species Essay

                                                         

Endangered Species Essay

There are many problems in the world, but we cannot tackle them all head on. We have to start at one at a time. That’s what I’m doing. Let’s talk about endangered species. Animals are found all over the world and are an important part of our ecosystem. To keep us alive, and the world alive. Without animals, it would be hard to survive. Some animals make it harder though, like the ones that eat your crops. Then again, they are starved because of humans taking over their habitats and making it unsafe. Lots of animals are losing their homes to deforestation. Alas, deforestation is another problem for another essay. 

Great example of human greed: tigers. Tigers are hardly ever used for eating, and never should be with their numbers dwindling, but are used to make a nice rug to wipe feet on at the front of the door. And their guts are used for medicine! Yuck. It may have worked in the beginning, even though it sounds disgusting, but with their numbers so low, it’s a horrible way to save people. You may convince yourself that you are saving lives by making this medicine, but you're killing more than your saving. 

Another great example of human cruelty: elephants. In Africa, elephant meat is considered a delicacy and growing populations have increased demand. Isn’t that horrible? I mean, they’re endangered! Elephants are also killed for their tusks, to hang on the wall like a prize, or to scrape bark off trees, or to dig, and so much more. And, did you know that elephant ivory was used to make pianos? They killed elephants and made their tusks into piano keys for human enjoyment. Luckily, that’s not happening anymore, but you can’t change the fact that it did happen.

When a creature goes extinct, some of the time is because they have trouble repopulating, but most of the time it’s because of humans. When a species goes extinct, it leaves behind a scar, which affects the entire ecosystem. Animals eat each other, but keep the population down so animals don’t take over the world. They all do their part in nature, and we are here messing it up. Like bees, bees are thought to go extinct soon, but bees keep the plants alive. How is that fair? Is that how we repay debts? Yes, I know, ‘the world’s not fair’ and it’s not, especially to animals. Another example: South island Kokako. A Kokako is a supposedly “extinct” (or extremely rare) bird. Sometimes known as the “grey ghost”. They haven’t been seen in years but people still think they're alive. Personally, I think they’re desperate for them to be alive, and are grasping at straws. They don’t want to have to face the facts, humans can be cruel. But, of course, you already knew that.

Would you like another example of human cruelty? I could list so many animals that are critically endangered because of humans, but then we would be here years. So, think about the fact that animals have been on this earth much longer than us, and we’re killing them in their own habitats! As you can see from above, we humans kill animals for our own satisfaction and our own greed. Greed is a dangerous thing when it comes to humans and animals. We take, but never give. Welp, that’s us. Humans. The greatest species ever, or so we'd like to think.