The Illegal Wildlife Trade And The Climate Change

3/1/2015 11:55:58 AM

The illegal wildlife trade has to stop. It is threatening to overturn decades of conservation gains.

Wildlife crime is a big business ....

Officials have estimated that close to 25,000 elephants were killed in 2013 to supply the illegal ivory trade, with ivory reportedly priced over US $2,200 per kg on the streets of Beijing ,China. In 2011, Ivory representing the amount of 2500 elephants was  seized in the 13 largest seizures of illegal ivory. Poaching also threatens the last wild tigers. In 2013 just 3,200 tigers were left  ...yes 3,200 ...the current number today may hover closer to 3000... Rhinos are being slaughtered for their horn because these same horns are supposed to cure fever cancer and liver problems.  These beautiful animals are often left in agony with their horns cut off and as their population is drastically diminishing ,the price for a horn climbs even higher and higher.  Rhino poaching increased 5000% between 2007 and 2012 with one animal killed by a poacher every 10 hours.

Last year the last black rhino was declared extinct.

A poacher will get USD $300 for a horn, that same horn will be sold for USD $1,000 in the nearby village and by the time it gets to  Hong Kong it will have reached up to USD $300 000.  Who is to blame? The poacher that maybe does not know better or the person that ordered that horn? Today illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth US $50-150 billion a year. We must understand that the loss of all these species will have devastating consequences. Our planet has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years .
Animals are being decimated by humans. We are polluting and destroying their habitats. Currently we are cutting down trees faster than they  can grow.  We are catching fish faster than the seas can restock. we are pumping water faster than rainfall can replenish and emitting more climate warming carbon dioxide than ocean and forests can absorb. We..all of us, are responsible  for not doing enough for not really caring for not realizing that this will have an impact on all of us. Animals ,trees, plants , and oceans are part of an eco system that we are destroying. The ice is melting and within a matter of years the Artic sea will be completely ice-free during the summer months. As ice melts, the oceans rise. Global sea levels have risen about 8 inches since 1870. If this trend continues, many coastal areas, where roughly half of the Earth's human population lives, will be under water.

The dramatic effects of climate change due to  our selfish behavior, the destruction of wildlife, of the seas, of the oceans and rivers and the deforestation of approximately 18 million acres ( the size of Panama) every year is and will be devastating for human society for our planet.

So what are we waiting for ...Isn' t it time to act?

With love & on & on & on
MTG