Wildlife Conservation: Your 2 Cents Contribution!

by Krunal Patel Content Writer and Blogger India

There are 7 billion-plus people on Earth as of today. Imagine if every one of us committed to do one thing, “no matter how small”, to protect wildlife, national parks and conserve the environment every day, How beautiful our planet would become.

Every individual action has a ripple effect and a person can make a difference—through collective action, we can definitely make a big difference!

Maximum Knowledge

If each one of us is aware of the species that thrive in our local biodiversity hotspot, we can learn to forget the superstitions that surround such species.

The maximum threat to the wildlife and national parks today is poaching and indiscriminate cutting of endangered flora.

This results from false assumptions that some animal species parts or plants are excellent aphrodisiacs or useful in black magic rites.

This also involves increasing the knowledge of the numbers of each species of animals that live in your community.

This is especially important in community conservation.

Do you know that thousands of wild animals die each year as roadkill

If people were informed that a particular area of the suburbs or inner cities was sensitive, then they would drive slowly when passing by.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Put up road signs and step up efforts to safeguard animals in your locality.
Conduct local seminars pertaining to their habits (nocturnal/diurnal) or feeding needs.
Educate the public and let them be free of various misunderstandings and superstitions.

Minimum Interference

We all like others to respect our privacy. The residents of national parks also prefer us to respect theirs.

Today, the main problem lies in tourism! With more "adventure" and "explorer" companies out there that you can shake a stick at, its really difficult to manage interference in sensitive hotspots.

Therefore, its a question of ethics and common sense VS. commercialism and profit-making!

We, humans, are naturally curious and like to explore, but we should do so with minimal damage to the environment we are studying. Usually, good samaritans have a habit of feeding birds and squirrels or wildlife. This can cause great harm to wildlife as feeders or commercial food contain lots of pesticides/chemicals.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Try to maintain the peace and quiet at all tourist spots and national parks you are visiting.
Try not to pollute protected areas and your environment.
Try not to feed the local fauna unless specifically directed by wildlife authorities.
Make sure you dispose of off junk foods and your garbage properly so that wild animals do not have access to it

Invasive Introductions

Appropriate bans must be enforced on the breeding/sale of invasive species of animals. In the Everglades, in Florida, the fish Giant Snakehead (Channa micropellets) has wreaked havoc by breeding indiscriminately in the wild and eating and destroying local native fish populations. This fish, naturally found in Asia, did not face natural predation in Florida and thus flourished. This 1.8m growing fish was exported therefrom Asia in the pet trade as babies and released into local streams and water bodies by irresponsible fish hobbyists when their dear pet got too big for their aquariums.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

If you can’t take care of your pet or it becomes too big in size and unmanageable submit it to an adoption clinic or to wildlife federal authorities.

DO NOT release it into your local community or waterbody!

True Appreciation

True appreciation starts with the maturity that we need not always possess something from the wild or national parks in a cage to appreciate its beauty!

Today, the need for owning exotic animals (like Great Apes, Kinkajous, Fennec Foxes, Otters, Hedgehogs, Burmese Pythons, Mongooses, Slow Lorises, African Grey Parrots, Marmosets, etc.) are reducing their numbers in the wild.

When poachers snatch baby apes from their community, their parents defend the babies to their death. Thus, in catching one baby monkey, the poachers kill 3-4 adult individuals.

There are federal research institutes that breed these endangered species on a mass scale to make up for their decreasing wild numbers; so private hobbyists need not be concerned!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Don’t buy from unreliable sources and in the first place, don’t buy exotic animals. The exotic animal trade keeps going on because of rich enthusiasts who are ready to pay any amount to the traders.

Media Awareness Updates

All media briefs the common man on true statistics and the accurate latest facts right?

Well...today rarely any journalist is so frank! It is their responsibility to do so when it comes to conservation of wildlife and national parks. If they put real facts out there, people can gauge where we are heading and thus change course in time.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Goto local media outlets and submit true facts and/or statistics about illegal constructions, illegal flora destructions, or habitat losses, animal census, etc.
You can create your own videos and submit to the local enforcement authorities.

You Voice Makes a Difference

Governments are formed by the people for the people. Therefore, if each individual unites and protests (in a peaceful way), it can have a cumulative effect and reflect on the laws. It is our choice: to govern our land with our laws or be enslaved by them!

In the 1980s there were around to 80M white-rumped vultures (Gyps bengalensis) in India, but today there exist only several thousand.

Anti-inflammatory drugs like diclofenac caused the vultures to die after they scavenged on the dead carcasses of such cattle. Their reduction has caused a problem in urban and national parks sanitation as the rotting carcasses were not eaten and consequently affect the groundwater.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Play a more active role in your community, society conservation efforts, to drive initiatives for conservation and preservation,
Volunteering for various community NGOs.
Protest at each and every curve against poaching and other illegal activities.
Push to ban other activities like sale of exotic animals, sale of furs and other animal products considered medicinal.
Push to ban the sale of illegal chemicals and drugs that may directly/indirectly harm the environment.

Why it’s a Big Deal?

This world is inter-connected. Our lives are indirectly connected to our environment and surroundings.

The prosperity of the human race is ultimately connected with the flourishment of the natural world we live in.

We cannot take national parks and biodiversity hotspots for granted.

A gradual decrease of any one species can have adverse consequences and a domino effect on the overall biodiversity of a specific region and the overall global food-chain.

This can lead to adverse consequences like mass endangering and extinction!

Who We Are?

Mankind will be judged by the way it treats other species.

We may ‘tolerate’ our neighbours, but do we really love them? Are we really ‘humane’ with them?

And by neighbours, I mean all the species of flora and fauna that make our lives wonderful and have inspired for centuries our ancestors to create beautiful paintings and sing melodious songs about!

There is a saying: ‘If you don’t change your direction…you will land up where you are heading’. For all those courageous to face the reality of biodiversity hotspot and the national parks across the globe, it’s not an overstatement to say that unless we all collectively change our direction, we will end up in a very bad place indeed!