There are still other challenges to wild animals' existence. But you get the picture: The deck is stacked against them.
However, before we talk about HOW to preserve wildness and save animals from extinction, let’s ask this question - one that I don't see addressed enough, at least in public discussion:
WHY should we save them - especially when humans need saving, too?
- Is it because we feel sorry for them, because their problems are of our making, not theirs?
- Or that they're beautiful and mysterious and exciting, and they look, think, and act so differently than we do?
- Is it because our planet was their habitat for many millions of years before we arrived, and now that we've taken it over, we feel we owe them?
- Do we see them as larger-than-life versions of our own beloved pets - the cats, lizards, dogs, and birds we share our homes with?
- Or is it because they are living things with whom we share up to 99% of our DNA?
To me, these and others are ALL good reasons to protect the future of our wild animals.
But they've been good reasons for decades, and obviously not one of them - and not all of them COMBINED - has been enough for the world to fully commit to wildlife conservation and survival.
Here's the thing: If we can't properly answer this Why question in a new way that speaks to governments, to investors, to climate scientists, to all the good people who send in their $10 contributions for animal conservation - and of course to the rural communities, such as those in the Congo, that are struggling to live alongside wild animals - then it will be increasingly difficult, and eventually impossible, to get funding and scientific support for the cause.
We need to create an evolved story about wild animals - one that encourages the world to look at these creatures in a new and bigger way.
In other words: Wild animals need to be re-branded.
The good news: This story already exists. But you must actively dig to find it, and even then the messaging is inconsistent. I've visited dozens of nature-based websites and each one tells the story differently, or not at all. Many of them ask for your donations right up front without giving you a new and better reason to do so.
Plus, the voices of even the well-known organizations like World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy are being drowned out by media noise - including much of the content we're fed on our phones every day.