The Terrible Trafficking in Animals: results of the Trend on the Climate Front
The Terrible Trafficking in Animals: results of the Trend on the Climate Front
It's not a pretty story
Poached elephants, Credit, The Lamp online
Poachers killed four hundred and twenty-five thousand songbirds last autumn, as part of a recent rise in wildlife crimes in Cyprus, a departure from the recent downward trend over the past ten years, with the act showing an increase of ninety thousand kills from the year before.
On a yearly basis, poachers and other illegal operators murder up to 20,000 African elephants, while DNA tests show the creatures fell victims in Tanzania and the Congo basin.
Victims include tigers, as poachers got rid of 3,500 of them since the turn of the millennium, with authorities seizing illegal shipments of tiger parts equal to at least 150 animals per year, the trafficking taking place from India through South East Asia, China, and Russia.
Wildlife crime persists to increase, with the market worth up to $20 billions per year, as poachers kill creatures such as songbirds in Cyprus, elephants in Africa, and tigers in SouthEast Asia, a tip of the iceberg of animals poached by illegal operators and criminals.
Half of Cypriots polled enjoyed eating ambelopoulia, a very popular dish from songbirds in Cyprus, and 14 percent see it as their favorite food, the figure translating to a significant chunk of the population.
The rise in the global price of ivory made many people enjoy the market, and they rushed to exploit a trend where the global average price of ivory rose ten fold between 1989 and 2014.
Due to animal tourism, humans enjoy putting tigers in captivity, with Asians consigning 8,000 of them to this state, the majority in China, Americans keeping approximately 5,000 of them in cages, an estimated 1,600 kept in the same condition in Europe, and others domiciled in other parts of the world.
Unfortunately, the growth in tiger captivity on a worldwide basis, the love for the ambelopoulia dish, as well as the interest brought by the rise in the global price of ivory fuel wildlife crime year after year, resulting in unacceptable consequences.
Only 5,600 tigers remain in the wild, with an estimated 95 percent of land where they once lived now lost to human activity, their present population a far cry from the previous 100,000 in the early 20th century.
Approximately 415,000 African elephants remain in the forests, with almost all of their land taken by human activities, so while around 40,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants remain, their number declines through habitat loss and the activities of operators in the criminal wildlife trade.
About three billion birds vanished in the U.S. and Canada since 1970, dozens of species of African birds disappeared in a steep decline, around 593 species suffering from declines in Latin America, through the illegal trade in wildlife and deforestation.
However, the decline in the population of songbirds, elephants, tigers, and other creatures - a development fuelled by wildlife crime - rises year after year, inhibiting potentials to foster climate change mitigation on a global scale, because humans reduce the capacity to enrich the complexity of tropical wetlands through species depletion, whittling down habitat heterogeneity, preventing plant dispersal, halting the ability to survive abrupt ecosystem transformation, and frustrating climate modification.
The demand for ivory continues to show a decrease in China, with just 18 percent of consumers surveyed intending to purchase ivory in the future, a significant drop from 45 percent in 2017, but this comes because China banned the domestic trade in the product.
Over one million songbirds survive at some point in Indonesia every year, the prey of low-income bird trapping communities, but with a rise in awareness and a developed alternative livelihood, the communities set less traps for the birds.
Data from Indonesia, Thailand, and Russia indicate a growing rise in the quantity of tiger seizure incidents compared to January-to-June period of the previous 20 years, but with a slew of actions covering improved legislation, the trend should be curtailed.
Of course, wildlife crime rises every year, with negative consequences in relations to climate change, but with improved legislation, ban in wildlife trade, awareness creation on the dangers of wildlife crime, songbirds in Cyprus and animals in general might yet be saved from a terrible fate.
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What to Eat
Vegan food from Tanzania, Credit,Easy Travel
So sick, heartbreaking, and truly insane. I appreciate you continuing to look at the really hard stuff, manage the grief, and continue to educate. At some point there will be a consciousness shift and the key is how much loss will take place before that happens. Thank you brother -- keep at it.
Wildlife crime and animal trafficking are among the ugliest and most visible elements of climate change. Thanks for helping folks see them more clearly, Adetokunbo.