Protection of Endangered Species and Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife conservation is the preservation, protection, or restoration of wildlife and their environment, especially in relation to the endangered and vulnerable species. All living non-domesticated animals, even if bred, hatched or born in captivity, are considered wild animals. Wildlife represents all the non-cultivated and non-domesticated animals living in their natural habitats.

Our world has many unique and rare animals, birds and reptiles. However, the pressure of growing population in different parts of the world has led to the increasing need of using land for human habitation and agriculture. This has led to the reduced habitat of many wild animals. There are a lot of threats to wildlife that can be categorized into different forms. Following are some of the major threats to wildlife.

The habitat for wildlife is decreasing every year. The remains have often been degraded to bear little resemblance to the natural wild areas which existed in the past. The world is undergoing a massive climate change. The diversity of the flora and fauna is highly vulnerable due to the climate change and it can spell disaster for the natural world, leading to a great loss of wildlife species. A slight drop or rise in average rainfall will translate into large seasonal changes. Hibernating mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects are harmed and disturbed. Plants and wildlife are very sensitive to even a minor change in the moisture level. Today, we use a lot of chemicals that are toxic to wildlife, such as PCBs, mercury, petroleum by-products, solvents, antifreeze, etc. On top of this, frequently there are some natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, lightning, and forest fires and so on.

There are a lot of animals that are highly endangered from the start of the 21st century. Some of these animals are The Bajji Dolphin, West African Black Rhino, The Golden Toad, Holdridge's Toad, Spix's Macaw, Po'o-uli, Kama'o, Hawaiian Crow, and Pyrenean Ibex. Apart from these there are a lot of others that are very hard to be found. I got to know a lot of these interesting fact and figures, when I watched the Discovery Channel on my television powered by ATT UVerse Cable. I came to know how many animal and plant species have become extinct. The Pyrenean Ibex was the first mammal to become extinct in the 21st century. Discover how many mammals went extinct in the last 500 years.

A recent report by the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization warns that the large-scale industrial production is now a major threat to farm animal diversity. A recent study listed the top 10 countries for extinct species in the last 500 years. This report was prepared by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It listed the countries endangered species for both plants and animals. The top 10 countries for threatened animals were United States, French Polynesia, Mauritius, Australia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Saint Helena, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. For plants the top ten countries were United States, Saint Helena, India, French Polynesia, Brazil, Cuba, China, Yemen, Colombia and New Caledonia. However, there are a lot of discrepancies with regard to the above study. As this list was prepared in the 2008, there could be a lot of changes.

Efforts are being taken by all of these countries to save their endangered species. For example, the Amphibian Ark, which is a joint effort of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, and the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, is working to evaluate the status of threatened amphibians, raise awareness about the global amphibian extinction crisis, and set up captive breeding programs. The initiative is targeting 500 species "whose threats currently cannot be mitigated quickly enough to stave off extinction". In other words, 500 species will not survive without captive breeding efforts.