Today is Endangered Species Day. A day to remind us that a very large amount of the animals living in our world are slowly dying out due to reasons out of their control.
When you look at the history of endangered and unfortunately extinct animals. One animal always seems to crop up – humans. Nearly all the animals that are struggling to survive have us to thank. Hunting is one of the biggest causes – sometimes because of ancient medicine ingredients that come from animals, their fur, their horns and so on – sometimes these beautiful creates are even hunted for sport. Another factor is pollution, many of turtles are endangered due to pollution in the ocean. We also enjoy chopping down huge parts of the wild such as rainforests, destroying their homes and therefore killing them and we do enjoy building roads right in the middle of their habitats, killing many others. When we're not hunting animals or destroying their homes, we love to add to global warming as much as we can... what a great species, aye'?
When you look at the big picture. It’s all our fault. Without our fingers in the pie, there would likely be very few endangered species.
So, as it’s really our fault, it’s our responsibility to do all we can to save our wildlife. One of the first steps is understanding and realising these animals exist! Reading books on nature or even children’s books, such as The Adventures of Zinzi and Zebu by Kerrith Fraser – firstly Kerrith is an animal enthusiast herself and can often be found exploring South Africa for the rich wildlife that inhabits it. Her book is a short story collection, Zinzi and Zebu go in search for the fabled Valley of Diamonds near the Limpopo River, help Father Christmas to deliver his presents, and pursue their hopes of finding a zonkey. Along the way, they encounter a whole host of African creatures, who help them on these quests.
Another thing we can do is make sure we can be more ethical minded – simple things such as purchasing reusable straws, using reusable bags, cutting down on our carbon footprints by cycling to work, or even carpooling! If you want to go the extra mile you can even look at the things very few think about such as buying eco-friendly cleaning products, ethically sourced clothing, cutting out palm oil, reducing your waste by buying food with little packaging then recycle everything you can, not buying water bottles can make a huge difference, eating seasonally or locally - yes it's less mangos, but sometimes going local for veggies and so on can be so much cheaper! Cook at home as much as you can, and most importantly - try and donate to some kind of environmental charity. It can be as little as the price of a coffee every month!
