Poachers Kill Magnificent Animals for Profit Essay

Did you know that poaching has led to most animal extinctions this century? Poaching is a continuously growing problem that will cause many problems to the environment and people. Poaching can be defined as the illegal hunting of animals on land that is not the hunters own. Poaching does not only happen in unprotected lands such as the wilderness, but it has also happened in protected lands such as zoos. Animals may soon become extinct because of the high rate of killing the poachers are doing. If animals do become extinct, life would be very different. An example of how life would be different without animals, such as tigers, is talked about by Eugene Linden when he said, “the wild tigers of old will be gone forever, their glory surviving

Because of the poaching of game like the elephant, the number of species will start to diminish. What hunters brought to the villages of Botswana was the money and the meat from the animals to feed the many people that go hungry everyday. Hunters that would take animals such as an elephant wouldn’t take any of the meat for themselves but rather they give all of the meat to the villages in the area. However, when poaching starts to take over, there will be zero meat or money that will be put back into the community. Poachers that kill elephants are only after one thing and that is the ivory from the elephant tusks. After taking the tusks, the elephant is left to rot. Another animal that is sought after by poachers in Botswana is the rhino. The rhino is poached for their horns, which are supposedly an aphrodisiac in China so the demand is high. Because of these effects, groups like SCI are so important to different places around the world. The money brought in by the hunters is used to hire conservation officers to protect the rhinos and elephants and to buy land that will be put into game preserves so the numbers of these species will increase because there aren’t any pressures from hunting or

If a predator organism was removed from an ecosystem, it would allow the prey population to increase which could lead to not having enough food for these organisms to eat. For example, if wolves were eliminated from the taiga biome than there would be a dramatic increase in the population of moose. This would result in the moose not having enough jack pine and could lead to starvation. The wolves would then have to eat more rabbits, elk, and voles which would decrease their population and starve the organisms that rely on these animals.

For instance, gray wolves, according to the authors of “Using Small Populations of Wolves for Ecosystem Restoration and Stewardship”, “...influence the abundance of ungulates, which in turn affects the structure and composition of plant communities”(Licht et al. 2). Wolves prey on herbivores such as deer and elk, keeping their population under control and thus allowing more plant species that the prey feed on to grow and reproduce. If wolves were to go extinct the prey populations would soar. There would be no predators to hunt the animals, so they would spend less time worrying about predators and more time feeding. This would drastically reduce the population of plant species that the prey animals feed on until there is not enough food to sustain the ever growing prey species. The prey species population would begin to die of starvation and the few animals left would develop a variety of diseases due to malnutrition and genes that were passed through generations of animals. The genes would have not passed through the animals if the wolves had not gone extinct. This is due to the fact that wolves would have eaten the weak prey animals, therefore reducing the chance of weak and sickly offspring and improving the health of future generations of prey animals. Additionally, with the plant

Whether we like it or not animals really make the world go around. Like cows who just by breathing create oxygen, to other animals who with their migrations that leave paths throughout are foothills. And yes even fertilizing the land with their discharge. Although these creatures who have been roaming the lands long before any of us , have been altered with our interference of hunger and need which has now made hunting a billion dollar company. Like most companies you would expect viewpoints to clash causing controversy. A podcast by the name of the Rhino Hunter brings this up showing how the auctioning off of rare animals is beneficial. They in fact action a “older Black Rhino, that with age was Hurting others”. This idea along with other

For example, myths that rhino horns can cure cancer has led to a poaching frenzy in parts of Africa. Some countries, however, have recognized that this is a major problem and have begun to take action. In Indonesia, wildlife protection groups, such as the WCU (Wildlife Crime Unit), along with law enforcement have come together to decrease the amounts of poaching and trading committed. Between 2006 and 2008, the WCU generated 63 reports of illegal hunting, trading, smuggling or possession, which led 35 arrest or confiscation operations. This is proof that with proper training and funding wildlife extinction can be

If a species was to go extinct it would mess up the environment. If bees were to go extinct than flowers won’t be able to get pollinated. Herbivores that are dependent on those plants would be affected in a horrible way if bees were to just go extinct. If a Gopher Tortoise was to go extinct it would affect a lot of animals. Gopher Tortoise’s dig holes in the ground that provide shelter for many animals

Many countries already have laws protecting sharks, some are partial bans—where the entire carcasses have to be on board. Others are full bans on shark fishing—where there can’t be any type of shark body parts on board. Several places still don’t have a legislation that prohibit the fishing and commercialization of sharks. In countries like the United States the act of shark finning is considered illegal in American waters. Supported by the Shark Conservation Act (P.L. 11-348), passed by the house of representatives in April 2009 and signed by President Obama in January 2011. The Shark Conservation Act strengthens the U.S. ban on shark finning—already passed by President Clinton in 2000, that prohibited the possession of shark fins in U.S. waters without its corresponding carcass. As a result of some loopholes in the former Act, proper enforcement and inspectorate was almost impossible. Facilitating fisher’s legal access to sharks. However, the trade and commerce is still legalized and shark fins continued to be bought and sold throughout American soil. A solution within American territorial when it comes to shark finning would be to set a nationwide ban on the trade of the fins, better the enforcement of the ongoing laws and bolster the amount of oversight in boats and ports. By doing that, there will be a reduction on the international fin trade as well. In many places such as the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico fisherman are required to have all the sharks on board still with their fins naturally attached, enables the officials to identify which species of shark were caught, since once the fins are off, that is hardly

Shark finning has been frowned upon by so many countries; however, there still seems to be a high demand in Asian countries. Shark

The heartbreaking viral video of one Olive Ridley turtle getting a straw removed from its nose made headlines,

Planet Earth is the one and only home for humans, and it’s their natural duty to protect it and all of its inhabitants. For many people, the fate of animals is of little importance, especially when there are so many of their own species suffering throughout the world. However, only when one has respect for nature can he or she come to appreciate for his or herself. In the past few decades, some animals have progressively come closer and closer to extinction. When compared to demographics 30 years ago, less than 5% of tiger and rhino populations remain in the wild (Congressional). The main culprits for this abominable crime against nature are avaricious poachers who seek personal gain and profit. Poaching is the illegal killing of

Animals are a key component to their ecosystem. It is because of trophy hunting that they continue to remain endangered, “Trophy hunters still kill around 105,000 animals in Africa every year. Including 600 elephants and 800 leopards, at a time when every individual is crucial to the survival of the species” (Schelling). This is a clear example of how many animals, not on U.S soil, have had their lives taken away for human recreation. Americans, on average, import 126,000 ‘trophies’ a year into this country, according to National Geographic. This has lead to the long moral debate centered around trophy hunting that not just American society has seen, but has been discussed in a global spotlight.

Animal poaching has a bigger price tag than the trophy sitting on the shelf. Poaching is causing iconic animals of many continents and of our oceans to become endangered or even extinct. These animals that people have come to love and fantasize over may be gone before we are (Africa). Elephants, rhinos, lions, and zebras are the animals thought of the most when it comes to animal poaching, but many animals are poached. They are killed for only one quality, like their horns or skins and the rest of the animal is left behind. Poaching is a massive business that is ran by international networks, it’s estimated to make hundreds of millions of dollars (World). Not all wildlife trade is illegal, but it becomes a crisis when an increasing amount of illegal poaching is done and it directly threatens the survival of species in the wild (World). Since 1960 97.6% of the Black Rhino population in Africa has been poached and lions are extinct in seven African countries (Africa).

There are organizations around the globe designed to stop elephant poaching. Their intent is to sway people’s opinions to help with the world-wide problem. Only a global ban on the sale of ivory would take the heat off of these massive creatures. Solutions might include, addressing the involvement of international criminal institutes by means of strong law enforcement at both national and international levels along the full extent of the supply. Closing down domestic (national) markets in ivory, would also be beneficial. Countries could embrace the trade ban, and educate consumers in order to stem the demand for ivory (Bloody Ivory; January 11, 2013).

Illegal trading of animals is a big issue in today's society. More and more animals are going extinct, in part because of the acts committed while trying to buy or sell an animal for profit. In the past 400 years, 350 species of animals have gone extinct (Ryder, 214). Illegal trade generates billions of dollars and is therefore highly popular. There have been many regulations placed upon this trading. Some have been successful and others have not. Governments across the world have placed regulations on this illegal trade and treatment of animals, but it is still an issue. To what extent have governments been successful in stemming illegal animal trade?