Charles Manley

Animals in Trouble

      

Do you remember your first time at the zoo? Walking in under a huge sign that says "Welcome." Seeing the animals you only read about before for the first time. Animals like giraffes, rhinos, and gorillas. The bad smell of all of the animals mixing together to form that zoo smell that everyone knows and loves. Exhibits going on for miles and miles of different animals. Food stands selling water, food, and cotton candy that isn't the best but we love it anyway. Travel from section to section seeing everything from frogs to polar bears. No matter what when you go to the zoo it will always be a good day.

Now imagine if you went to the zoo and your favorite animals were missing. Animals you loved since you were a little boy or girl. These animals aren't missing because they are roaming the wild and living a happy life. They are missing because people are destroying their habitat and using their skins, furs, and meats for their own benefits (3). Using animals or your own self interests is greedy and selfish. Most of us know this but we don't know how to stop this issue. In the below paragraphs I will be stating ways to help stop the issue of poaching.                                                                                           

Poaching                                    

What is poaching? Poaching is the illegal killing of wildlife. The first time a person is caught doing this they have to pay a $500 dollar fine . The second time they receive a $5,000 dollar fine. The third time they get prison time, they can face up to 5 years in prison (1). Two animals facing poaching problems are animals I grew up loving. They are gorillas and rhinos, surprising right! How can people hurt these two innocent animals. In Central Africa gorillas are being hunted and sold for $40,000 dollars the reason why they are being killed is greed for money. In Southern Africa, in 2013-2014 over a thousand rhinos were killed (1). That's a lot of rhinos. If we do not put a stop to poaching immediately we will no longer have the two biggest attractions at zoos.

                                                                                                  Ways To Help

You may be asking yourself how can I help? Or saying I love both of these animals and want to continue seeing them at the zoo. Well Peace Parks and Park agencies in Africa are starting to prevent the problem of poaching (2). Park agencies are agencies that have made laws against killing animals in Africa. Peace Parks represent the areas of land that are eco friendly and against hunting species. Both organization started to send baby gorillas to zoos to prevent them from being killed. With the help from Peace Parks and Park Agencies animals will once again feel safe in their own environment.

References

(1)

Bednar-Friedal. B., Muchapondwa. E., Mukanjari, S., Zikhali, P. (2013, January 28). Evaluating

the prospects of benefit sharing schemes in protecting mountain gorillas in Central

          Africa. Natural Resource Modeling, 26(4), 455-479. doi: 10.1111/nrm.12010

(2)

Büscher, B. (2016). Rhino poaching is out of control. Environment and planning in Sage

         Journal. Retrieved from http://epn.sagepub.com

(3)

Fernandez, C. (2015, November 25). Half the world's primates in peril. Daily mail.

         Retrieved from  http://www.pressreader.com

(4)

OKC Zoo Main Entrance [Digital image]. (n.d.).

          Retrieved from http://wikimapia.org/23466457/OKC-Zoo-Main-Entrance

(5)

John, S. (June. 2013). ZT2 Rond Table [Digital image].

         Retrieved from http://thezt2roundtable.com

(6)

Monkeying Around [Digital image]. (n.d.).                                                                                                       Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk