Created by BATCHELOR, EVA@1101 Kennedy
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Have you ever stopped to think about how your actions can impact animals around you? Billions of animals are affected by our choices and actions every year. Animals face many challenges during their lives, a few are pollution and trash effects, poaching, the risk of extinction, and animal cruelty.
Pollution can be a big threat to animals with all the different ways to cause pollution, pesticides and fertilizers can be blown around by wind spreading it to animals and their habitats. Pollution from trash can kill animals if they eat it mistakenly or get caught in it. Landfills can pollute plants around them and if an animal eats that plant they could get sick from it. If garbage has chemicals oil or ink in it then it could get into the soil and harm plants and animals. While trash and pollution affects all animals marine life has more problems that come with it. 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises get caught in nets and lines and die while caught in them, and 240 wildlife species have eaten plastic which can also hurt or kill them. 10% of plastic pollution in the ocean is from plastic nets and lines. Millions of tons of plastic are floating in our oceans every year and hurts and kills thousands of animals while there. It takes years to decompose and during that time, an animal eats or gets caught in it.
Wildlife has to face challenges like habitat loss and other threats, and poaching can be a major problem for some species. While not all wildlife trade is illegal some examples of major problems with poaching can be seen with many types of elephants, tigers, and rhinos. Wildlife hunting and trading becomes more of a problem when endangered species are the target. Millions of animals are poached every year just because some part of them is considered valuable. Another problem with poaching is it doesn’t always just affect the target species, traps can capture, hurt, or kill other species that were not intended to be caught in them. Some poachers hurt the animals, take what they want off them, and leave them to die. Many groups and organizations are trying to stop poachers from hunting and killing species but until poaching is put to an end some species will be at risk for extinction.
42,100 species are in danger of extinction and 1,300 are in the United States. The top ten most endangered species are Javan Rhinos, Amur Leopard, Sunda Island Tiger, Mountain Gorillas, Tapanuli Orangutan, Yangtze Finless Porpoise, Black Rhinos, African Forest Elephant, Sumatran Orangutan, and Hawksbill Turtle.
- There are only around 75 Javan Rhinos left which makes them one of the rarest rhino species.
- There are more Black Rhinos, about 5,630, but because of poaching, they are still considered critically endangered.
- With only 100 left the Amur Leopard is one of the rarest big cats.
- Sunda Island Tigers are the smallest tiger species and they also have a small population; there are only 600 Sunda Island Tigers left in the wild.
- There are only 1,000 Mountain Gorillas left in the wild because of humans moving closer to them.
- The Tapanuli Orangutans are the most endangered great ape species because there are less than 800 of them left in the wild.
- The Sumatran Orangutan has about 14,000 left in the wild, they are critically endangered because of the many threats they face.
- The Yangtze Finless Porpoise still has about 1,000 left living in the wild
- There are around 20,000 to 23,000 Hawksbill Turtles in the wild but they face threats like pollution, climate change, and rising sea levels.
- African Forest Elephants face many threats because of poaching and habitat loss, since they are shy we don’t know exactly how many are left but we do know that their numbers are declining.
Millions of animals suffer every year from abuse and are used for lab experiments, while some die from it others live and keep suffering more and more each year. Some people have many animals and neglect them because there are so many of them, that they might not get enough food and water or enough space. Iowa is the only state to not provide felony penalties for animal torture on the first offense. Some commonly neglected and abused animals are dogs, cats, and horses. One example of that can be seen in puppy mills with dogs crowded into cages too small, not getting the attention needed, they have horrible sanitary conditions, and many puppies are born with health problems. There are about 10,000 puppy mills in the United States and about 2.6 million puppies are being sold every year. Some ways people can help stop puppy mills is by making sure to buy a puppy from a shelter or responsible breeder that will let you see where the puppies and their parents live. If you know an animal that is being abused or neglected the first step in helping them would be contacting local law enforcement.
In conclusion, there are many challenges and threats animals face throughout their lives. With millions of tons of pieces of trash in the ocean and pollution in the land, air, and water many animals can be in danger of getting caught, dying, or getting sick. Poaching can be a major threat because target animals can become at risk of extinction and animals not targeted can also be harmed. Thousands of species of animals are at risk of extinction all over the world with 1,300 in the United States alone. Animal cruelty is a big problem because of their living conditions as seen in puppy mills. All of these threats and challenges animals face can be helped at least a little, many organizations do what they can to help and someday will hopefully succeed.
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