Geography Project

Wildlife Conservation And Problems

IntroductionFood, Pets, Traditional MedicinesReligionMediaTourism DestructionMajor Problems Of WildlifeWildlife ConservationWildlife Conservation MeasuresConclusion

Content

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Introduction Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, rain forests, plains, and other areas including the most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that wildlife around the world is impacted by human activities.

Anthropologists believe that the Stone Age peoples and hunter-gatherers relied on wildlife, both plant and animal, for their food. In fact, some species may have been hunted to extinction by early human hunters. Today, hunting, fishing, or gathering wildlife is still a significant food source in some parts of the world. In other areas, hunting and non-commercial fishing are mainly seen as a sport or recreation, with the edible meat as mostly a side benefit. Meat sourced from wildlife that is not traditionally regarded as game is known as bush meat. The increasing demand for wildlife as a source of traditional food in East Asia is decimating populations of sharks, primates, pangolins and other animals, which they believe have aphrodisiac properties.

A November 2008 report from biologist and author Sally Kneidel, PhD, documented numerous wildlife species for sale in informal markets along the Amazon River, including wild-caught marmosets sold for as little as $1.60 (5 Peruvian soles). Many Amazon species, including peccaries, agoutis, turtles, turtle eggs, anacondas, armadillos, etc., are sold primarily as food. Others in these

Food, Pets, Traditional Medicines

informal markets, such as monkeys and parrots, are destined for the pet trade, often smuggled

into the United States. Still other Amazon species are popular ingredients in traditional medicines sold in local markets. The medicinal value of animal parts is based largely on superstition.

Tiger skin for medicinal purpose in China.

A herb extracting for medicinal purpose.

Religion Many wildlife species have spiritual significance in different cultures around the world, and they and their products may be used as sacred objects in religious rituals. For example, eagles, hawks and their feathers have great cultural and spiritual value to Native Americans as religious objects.

Wildlife has long been a common subject for educational television

shows. National Geographic specials appeared on CBS beginning in 1965, later

moving to ABC and then PBS. In 1963, NBC debuted Wild Kingdom, a popular

program featuring zoologist Marlin Perkins as host. The BBC natural history

unit in the UK was a similar pioneer, the first wildlife series LOOK presented

by Sir Peter Scott, was a studio-based show, with filmed inserts. It was in

this series that David Attenborough first made his appearance which led to

the series Zoo Quest during which he and cameraman Charles Lagus went to

many exotic places looking for elusive wildlife—notably the Komodo dragon in

Indonesia and lemurs in Madagascar. Since 1984, the Discovery Channel and

its spin off Animal Planet in the USA have dominated the market for shows

about wildlife on cable television, while on PBS the NATURE strand made by

Media

WNET-13 in New York and NOVA by WGBH in Boston are notable. Wildlife television is now a multi-million dollar industry with specialist documentary film-makers in many countries including UK, USA,

New Zealand NHNZ, Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, and Canada. There are many magazines which cover wildlife including National Wildlife Magazine, Birds & Blooms, Birding (magazine), and Ranger Rick (for children).

National Geography

Discovery Channel

Animal planet

Tourism

Fuelled by media coverage and inclusion of conservation education in early school curriculum, Wildlife tourism & Ecotourism has fast become a popular industry generating substantial income for developing nations with rich wildlife specially , Africa and India. This ever growing and ever becoming more popular form of tourism is providing the much needed incentive for poor nations to conserve their rich wildlife heritage and its habitat.

Destruction

Exploitation of wild populations has been a characteristic of modern man. The rate of extinctions of entire species of plants and animals across the planet has been so high in the last few hundred years it is widely considered that we are in the sixth great extinction event on this planet; the Holocene Mass Extinction.Destruction of wildlife does not always lead to an extinction of the species in question, however, the dramatic loss of entire species across Earth dominates any review of wildlife destruction as extinction is the level of damage to a wild population from which there is no return. The four most general reasons that lead to destruction of wildlife include overkill, habitat destruction and fragmentation, impact of introduced species and chains of extinction.

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Destruction Table

Major threats to wildlife can be categorized as below:

Habitat loss: Fewer natural wildlife habitat areas remain each year. Moreover, the habitat that remains has often been degraded to bear little resemblance to the natural wild areas which existed in the past.

Climate change: Because many types of plants and animals have specific habitat requirements, climate change could cause disastrous loss of wildlife species. A slight drop or rise in average rainfall will translate into large seasonal changes. Hibernating mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects are harmed and disturbed. Plants and wildlife are sensitive to moisture change so, they will be harmed by any change in the moisture level.

Pesticides and toxic chemicals: Pesticides are deliberately spread to make the environment toxic to certain plants, insects, and rodents, so it should not be surprising that other plants and wildlife are deliberately harmed at the same time. In addition many chemical pollutants are toxic to wildlife, such as PCBs, mercury, petroleum by-products, solvents, antifreeze, etc.

Major problems of wildlife

Hunting and poaching: Unregulated hunting and poaching causes a major threat to wildlife. Along with this, mismanagement of forest department and forest guards triggers this problem.

Natural phenomena: Floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, lightning, forest fires

Pollution: Pollutants released into the environment are ingested by a wide variety of organisms.

Over-exploitation of resources: Exploitation of wild populations for food has resulted in population crashes (over-fishing, for example).Accidental deaths: Car hits, window collisions (birds), collisions with ships (whales).

Wildlife Conservation Wildlife conservation is the preservation,

protection, or restoration of wildlife and their environment, especially in relation to endangered and vulnerable species. All living non-domesticated animals, even if bred, hatched or born in captivity, are considered wild animals. Wildlife represents all the non-cultivated and non-domesticated animals living in their natural habitats. Our world has many unique and rare animals, birds and reptiles. However the pressure of growing population in different parts of the world has led to the increasing need of using land for human habitations and agriculture. This has led to the reduced habitat of many wild animals.Wildlife conservation

groups

Habitat Management Habitat Management refers to taking

care of the habitat of the wildlife, so that they feel at home, safe and secure. Study of different kind of habitats, devising ways of protecting it, its preservation and regular checking of these habitats through census and statistical data help a great deal in working out a plan of action in managing a habitat and the species therein.

Habitat Creation National Parks, Biosphere Reserves,

zoological parks and botanical gardens and sanctuaries work as protected areas for wild life. They help in conserving the wild life in their wild state. Besides being the protected habitats of various species, they are also good places to take a tour of.

Breeding in Captivity Breeding in captivity has helped many

wild life species in their effort to survive. The national parks and other such protected areas help in the breeding

Wildlife conservation measures

process of many wild lives. For example, breeding in National Park of Alberta helped Mountain Gorilla survive. The European Bison that was breeding in the National Parks of Poland to managed to survive under care and a protected environment.

Reintroduction Several endangered species were allowed to

reproduce and flourish in places and habitats that suited them. These places were similar to their original habitats. Later, they were introduced to protected areas such as parks and reserves and also to their original habitats after they were found fit to fight for survival.

Awareness and Mass Education Awareness about wild life is essential for

protecting and appreciating them. People can be encouraged and educated to participate in the preservation processes in a number of ways.

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Some of the ways of increasing awareness levels on wild life are:

Celebrating different days dedicated to different species of wildlife. Bringing publicity to this issue through media, film shows, talks, discussions and documentaries. Arranging tours for people and children to seminars and lectures and to areas with wild life such as the local zooMaking children participate through nature clubs in educational institutions and at community level.Publishing and promoting books and journals on wild life. Supporting the establishment of natural history museums.

People Participation and Movement People backed movements have a deep

impact on policies and bringing about the necessary changes. There have been many such movements in the history that have supported wild life and helped prevent their destruction. Some of them are the Chipko Movement, Appiko Movement, The Silent Valley Movement and the Narmada Bachao Andolan to name a few.

Protection by Law Strict laws and their effective execution

are essential to protect wild life. In India, there is a Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972. As per this act, prior permission from competent authorities is essential before tampering with wild life and poaching is punishable under law. We need more laws like this and strict execution of them to save our wild life.

Conclusion

We should be aware, read, talk and participate in wild life protection measures as much as we can as we live in inter-dependence with them in various ecosystems and wild life is also a heritage that deserves to be protected like other heritages of the world.