Jake Martinez
Ms. Koehler
English 11
Poaching
When people think of problems in the environment they think of pollution, along with pollution poaching is a big problem too. Poaching has been a problem for years, even with laws in place, nothing has stopped this crime yet. Poaching in Africa and Asia has become a serious problem for wildlife native to these areas. This Crime is done for profit, This means the hunters are illegally killing animals for their fur, hide, tusks, horns and many other body parts that can be sold for a large amount of money. Poacher usually hunt elephants, rhinos, and tigers but they kill life in the sea too like whales and sharks. This illegal hunting has led to certain animals population rate to plummet at an alarming rate. Many nations have banned poaching, but enforcement is difficult. The small number of police officers trained to deal with this creates an unfair advantage for poachers.
Poachers usually only kill animals for a certain body part: tigers are hunted for their striped fur, elephants and rhinos are killed for their ivory found in their tusks and the horn of the rhino. The animal’s body is left to rot after the poachers remove what they want. Sharks that are lured to the boat are caught on hooks. Their fins are cut off and then they are thrown back into the water to die, without fins they can’t swim.
The laws that are in place to help animals are not very effective. The number of trained guards are less than the poachers therefore the guards are unable to protect the herds of animals that are endangered due to poaching.With the effect of poaching certain animals that are hunted might soon only be seen in zoos!
Animal poaching is a terrible action in which humans partake. If it is against the law for a human’s life than it should be for an animal as well. Maybe not as harsh as murder yet it should still be a crime in which people do not commit.
There are game reserves, which have to protect the numbers of certain animals so they can be preserved and not poached. The numbers for the Big 5 has to be kept under great secret, as they need to protect these animals the most as they are higher risk. If a large number of these animals were killed they are at a great chance of their species becoming extinct which is a major downfall as it not only affects other animals but it affects us humans greatly.
This is because of the effect it may have on the vicious food chain animals from all around the world are such beautiful creatures that add to the amazing beauty of every country. In South Africa they have the black and white rhinos, elephants, giraffes, Lions and the list Carries On. Without these animals what would our country be like? Just imagine South Africa with no Wildlife, any nature and the game reserves. It would feel incomplete. So why are people lowering the chances of their future families on being able to witness such tremendous Wildlife. If you were lucky enough to experience such a wonderful thing in life why would you deny it or take it away from anyone else?
Early explorations have enticed poachers to consume this species with the excuses for killing animals for science. The mountain gorilla, magnificent primate, a humanlike creature, built by pure strength, is what the poachers think of them. They are seen as a trophy. In the first 20 years of its discovery European and American scientists and trophy hunters killed over 50 mountain gorillas. Poaching them as food today is extremely rare, but poaching as trophies is not. Infants continue to jeopardize the mountain gorilla survival. In the 60’s and 70’s gorillas were poached and sold to foreigners as trophies and live specimens, but none survived in captivity. The deaths of gorillas are now a result of unselective hunting by snares, mainly set to catch antelope and wild pig. The real remaining threat is either the killing of the gorillas or the capture of infants for live animal trade. Recent incidents, took place in 2002, 2004, 2007. The most recent case in 2013 of an infant’s recovery outside Virunga National Park, abandoned in a field with a clear sign it was held in captivity. Named Matabisi, tests revealed it was a mountain gorilla. It now joins other orphaned infants under continuous care. Poachers hunt to trophy, to fulfil their need to kill, however they are nothing but murderers. Infants are sold on the black market illegally to wealthy animal collectors. This clearly states what poachers are doing and shows the cruelty of this issue. As we speak these creatures are left vulnerable and defenceless, knowing you were going to be slaughtered. Animal poaching is a global issue and should not be handled lightly. The issue of extinction as these beautiful beings being slaughtered as we speak. Soon it will be to late look back on what we have done. We need to prevent this now. We need to arm these governments with more resources to protect the defenceless, weak and vulnerable creatures of our world. These examples clearly explain three arguments with their three animal references that have been highly affected in these ways by poaching. These animals clearly show the effects of poaching. The tiger (threatened by money), the elephant declining due to cruelty, and the mountain gorilla threatened by early research and capture of infants. This is just a speck of thousands of animals threatened, critically endangered and nearly extinct because of poachers. This clearly proves that the issue of animal poaching is extremely serious and needs to be dealt with very soon.
