There are many people out in the world who think their actions don’t affect others all that much or if they do affect someone greatly, they don’t care. People think that we can just keep burning fossil fuels and put more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They think that the fish and the game will always be there, and that animals are only there to be shot or used to get rich. The future isn’t important to them. What they don’t realize is if millions of people are fishing for those same fish, are hunting down all those deer or shooting all those ‘pesky’ creatures that wander in the neighborhood where they ‘don’t belong’, those creatures could go extinct. Or, maybe they do know this and just choose not to care. However, every creature is important to us and to Earth. Each one was created for a reason. The species on Earth are like an intricate woven cloth; cut one and the whole thing comes unraveled. It’s understood that trying to save these creatures will be costly and will be extremely hard to accomplish, but by saving them, we save ourselves.

Now, there are many ways we are destroying our Earth and its creatures. The most horrifying way is poaching. These beautiful animals are hunted down just for a single part of its body, or maybe several, just to make what, lotion? Wine? Fine jewelry? Elephants are killed just so a poacher can saw off its ivory tusks. Sharks are caught and their fins are cut off. And the poacher does what to them? Throws them back into the ocean to drown! Also, the poachers take animals away from their habitats just so people can have an ‘exotic’ pet. Usually the babies are taken from the mother, with the mother being shot so the baby can be easily taken. These heartless people care only for the money in this business. There are ways to make money that don’t involve the black market and the murdering of peaceful creatures. If people want their tiger blood wine, they can get a tiger from a tiger farm, after it dies naturally! A lot of these animals are on the endangered list because of poachers, and if poaching continues, every last one will be chopped up and sold. Hunting is another fast and easy way to decrease the population of a species. Fish are a very valuable resource to us humans. However, they won’t be there for much longer if we continuously scour the ocean for every possible fish. The ones that aren’t the right size, sex or species are just wasted. The nets that fishers use kill all kinds of sea life, like dolphins. They just swim along and all of a sudden, they’re tangled in a net. They’re left to suffer a slow death due to not being able to swim to the surface for oxygen. Also, if we fish a species to extinction, what will happen to the animals that relied on those fish? They will eventually starve because of us greedy humans. Most animals aren’t as adaptable as humans are. If our favorite snack stops being made, we’re sad and then we’ll substitute it for another snack. An animal will keep trying to find the prey that it relies on, or it will try to eat another in desperation and possibly eat a poisonous one that kills it. Then, if the predators aren’t there to keep any other species under control, that species could grow and cause problems for the rest of the ecosystem. This would begin a whole domino effect that would end up with a lot of chaos, in the ocean and for the humans.

Loss of habitat is the greatest threat for endangered species. The human population has reached around five or six billion and every day, more and more babies are being born. More couples are getting married and want a new house to live in. Forests and grasslands are being turned into communities for humans. But what happens to the communities of animals that had been living there before? They either have to move or live alongside humans, and not many people like seeing a raccoon or a skunk in their backyard. The animals that live near a human settlement get used to humans and cars. They learn to wander the neighborhoods in search for food. People get irritated when they find their garbage was knocked over and eaten, and curse those annoying raccoons. Coyotes wander the neighborhoods and people are afraid that they may attack someone and call animal control. The animals get slaughtered only because they’re seen as a ‘problem’ and they shouldn’t be near humans. Well, where will that animal go when its home was taken over by humans? What’s left for them? Surely not the forest, since that was cut down! National parks were set aside for creatures. They’re lovely havens for the creatures that live there. Then, people want to go there and mine for iron or copper and etc. What do you think will happen to those animals? When people drill for oil in the Artic, the animals there could accidently get poisoned from the oil! Some places were just not meant to be disturbed; otherwise it upsets the balance of wildlife there. Farmers put pesticides on their crops to keep animals from eating them. However, those chemicals get into an animal’s system and then that animal gets eaten. The predator that ate it gets poisoned, and eventually everyone’s affected. Let’s say a human shoots an infected rabbit. They bring it home and eat the rabbit for dinner that night. The next day, everyone has food poisoning or a bellyache! Also, those chemicals could get into a little stream nearby which flows into a river. That river eventually flows into a lake or maybe an ocean. The chemicals give the plants way too many nutrients and they could overgrow. This may not seem like a big deal, but think of the Great Barrier Reef. That beautiful reef is like an underwater city. Millions of fish or all species live and thrive there, hiding in the rocks and the colorful coral. The algae on the surface of the water overgrow from all those chemicals and the sun is blocked out. If the sun is blocked, the reef underneath it can’t live. The coral will die, and all the fish that thrived there can no longer stay. But, they have nowhere to go. It’s either stay and die here, or go out to open waters where they aren’t protected and get eaten by predators.

The problem we’ve all heard about: Global Warming. People say it isn’t possible or it isn’t going to happen. Sadly, it could very well happen and it’s probably happening now. The glaciers are starting to melt, which is something that they’ve never done before. The sea level rises because of these melting glaciers. A rising sea level then affects animals and their habitats. If the water level keeps rising and their habitats keep shrinking, where will they go? If the waters wipe out their prey, what will they eat? They’ll have to move closer inland, which is where the humans are. That’s when things get messy. But, it’s not the tiger’s fault. Their home is shrinking and their prey is gone, what else is there to do but attack these other creatures? The tiger isn’t going to starve itself when there are other species around. It’s the same thing with polar bears. Ice is a big part of their life. Without it, they can’t survive. They need to the ice for hunting, birthing and obviously, walking! Even a strong polar bear can’t swim forever, but that’s what they try to do when looking for ice to rest on. They eventually end up drowning due to being so tired they can’t move their limbs to keep their heads above the surface. The only place to go is the mainland, where the human settlements are. Humans see any animal bigger than them as a threat, so they kill the polar bear. The tiger’s and polar bear’s only options are starve, drown or get shot by humans. Another habitat that the rising sea affects is the wetlands. Tons of reptiles, amphibians and birds live in and rely on the wetlands for life and food. If the habitats were to shrink because the wetlands became flooded with more water, the species would either leave or be pushed closer to each other. Once breeding season came, males would be more likely to fight each other because they’re already living so close to each other. Males are extremely territorial and their fights can get deadly. If the males are constantly killing each, who will mate with the females? The species could get wiped out that way. Or, if the whole wetland was destroyed, maybe those creatures would move closer to human settlements. Not many people are fans of reptiles and amphibians. It would be a dark time for them. Not only would Global Warming affect the sea level, but it would make Earth a warmer world. It’s said that even a one degree rise in the temperature would be disastrous. Take insects for example. Let’s say the winter is warmer than ever and the insect larvae hatch, thinking it’s spring. Well, it’s still winter and there’s no leaves for them to eat. They eventually starve and the populations decrease. The other species that eat that insect will suffer from its decrease in population and starve. The predators that eat that species will then starve and so on. Take out one thing and everything else comes tumbling down, like dominoes. Now, if Earth becomes warmer, so will the ocean. If the water gets too warm, coral expels its zooxanthellae. The zooxanthellae give the coral its nutrients and if they’re gone, the coral becomes bleached. This can sometimes kill the coral. Just think, what if the Great Barrier Reef became a white land of coral skeletons and fish bones? In addition to shrinking habitats and warmer oceans, Global Warming could cause climates to change or shift. Grasslands could dry up and become deserts. The cool air on the tops of mountains would warm up and the animals that thrive on cooler temperatures would keep climbing higher and further up the mountain till there’s nowhere left for them to go. Rain forests would die as the temperature and water conditions change. Think of how disastrous that would be. About half of the world’s species live there! Those species that live in the rainforests have nowhere to go due to the fact that most of the rainforests have been cut down or burned. In other regions, the species may start migrating to other climates. The problem is that once they move to a new place where they shouldn’t be, they mess up the food chain. There will be more competition for food and territory. Also, with the migratory birds, they’ll be coming back earlier if the weather is warmer, but same thing with the insect larvae, there will be no food for them to eat and they’ll end up starving.

The point is, every little action could affect a species survival. These creatures are here for a reason and they’re in danger because of us. It’s our job to save them, because no one else will. We’ll have to fight to protect the endangered species’ habitats, cut down on how many fossil fuels we burn and stop poaching for good. Of course, this will be hard to do. It will be costly and we barely have room for ourselves, much less the animals. But, what if a slug in the rainforest produces a chemical that could be used to cure cancer? What if that slug went extinct? We’d have lost a way to save our own species. Even if it will be extremely difficult, all animals are important. They keep the world in balance. Life is like a web, cut off a string and everyone suffers, even humans.