I love animals. A lot of us do. We share the planet with them, after all. Well. We are supposed to be sharing the planet with them.
But we don’t do such a great job at this at all.
In fact, humans are bad news when it comes to animals. The animal kingdom is dying in big numbers, and it is — pretty much — the fault of people. We, the people. Numerous studies have shown that humans are responsible for 99% of endangered species.
Here are a few numbers to think about, to go along with that whopping 99% OUR fault.
• In the air? Over 12% of bird species are under extreme threat and close to extinction.
• On the ground? More than 20% of mammals are nearly extinct.
•. Little dudes? The Invertebrates. They account for 95% of all species on Earth. Think about that. They account for 95% of ALL species on Earth. They include butterflies, worms, mollusks, and more — and 35% of them are close to extinction.
What are we doing? And why don’t the majority of people care? Don’t they understand that we live in a giant biosphere where everything depends on everything else?
I think about all of this often, and it breaks my heart.
The Endangered Species Act was signed into law in the United States on December 28, 1973. It came during the Richard Nixon presidency. The act is considered one of the most significant and influential environmental laws in American history.
Believe it or not, the movement for awareness started years earlier. The government started taking action to protect endangered species in the early 1900s. They started noticing that three things had been capable of wiping out entire species: Hunting. Industry. Deforestation.
Two examples from their time? The near-extinction of the bison. And sadly, another lesson came with the death of the last passenger pigeon in 1901. Eventually, the Department of the Interior began publishing a list of endangered species in 1967.
So, as a result of of this, Nixon (or someone in his ear) recognized this need for proactive legislation. And with that, he asked Congress to pass the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
It mandated that the federal government keep a list of all species in need of protection. It also prohibited federal agencies from jeopardizing these species or their habitats.
Unfortunately, the law’s authorization expired in 1992.
With that, I’ll mention a few items from around the world, the United States included in some of these.
– Trophy hunting kills 200,000 animals a year.
– Humans kill a rhino every 22 hours.
– Over 7,079 animals are critically endangered.
– We are currently in the 6th mass extinction.
Animals are going extinct between 1000 to 10,000 times faster than the natural rate. We all know that extinction is a natural process in the wild. But the standard rate is about five species per year. The current extinction rate is over twelve species EACH DAY, which means we’re losing far more animals than ever recorded throughout history. And? If we continue in the same way, 30%–50% of animals will be extinct within the next 30 years.
I know that I am mostly preaching to the choir here, but we simply have to put a stop to this.
When Jesus was about to be crucified, as we see in Luke 23:34, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
I think we know what we’re doing. It is just that many people don’t care.
====
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.
— Robert M. Hutchins
=====
Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.
— Albert Camus
=====
After the first blush of sin comes its indifference.
— Henry David Thoreau
=====
The animals we are killing today. Every day.
