Wildlife Protection, Anything Wrong?
Some of the Earth's creatures die mainly because of humans' choices. These choices have nothing to do with food or shelter or anything else that helps humans survive. What kills millions of animals all over the world is that humans want to make money by doing so. People use parts of animals for everything from hats to handbags, from jewelry to ashtrays and to make powders that supposedly improve a person's life.
It is comforting to note that in the past decades, saving endangered animals has become a popular cause. Let's take saving elephants as an example. For a long while in the late 1980s, wildlife protection groups made sure everyone saw pictures or films of elephants with their faces cut off for their ivory. These groups also proved that certain populations of elephants are decreasing. As a result, most people stopped buying objects made of ivory. Laws against poaching (偷猎) were made stronger. Many countries made importing ivory illegal. Killing elephants for their ivory became more risky and less profitable.
However, deciding that a species is endangered and protecting it by law are not always enough, as concern for certain species will become weak after a while. In the late 1970s, people protested against the killing of seal babies. Everyone was shocked to see young seals being killed in their icy habitat. The cruel activity stopped. But ten years later, the number of seal babies killed was higher than ever.
Other animal protecting movements have come and gone, such as saving the whales and protecting dolphins. The whale population appears to have increased for now. And the laws are finally changed in America to protect the dolphins that swim with tuna fish in parts of the Pacific Ocean. In the years to come, people's focus will probably turn to some other endangered species. During this time, will the elephants be forgotten?
