Endangerment of Asian Elephants
Visiting your nearest zoo for a family day and bonding with your family over the views of wildlife is supposed to be fun right? Have you ever thought about how these animals got in the zoo? Zoos are for entertainment purposes, whether or not it affects the species. Not only are elephants captured for entertainment purposes, but for human resources as well. Threats and solutions are being taken into consideration and are being acted upon at this time. Poachers and trophy hunting are a couple of common ways that elephants are becoming endangered. Tusks are sold for high prices due to the ivory material. “The largest threats to the Asian elephant are poaching and habitat loss.” (animalplanet.com).
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One way to stop this is to stop buying or selling ivory. Ivory can be in pretty much anything that involves everyday uses, according to mnn.com, “Ivory has traditionally… and carved trinkets.” Buying elephant-friendly products such as coffee and wood where it was certified timber and fair trade coffee or also look for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) other than plantations that destroyed habitats. Supporting conservations are always a good way to put in a helping hand with endangered elephants. Avoiding supporting non-elephant friendly businesses such as zoos, museums, circuses and similar places can end up putting such places out of business without your money. Adopting an elephant and going the extra mile can also help conservation. Of course no one would take home an actual elephant and raise it at their home is possible, but being in touch with an adopted elephant and making sure they get the care they need is a good way to help out. There are possible groups of people who’d protect elephant life and habitats from being destroyed or being harmed in any way. Reducing elephant and human conflict such as farmers growing crops that arent attracted by elephants and making all areas illegal for logging that are in a 100 mile radius of elephant habitats. Businesses could produce elephant-friendly products that could possibly gain more money because of the friendliness. Cities that have involvement of elephant habitats could monitor the population and maintain habitats and decrease any sort of threats could be a significant way to decrease endangerment. According to Wildlife Conservation Society, “40% of the total Asian elephant population is in WCS sites and landscapes.” Increasing this certain conservation can make the percentage higher if more people got
Deborah Nelson's article “Ringling Brothers Circus’s Treatment of Elephants is Cruel” says more should be done to help hurting Elephants. Nelson states Elephants are being beaten and dying for the way they are being treated. Even when the Elephants are clearly sick, they are still being beaten to perform in shows. Nelson says for years nothing has been done. Videos have been released of the beatings and still nothing.
Big game hunting should NOT be allowed. It can cause extinction, and can leave some animals with no habitats due to humans taking over their land. Big game hunting causes many different negative things to happen, but on of those negative things is that it can cause extinction. Currently, elephants are endangered because humans are selfish and want to take their ivory tusks. Humans have also depleted the tiger population down to less than 2,500 tigers in the whole world.
Every year hundreds of wild, exotic animals are killed, primarily in Africa, for money, bragging rights, and even decoration. Big game trophy hunting is a booming business, but has sparked a worldwide debate, especially after the killing of Cecil the Lion. Trophy hunters claim they are helping conservation efforts, but in reality, they are harming them. This sport is damaging the overall population of a species, especially lions, rhinos, and elephants. Also, the overall revenue from big game hunting is a small amount, and only a small percent of that goes to help the community.
Have you ever heard the deafening trumpet of an elephant or witnessed the quick and sudden turns of a cheetah? These natural wonders are merely a fraction of the countless species that compose the complex web of life on Earth. However, the continued presence of these creatures is becoming increasingly jeopardized, as human activities like habitat destruction and poaching are carried out. Enter the wildlife protection community, a network of passionate individuals who devote their efforts to preserving endangered species and their associated habitats. The wildlife protection community is a committed group of individuals who recognize the importance of conserving these creatures and their natural surroundings in order to maintain biodiversity,
Inside the world of zoos what you see is not always the truth. Behind the cages and gates, wild animals suffer from harsh treatments from staff members and even madness from living in small, enclosed prison-like cages. At the Scarborough Sea Life Centre located in Scarborough, England, the Humboldt penguins are given antidepressants because they are not “adapted to the rainy British climate, which is drastically different from their natural environment on the coast of South America.” (PETA UK). While zoos are a great place to learn about wildlife, the best place to learn about wildlife is in the wild and in their natural habitats not behind confined cages.
Animals our taken from their natural habitats and locked up in small spaces, the small spaces, the concrete floors and the unnatural social groupings are slowly driving the elephants insane while their feet and bodies deteriorate before our eyes.” such as an “ Asian elephant in the wild may roam freely over a range of 150,000 acres the show consists of just two acres of walkable ground subdivided into five smaller yards – not nearly enough room for the three resident elephants, Billy, Tina,
This argument is split into three main viewpoints, the opinion that zoos harm animals, the opinion that zoos save endangered species, and a mix between the two. Viewpoint number three is more of a critique how zoos are good places where bad things happen and should be reformed. Each option has its own individual pros and cons but a reform of zoos and their standards would be the most economical for zoos and aquariums and this method would also be the least harmful and less stressful for the animals involved. The care and wellbeing of the animals involved should be the number one priority of all groups and by cutting back on over breeding, the phasing out of lager animals that naturally roam large distances, and creating environments that’s sole purpose is to educate people, zoos can become a better place for people and animals
Captivity is the condition of being imprisoned or confined. Is captivity good or is it bad? If humans were put into cages and given only enough food to keep them alive we would call it inhumane. What is the difference from doing the same with animals? The topic concerning captivity has been controversial for years.
Elephants have proven to have unique cognitive abilities that have been found in primate species, including humans. One aspect of an elephant’s cognition that is interesting and unique is their mourning rituals and deep emotional ability to feel loss, grief and sadness. Scientific research of elephant’s brains have proven that they are capable of emotions, communication and behavior similar to that of human beings. Observations of elephants in the wild and in captivity have proven that they have a complicated social structure which they express emotional feelings towards their family members and that elephants grieve and spend time with their loved ones that have died. Elephants have been seen showing empathetic and compassionate behavior towards one another when they
Zoos are bad for humans, most people do not believe it but zoos are not educating us, they are hurting us. Evidence for zoos are bad for humans is, in 2013, a zookeeper in Missouri was killed when he was knocked to the ground by an elephant, he died instantly.(Estrada). This reason this matters is because zoo animals are killing people, and that would not happen as often if they were left in the wild. Animals in films are not as nice as they are on camera. For example, the orca featured in the film “Blackfish,” is responsible for three human deaths.
As stated in “Do elephants belong in zoos?”, zoos not only fund research on wild animals but also contribute to reducing the conflicts between them and people, for example, by planting crops that frighten elephants away and exploring the cases of poaching that could affect their mortality (Cohn 717). Moreover, most of the scientific matter on elephants such as facts about their communications, reproductive physiology and behavior were originally gathered on the ground of captive animals (Cohn 717). In his article, Borrell expresses the same opinion. He states that zoos serve as “a living museum” that help scientists to find necessary information on species for the research, and these facts can be used to prevent the extinction of the animals living in the wild (Borrell 9). Besides, zoos are crucial for raising money for conservation programs by giving people firsthand wildlife experience that increases interest in wild animals (Borrell 9).
Zoos may be very necessary for endangered species. But, there are different ways how to save and continue endangered species, and every zoo have had choice how they do it. Some zoos are breeding endangered species trying to continue the species, but that is not right, because it leads to very complicated health issues. For example white tiger who are very rare animal, breeding requirements are that all white tigers parents must be white tigers too, to get only white tiger, and so are zoos breeding white tigers fathers with their daughters and mothers with their sons. But some zoos again are preserving and studying endangered species in captivity to save endangered species in the wild.
People use the elephants tusks to make jewelry, and ornaments. China is a big consumer of elephant tusks. They banned this illegal poaching and let some of the elephant populations grow back. But some people still poached these animals which kept them in the endangered list. These animals have a protection program which bans people from poaching these animals.
When looking at all of them information that is presented in the documentary and the articles following; it is evident that the battle for the elephants will not be an easy one to be won. How can someone persuade the government to regulate and enforce punishment for illegal ivory trade when the government officials themselves are the ones directly involved in it? Many of the Africans who are hired to be poachers do it to be able to feed their children. Would taking away their jobs cause destruction to these families? How can awareness be brought to this issue in such a convincing manner that would inspire people to shut down a multi-billion dollar industry?
This leads to many concerns from the public on the physical and mental impacts of captivity on the wild animals. This essay examines the advantages and disadvantages of zoos to lead us to a possible conclusion whether it is ethical to place animals in captivity. We will also examine if zoos have the best possible facilities to keep animals in captivity. Body One of the advantages of having zoos, is to provide protection to some animals that are endangered.